Nigeria Suffers Acute Lead-Poisoning Outbreak

The Nigerian government is trying to cope with an outbreak of lead poisoning which has killed over 200 people in Zamfara State since early July.

North Korea in Dire Need of Food, Medical Aid, Amnesty Says

The fragile health system in the cash-strapped Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), long described as one of the world's most secretive countries, is on the verge of collapsing, Amnesty International (AI) warned Thursday.

HAITI: Six Months On, Shelter Still a Main Priority

Six months ago Monday, an earthquake rocked the western hemisphere's poorest country, driving it deeper into poverty and burying it under its nascent infrastructure.

Flooded with NGOs, Haiti Looks to Fall Presidential Polls

They descended in droves after the Jan. 12 earthquake devastated the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country, killing an estimated 300,000 people and leaving more than one million homeless.

MIDEAST: These Explosions Are Saviours

At precisely 12 noon on a Thursday afternoon, among the rolling sandy hills in southern Gaza, a controlled explosion destroys another round of white phosphorous shells left in Gaza following the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza.

SRI LANKA: After Decades of Bloodshed, Home Calls

For almost two decades, Athanayakemudiyanselage Punchibanda lived without hope of ever returning here to his native village.

PERU: ‘Don’t Minimise’ Impacts of Amazon Oil Spill

Pluspetrol's Jun. 19 petroleum spill has left the Marañón River, in the Peruvian Amazon, with oil and grease levels thousands of times greater than the maximum allowed for human consumption, affecting more than 4,000 local residents.

ANGOLA: Drilling Ever Deeper, Hoping for the Best

While BP struggles to contain an oil spill that U.S. government estimates indicate is now the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico, questions are being asked about how well prepared Africa's oil-producing countries are for a similar incident.

BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Means Floods for Some, Drought for Others

"There will be two years of abundance, and then famine," says Brazilian indigenous leader José Carlos Arara, laying bare his opinion of the promises that the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam will not alter the living conditions of the people in this part of the eastern Amazon.

Gulf Spill Galvanises Activist Community

With the U.S .government and oil giant British Petroleum under fire for their handling of the more than two-month-old Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, environmental and community activists across the country are taking matters into their own hands.

TRADE: UNCTAD “Forgets” Real Risks Faced by African Farmers

The latest UNCTAD report on science and technology repeats previous calls for a "green revolution" in African agriculture but contains no mention of the real and present dangers that the international trade and financial framework presents to African farmers.

SRI LANKA: A Former Woman Combatant Struggles to Pick Up the Pieces

As a young woman, Ranjani (not her real name), a 32-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka's eastern Batticaloa district, only had bright hopes for tomorrow.

PAKISTAN: Prevalence of Hepatitis Infection Still Alarming

Unable to afford treatment for his disease, Azizur Rehman, 29, has been suffering from hepatitis C for the past one year. "My elder sister died of the same killer ailment one year ago for lack of treatment," he laments.

HEALTH-NEPAL: Multiple Problems Mar Fight Against HIV/AIDS

To women who have lost their husbands to the killer AIDS disease, learning a skill to earn a living could be a matter of life and death.

US-VIETNAM: 300 Million Dollars to Clean Up Agent Orange

Thirty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War, a joint U.S.-Vietnamese panel endorsed a 10-year, 300-million-dollar "plan of action" to deal with the deadly health and environmental legacy of the U.S. military's widespread use of "Agent Orange" during the conflict.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Food Security Further Undermined by Climate Disasters

Adverse climatic conditions and weather-related disasters are damaging crops in El Salvador and neighbouring countries in Central America, aggravating the food vulnerability that the region already faces.

AFRICA: Climate Change Assistance so Near and Yet so Far

Technology transfer and aid for trade could assist least developed countries (LDCs) suffering the effects of climate change. But negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are not helping to make this a reality, while aid for trade lands up at the wrong institutions, such as the World Bank.

INDIA: Mangroves Face Severe Threat from Human Activities

When a super cyclone devastated the coastal districts of Orissa state in 1999, the government pledged to regenerate 3,000 hectares of mangrove. Or so forest official Chandra Sekhar Kar thought.

ISRAEL: Censure Follows Raid on Gaza Aid Flotilla

The Israeli government's spin machine has launched into full-throttle as the country faces yet another diplomatic crisis and harsh international criticism for Monday's raid on the Free Gaza (FG) humanitarian aid flotilla that left 19 people dead and about 50 injured.

Security Council, Short of Resolution, Condemns Israel

After a 12-hour emergency session that lasted until early Tuesday, the 15-member U.N. Security Council was unanimous in its condemnation of Israel for the killing of at least 10 civilians who were part of a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.

ITALY: Building a Sustainable Future With Straw and Wood

Pescomaggiore village, destroyed by the earthquake that hit the mountain region of L'Aquila in central Italy on Apr. 6, 2009, is now being rebuilt by its 40-odd inhabitants with straw and wood.