U.S. Drug Offenders Pressured to Plead Guilty, HRW Says

According to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), U.S. federal prosecutors more often than not threaten drug offenders with extraordinarily severe prison sentences as a means of coercion into waiving their right to trial and pleading guilty.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

They were a family of farmers and bakers in a war ravaged land with nothing to show for their hard work; no money, no real home.  They made four separate attempts to escape the grinding poverty and the stifling government controls, all to no avail.   They were the family of Binh  Ly and his four brothers.

UN and World Resources Institute Seek Common Goal in Boosting Food Production

Strong efforts to close a 70 per cent gap between current food availability and estimated requirements for 2050 are under way. The World Resources Institute (WRI)  – along with UN agencies and the World Bank – has produced a report showing that the global populations will more than likely grow, from the present seven billion to 9.6 billion people by 2050.

“Roar” For Children—Katy Perry is UNICEF’s Newest Goodwill Ambassador

American pop singer and songwriter Katy Perry is ready to roar for the world’s most vulnerable children and adolescents. Recently appointed as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) newest Goodwill Ambassador, she will focus her humanitarian efforts on brining awareness to issues such as severe poverty, violence, abuse, and neglect in regards to children and adolescents—especially in emergency and conflict situations.

UN Urged to Address Corporate Human Rights Abuses

A statement signed by more than 100 civil society organisations and social movements calls for member states to take steps towards establishing a binding international treaty to deal with corporate human rights abuses. The statement coincides with the beginning of the second annual UN Forum on Business & Human Rights in Geneva.

U.N. Says No to 21st Century Slavery

They number some 21 million, spanning the globe from Asia to Africa to Latin America. The conditions under which they toil mark them out as the wretched of the earth. They receive no protection from their governments and even the international community has failed them by allowing the practice to continue unchecked. 

UN Makes Strong Efforts to End Mass Slaughter in Central African Republic

Unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, rape and other forms of violence against women and girls – of innumerate amounts and committed at will by the country’s security forces and armed groups – was enough reason for Amnesty International’s loud outcry to the Security Council this week, asking for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to immediately deploy vigorous peacekeeping forces to the Central African Republic (CAR).

WFP FORCED TO REDUCE FOOD ASSISTANCE IN DRC

The Rome-based  World Food Programme (WFP) may be forced to reduce or interrupt some of its activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaving thousands of people with no food assistance. This is due primarily to serious resource constraints.

Pressure Mounting, Security Council to Vote for Peacekeepers for Central African Republic

The Security Council is expected to vote this week on a draft resolution introduced by France to create a UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.

HIV-Positive Adolescents Falling Through the Cracks

Programmes targeting mother-to-child HIV transmission helped reduce new infections among children under 15 by 35 percent globally between 2009 and 2012, according to a new UNICEF report.

Metro-North Train Derails Killing 4, Injuring Scores

A Metro North passenger train heading towards Grand Central Station ran off the tracks Sunday killing four and injuring more than 60. 

Saving Children From Loggers

Logging is the largest industry in the Solomon Islands, an archipelago located northwest of Fiji, where 80 percent of the islands are covered in tropical rainforest. But, although timber accounts for 60 percent of this South Pacific nation’s export earnings, most local communities have experienced no beneficial development.

Skateboarding Can Be Empowering

An array of colourful quarter pipes, bank ramps and a fun box come to life as a clutch of Cambodian youngsters do balancing tricks, kick-flips and kick turns. The all-girl session at a skating facility near the Russian Market here is facilitated by 20-year-old Kov Chansangva, popularly known as Tin.

Hernández Declared Winner of Honduras Vote

(Al Jazeera) - Honduras’ electoral tribunal has declared Juan Orlando Hernández the clear winner of the country’s presidential elections, despite persisting allegations of fraud from the opposition candidate.

Uganda’s First Female Funeral Director – From Taboo to Mainstream

Uganda may have the third-highest fertility rate in the world but where there is life, death is inevitable. And it is a certainty that Regina Mukiibi Mugongo made the most of when she became this East African nation’s first ever funeral director almost two decades ago.

Haitian Migrant Boat Capsizes, Dozens Feared Dead

(Al Jazeera) - A sailboat passing through the southern Bahamas islands with about 150 Haitian migrants on board capsized after running aground, killing up to 30 people and leaving the rest clinging to the vessel for hours, authorities said Tuesday.

“Climate of Fear” Pervades Guinea-Bissau as Elections are Again Postponed

Elections in Guinea-Bissau, already pushed back to March of next year, are threatened by “continued human rights violations and impunity” and “the climate of fear caused by the unlawful behavior of the defense and security forces,” UN envoy José Manuel Ramos-Horta told the Security Council Tuesday.

Three Weeks After Haiyan, Remote Areas Yet to Receive Aid

Year after year roughly eight tropical cyclones blast the Philippine archipelago washing away everything that dares to cross its path. What remains is mostly devastation. That is nothing new however, because the Philippine islands lie 1,000 kilometers from the Asia mainland; located at the rim of the Pacific Ocean; and totally surrounded by water and prone to such monstrous weather.

Prolific Monologues to Address Violence Against Women & Girls in “Wounded To Death”

The fight to end violence against women and girls remains a critical issue for the  global community as the world gathered to observe Orange Day—the International Day to End Violence Against on the 25 November, 2013.  Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights and has a long lasting consequence on the victims, the families, the communities and the countries that suffer its wrath.

Today’s Forecast Is for Climate-Proof Farming

Even as weather extremes bedevil Caribbean farmers, Ramgopaul Roop has turned his three-acre fruit farm into a showcase for how to beat climate change. His conservation farming methods include water harvesting and growing lemon grass as mulch. Since the grass is also a weed, it discourages the growth of other harmful weeds without the use of herbicides.

Taking Efforts to Fight Prejudice in Cuba to the Barrios

From a very young age, Irma Castañeda has braided her curly hair and cared for it with natural recipes inherited from her mother, ignoring the widespread conception that black women’s hair is “ugly” or “bad”.