ECONOMY-LEBANON: Skewed Policies Widen Urban-Rural Divide

The luxury brands and fashion powerhouses that line the streets of the Lebanese capital seem to suggest that this country is enjoying an hour of glory as the world is in the throes of a severe recession.

POLITICS: U.N. in Final Push for 2015 Development Goals

A special U.N. summit of world leaders, scheduled to take place next year, is expected to make "a final push" to help reach the world body's widely-touted development goals by the targeted date of 2015.

DEVELOPMENT: To Grab, Or To Invest

The World Food Security Summit in Rome this week opened up a dispute between what may be investment in farmland to some, but is seen as land grab by others.

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Summit’s Failure Exposes Grim Reality

There are two main ways the flop of this week’s United Nations World Food Security Summit in Rome - which has been snubbed by the world’s top leaders, has failed to deliver binding aid commitments, or to set a target date for the eradication of hunger - is being read.

DEVELOPMENT: Farmers Not Invited to Food Summit?

World farmers are not part of the official delegations at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit on food security that opened here Monday. But they came anyhow to express their views, since, they say, it is their communities that are most impacted by the food crisis.

DEVELOPMENT: Scandinavia, Ireland Tops in Humanitarian Aid

Of the 22 major western donor nations, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark responded most effectively to humanitarian emergencies around the world in 2008, according to the latest of three annual assessments of humanitarian aid released here Tuesday by Development Assistance Research Associates (DARA).

HAITI: Clinton Revives Modest Optimism for Island’s Economy

Since his appointment last spring as United Nations special envoy to Haiti, former U.S. President Bill Clinton has been called, half-seriously, "president of Haiti" and "viceroy".

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger and Conflict Go Hand in Hand

Countries emerging from conflict need more international assistance to rebuild their food production, since hunger and scarcity may prompt a return to fighting, United Nations and development officials warned this week.

HEALTH: U.S. Urged to Double Aid to Global Projects

As the effort to achieve universal health coverage within the U.S. crawls forward in Washington, a new report by a coalition of global health organisations details how the U.S. can "help lead the world to universal access to comprehensive health care in developing countries".

DEVELOPMENT: Scandinavia Leads World in Pro-Poor Policies

Scandinavian countries pursue policies that are most effective in promoting development in poor nations, according to the latest edition of the annual "Commitment to Development Index" released by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development (CGD).

HEALTH: One in Five Infants Still Lacks Essential Vaccines

A record 106 million infants were vaccinated in 2008 - the highest rate of immunisation ever - according to a report released Wednesday in Washington, but NGOs are calling for an increase in funding to fill the gap affecting the world's poorest nations and communities.

DEVELOPMENT: Anti-Poverty Fight Needs More Than Money

"Investing in children and securing their rights is one of the surest ways to ending poverty," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told 1,500 students at the United Nations International School in New York City Friday as part of the Stand Up Take Action Campaign organised by the U.N. Millennium Campaign.

DEVELOPMENT: More Than a Billion Going Hungry

The global economic crisis has led to an historic increase in hunger and undernourishment in the world's poorest countries, with broad consequences for political security and stability, according to two reports released for World Food Day, observed Friday.

DEVELOPMENT: Meeting MDGs “Not Rocket Science”

Achieving an ambitious set of anti-poverty benchmarks will take much more financing from rich countries, Jeffrey Sachs, the special advisor to the U.N. secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), warned Monday.

DEVELOPMENT: Resource Crunch Signals Larger Ecological Crisis

How would development programmes look if viewed from the position of scarcity, especially the scarcity of food, water, and energy?

CLIMATE CHANGE: Food Supply Hangs in the Balance

Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more starving people will be part of humanity's grim future without concerted action on climate change and new investments in agriculture, experts reported this week.

SOMALIA: President Calls for More Aid in U.S. Visit

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the leader of Somalia's beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG), appealed here this week for increased U.S. and international security and humanitarian assistance for his efforts to defeat hard-line Islamist rebels and reconstruct his war-torn nation.

Q&A: “Latin America Faces a Tough Balancing Act”

Chile is leading the way towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while Honduras is seriously lagging behind, says Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

ECONOMY: "Put Africa on the G20 Agenda in Pittsburgh"

With South Africa being the only African country with a seat on the Group of 20 (G20), while serving as co-chair of the working group on reforming the International Monetary Fund, it has "a moral obligation towards the continent to call for more responsible management of the global financial system".

FINANCE: Aid Losses Prompting “Development Emergency”

A new U.N. report warns that the world is likely to suffer more economic and environmental disasters if the richest countries fail to shoulder their share of development aid to poorer nations.

FINANCE: World Bank, NGOs Exhort G20 Not to Forget the Poorest

The World Bank and major non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are calling on leaders who will gather for next week's Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Pittsburgh not to forget the needs of the world's poorest countries, which have been severely affected by the last year's financial crisis.