U.S. Religious Progressivism “Way of the Future”

The future of religion in U.S. politics lies not with conservatives but rather with religious progressives, social scientists here are suggesting, with a faith-based movement potentially able to provide momentum to a new movement for social justice.

DR Congo’s Red Light to Invention

"There are several robots in the world, but that one which regulates traffic is made in Congo," Thérèse Izayi, a female engineer and the Congolese inventor of two very unusual traffic signals, tells IPS.

Villages in Ghana that No Longer Have Child Deaths to Record

Zainab Abubakar saves children’s lives. A few years ago she was just an ordinary woman with no medical training living in rural Kpilo in Ghana’s Northern Region. 

U.S. Calls Egypt’s Latest Mass Death Sentences “Unconscionable”

Five days after approving the transfer of 10 Apache helicopters to aid Egypt’s “counter-terrorism” campaign in Sinai, the administration of President Barack Obama denounced as “unconscionable” the latest round of mass death sentences against members of the Muslim Brotherhood handed down by an Egyptian court Monday.

Kerry Draws Israel Hawks’ Ire Amid Failed Talks

In the wake of the collapse of U.S.-led peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the angry rhetoric around this conflict has only escalated.

Caribbean Fears Loss of “Keystone Species” to Climate Change

A marine biologist has cautioned that the mass deaths of starfish along the United States west coast in recent months could also occur in the Caribbean region because of climate change, threatening the vital fishing sector.

U.S.-Dependent Pacific Island Defies Nuke Powers

The tiny Pacific nation state of Marshall Islands - which depends heavily on the United States for its economic survival, uses the U.S. dollar as its currency and predictably votes with Washington on all controversial political issues at the United Nations - is challenging the world's nuclear powers before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Interfaith Leaders Jointly Call to Abolish Nuclear Arms

On the eve of next week’s meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), more than 100 representatives of 11 faith groups from around the world have pledged to step up their efforts to seek the global abolition of nuclear weapons.

Brazil Assumes Leadership in Future of Internet Governance

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed into law an Internet bill of rights just before her opening speech at an international conference on Internet reform in the southern city of São Paulo Wednesday.

Q&A: Investment and Research Key to Resilient African Agriculture

There is urgent need to increase the proportion of climate finance for adaptation in Africa by increasing public sector budgets for agriculture and exploring partnerships with the private sector.

One More Pill to Take: Pregnancy, Malaria and HIV

Zambian Martha Nalishupe is torn between taking one more pill with her daily regimen of antiretrovirals, or run the risk of a miscarriage.

U.S. Apache Delivery Highlights Mixed Messaging on Egypt

Last October, the Barack Obama administration suspended the delivery of attack helicopters to Egypt’s interim government following the Jul. 2 military ouster of Egypt’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

Persecution of Uganda’s Gays Intensifies as Rights Groups Go Underground

As she sits in a Kampala hotel holding a mobile phone that rings frequently, Sandra Ntebi tells IPS: “I’m really exhausted. I don’t know where to start. We have many cases pending.” Ntebi manages a hotline and is helping Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community find alternative, safe accommodation after they have faced harassment.

U.S.-Russia Sabre Rattling May Undermine Nuke Meeting

The growing tension between the United States and Russia over Ukraine has threatened to unravel one of the primary peace initiatives of the United Nations: nuclear disarmament.

Weak Laws and Capitalist Economy Deplete Kenya’s Natural Wealth

Each season Peter Gichangi, a vegetable and arrowroot commercial farmer who owns four hectares of land in Nyeri County, Kenya’s Central Province, cultivates his crops near the Nduyi River.

Cuba’s Burgeoning Private Sector Hungry for Flora and Fauna

The lack of markets to supply raw materials for Cuba’s new private sector, along with the poverty in isolated rural communities, is fuelling the poaching of endangered species of flora and fauna.

Mexico’s Climate Change Law – More Than Just Empty Words?

When Mexico’s climate change law went into effect in October 2012, it drew international praise. But what has happened since then?

Civil Society Wants More Influence in New Development Agenda

Making international cooperation more effective requires a civil society with greater influence in the negotiations of the development agenda that the world’s governments are to adopt in 2015, civil society representatives said at an international meeting in Mexico.

Saving Caribbean Tourism from the Sea

Faced with the prospect of losing miles of beautiful white beaches – and the millions in tourist dollars that come with them - from erosion driven by climate change, Barbados is taking steps to protect its coastline as a matter of economic survival.

Deforestation in the Andes Triggers Amazon “Tsunami”

Deforestation, especially in the Andean highlands of Bolivia and Peru, was the main driver of this year’s disastrous flooding in the Madeira river watershed in Bolivia’s Amazon rainforest and the drainage basin across the border, in Brazil.

OP-ED: Egyptian-Saudi Coalition in Defence of Autocracy

The Bahraini Arabic language newspaper al-Wasat reported on Wednesday Apr. 9 that a Cairo court began to consider a case brought by an Egyptian lawyer against Qatar accusing it of being soft on terrorism.