ENVIRONMENT: Oceans Fast Becoming a Garbage Dump

The growing problem of marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide and authorities must act now to reverse and prevent further environmental degradation, said a report released Monday, World Oceans Day.

DEVELOPMENT: Thousands March as Food Crisis Deepens

An estimated 300,000 people across the globe hit the streets Sunday to support the World Food Programme (WFP) and its mission to feed hungry schoolchildren and battle malnutrition worldwide.

URUGUAY: ‘Just Like a Daughter’ – Until You Exert Your Rights

"If you protest or stand up for your rights, they start playing little psychological games with you. You immediately go from being the darling of the household, ‘just like a daughter,’ to being treated rudely, and sometimes they even accuse you of stealing."

LABOUR-US: Unions Embrace Street Corner Solidarity

For Pablo Alvarado, the genesis occurred back in 1999 when janitors in Los Angeles were on strike. Some of the cleaning companies came to the corners and workers' centres where day labourers gathered and tried to hire workers to cross the janitors' picket lines, he recounted to IPS.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Low-Income Housing with Solar Heaters

The "My House My Life" program, which is slated to finance one million low-income housing units in Brazil in a bid to reactivate the economy and create jobs, will also promote the use of environmentally friendly materials and technologies, including solar energy.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Peasant Farmers Oppose Hydroelectric Dam

The Federal Electricity Commission of Mexico has put off until 2018 the construction of La Parota dam, in the southern state of Guerrero, but residents there say they will never allow it to be built.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Military Begins Reforestation Effort

The Honduran Armed Forces launched a campaign to plant one million trees in the country's most vulnerable areas, deputy Defense minister Lionel Sevilla told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Demands for Potable Water in Buenos Aires

In less than a week, some 30,000 people participated in an action to demand potable water for the residents of the Matanza-Riachuelo watershed in Buenos Aires, the country's most polluted waterway.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Bolster Natural Carbon Absorption, Says UN

Expanding the capacity of natural areas for capturing and storing carbon is one of the keys to curbing climate change, and would be a relatively low-cost solution that would also improve the quality of life of millions of farmers, the United Nations said Friday.

BURUNDI: Ceasefire Failing to Quell Political Violence

Despite ongoing peace talks between Burundi's ruling party and rebel groups, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released this week says the government must do more to end partisan violence in the central African nation.

POLITICS: U.S.-China Deal Crucial for New Climate Treaty

Cooperation between the U.S. and China was at the forefront of discussions this week in Washington at two events focusing on the possibilities of a bilateral relationship between the two countries on cutting emissions.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/INDIA: Cheapest Car Rides on Govt Subsidies

India’s Tata Motors, makers of the ‘cheapest car ever made’, say they have received more than a million bookings for the first batch of cars said to roll out of its factory in a few months.

HEALTH: WHO Urges Universal Rotavirus Vaccine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged Friday that rotavirus vaccines be included in routine immunisation schedules of countries around the world in order to provide global protection against the most common and lethal form of diarrheal disease.

EUROPE: Lottery Time for Development Policy

While the European Parliament elections are raising many questions about the future direction of the EU, the practicalities of the precise make-up of the parliament mean that development policies look set to be put on hold until autumn.

MIDEAST: 'Lay Down Your Pain, Lay Down Your Arms'

U.S. President Barack Obama drew widespread, if in some quarters, guarded praise from around the region as he labelled the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Israelis and the Arab world the No. 2 issue (behind the extremism of a minority of Muslims) that needs addressing if relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world are to be changed for the better.

ECONOMY-US: One in Five Children Sinking Into Poverty

U.S. children’s quality of life is expected to decline through 2010 due to the impacts of the financial crisis, said a new report by the Foundation for Child Development (FDC), released on Wednesday.

POPULATION: Developing Countries Must Focus on ‘Positive Ageing’

The success of the global fight to eradicate poverty is largely contingent on welfare policies related to swiftly ageing populations, particularly in the developing world where a majority of old people live below the poverty line, say experts.

POLITICS: Developing Countries Fight for Say at U.N. Crisis Meet

The postponement of a major U.N. General Assembly conference to address the global economic crisis and its impact on development is seen by some civil society groups and analysts as a sign of the conflicting interests between the world's richest and poorest countries.

MIDEAST: Obama Turns the Screws on Israel

Air raid sirens wailed out on Tuesday morning and Israelis were asked to go down into bomb shelters as the country engaged in its largest-ever civil defence drill. Israelis remain deeply worried by what they perceive as an existential threat of a possible future all-out missile attack from Iran and its proxies.

INDIA: Computers Bring Jobs to Rural Women

What strikes a visitor entering the Source for Change business processing centre (BPO) in rural Rajasthan, a deeply conservative state where women are veiled and child marriage still rampant, is the near absence of men in the building.

SUDAN: Civilians Under Siege in Refugee Camps

A report by the United Nations that the Sudanese Air Force bombed northeastern Chad near a refugee camp has sparked strong condemnation from the Save Darfur Coalition (SDC) following military and paramilitary attacks over the past week.