Palestinian Authority Faces Fiscal Crisis, As World Bank Blames Israelis

With a shortfall of some 400 million dollars this year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) faces a “deepening fiscal crisis", according to new reports released here Wednesday on the eve of a critical donors’ conference by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Young People Caretaking in an Aging Cuba

Mabel Suárez, a 22-year-old Cuban woman, can’t concentrate on enjoying her youth. She helped take care of her great-grandmother for two years, and she knows that, whether she likes it or not, it will fall to her to take care of her grandparents and parents in their old age.

Q&A: “Pacification of Favelas Not a Real Public Policy Yet”

The “pacification” of the favelas in this Brazilian city, aimed at driving out armed groups and fighting drug trafficking, has not yet become a fully effective public policy, says Eliana Sousa Silva, who has lived in one of Rio’s shantytowns for nearly 30 years.

Taking Justice to the Neighbourhoods in Argentina

The Argentine government has opened legal aid centres in slum neighbourhoods, to provide a range of services, from assistance for immigrants and victims of domestic violence to dental care services.

Saving the Lives of Malawi’s Children

Three-month-old Simplicious Gift lives in Mafunga village in Malawi’s southern rural district of Chikhwawa, 48 kilometres from the commercial capital, Blantyre. His is a poor farming village of about 1,200 people who live off their harvests and the produce from their livestock of goats, pigs and cows.

Fighting for a Free Press in Sudan

In Sudan’s newspaper district in Khartoum East, dozens of people sit beneath the trees sipping tea or reading newspapers. Most are journalists who once worked for the 10 newspapers that were either forced closed by the country’s security services or because of economic constraints that resulted after the government raised printing taxes in an attempt to prevent the media from reporting on anti-government demonstrations. 

Cuba Faces Challenge of Aging Population

“We age much more quickly than we learn how to,” says Juan Carlos Alfonso, director of the Population and Housing Census that begins to be carried out on Saturday, Sept. 15 in Cuba. The question of aging is on many minds in this country, where important social progress has been made but acute economic problems persist.

U.N. Doubles Down on Slashing Child Mortality by 2015

While the global community made progress in reducing under-five child mortality to below seven million per year, it risks failing to reach the global targets set for 2015 if action is not scaled up, according to a new report released by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF Thursday.

Ecotourism Helps Amazon Jungle Communities Survive

The Tsimane Mosetene people in Bolivia’s Amazon jungle region have found a tool to preserve their habitat and way of life: a community ecotourism project that won a United Nations-sponsored international award.

“Two Children May Have Died for You to Have Your Mobile Phone”

"It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,” says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the “absolute silence” around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan.

Polygamy Throttles Women in Senegal

Fatou (40), Awa (32) and Aissatou Gaye (24) sit in a meditative mood on the tiled floor outside their matrimonial home in Keur Massar, a township in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

‘Misoprostol – Must for Reducing Maternal Mortality’

“I can’t imagine life without misoprostol,” says Dr. Azra Ahsan, a gynaecologist and obstetrician who has, for more than a decade, been using the controversial drug to stop women from bleeding to death after delivery.

Informal Sector Work Survives Economic Boom in Argentina

Behind “yerba mate”, a caffeinated herbal brew that is popular in Argentina and neighbouring countries, lies a shameful reality: the dismal labour and living conditions of the workers who harvest the leaves of the bush used to make the infusion.

Hazaras in Pakistan Caught Between Persecution and the High Seas

It will be no less than a miracle if Nadir Ali makes it to Australia, where he planned to seek asylum. But with each passing day, since his boat went missing over two months ago, hopes are dimming.

Climate Adaptation Troubles Karachi’s Planners

Climate proofing this bustling port city is a daunting task for planners who must consider factors ranging from proneness to flooding and administrative malaise to the fact that 60 percent of its 18 million people live in slums.

Indigenous Consultations in Peru to Debut in Amazon Oil Region

Peru will debut a new mechanism for prior consultation with indigenous peoples by seeking their approval for a new stage of oil drilling operations in the infamous Lot 1AB in the northeastern Amazon region of Loreto.

Forcing South Sudan’s Idle Youth into Farming

Police in South Sudan have begun press-ganging every "idle" youth they can find to provide labour on police farms. The State Police Commissioner in Northern Bahr al Gazal state says young men cannot be left to drink tea and play cards all day while food insecurity threatens the country.

How to Get People to Make More Babies in Singapore

How to get Singaporeans to have more babies has become a major part of the debate about this country’s future, and the government is encouraging people to speak out on the issue.

Declaration of War in Mato Grosso do Sul

The land conflict between the Guaraní-Kaiowá indigenous people and large landowners in the southwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul is a powder keg ready to explode, say observers.

Nearer the Church, Farther From MDGs

When Philippines President Benigno Aquino III delivered his annual state of the union address in July, he appealed to the country’s lawmakers to break a  deadlock on progressive birth control laws in this predominantly Catholic nation.

Gun Violence a Growing Concern in Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, the largest island nation in Melanesia in the southwest Pacific, where more than 60 percent of major crimes involve guns, a burgeoning illegal arms trade is associated with lack of employment growth and low human security, with vulnerable communities suffering the consequences.