TRADE: Europe Grapples With the Future of ACP Sugar Imports

The European Union (EU) has imported sugar at preferential prices from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries since the 1970s; but, failed sugar reform within the union and the prospect of unlimited imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the near future have put a question mark over this arrangement.

ENERGY: Major Oil Consumers Warm to Biofuels

Despite their diverse - and sometimes sharply conflicting - political and economic interests, the world's major powers seem to be getting closer to each other in their quest to develop clean alternative sources of energy.

ENERGY-U.S./LATIN AMERICA: An OPEC for Ethanol?

U.S. President George W. Bush will visit Latin America next week seeking a strategic alliance with Brazil to develop biofuels - and Venezuela, the region's main oil exporter, is taking this as a warning sign.

BOLIVIA: Floodwaters Besiege Amazonian Town

Seen from the air, the capital of the Bolivian department of Beni is surrounded by an enormous stretch of water. Local residents are hoping that the polluted floodwaters, only 40 centimetres below the level of the ring road which is acting as a dike, do not overwhelm it.

ENVIRONMENT: The Niger River in Intensive Care

Stretching over more than 4,000 kilometres, the Niger is West Africa's longest river, and greatly threatened in the country of the same name by environmental degradation that is causing the water course to silt up.

LABOUR: Few “Decent Jobs” in the Booming Informal Economy

The service sector, comprising finance, banking and tourism, but also much lesser-paid jobs in retail and food services, overtook agriculture as the largest source of employment last year, according to a report released this week by the U.N. Commission for Social Development.

PERU: UN Mission Probes Private Security Groups

A priest who provides support for Peruvian farmers in their conflict with a transnational gold mining corporation complained to a United Nations mission that he was under surveillance by a private security company.

CARIBBEAN: Eastern Economic Union Takes Shape

Their history of cooperation is well established. Even before they signed the Treaty of Basseterre in 1981, the seven islands of the Eastern Caribbean had been pooling their economic and political resources and institutions, creating their own common market, currency and judiciary.

POLITICS: White House Left Out in the Cold on Warming

Dozens of legislators from rich and developing nations will meet in Washington next month to discuss plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

POLITICS: U.N. Move to Downgrade Disarmament Triggers Protests

A proposal by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to downgrade the U.N.'s Department of Disarmament Affairs (DDA) - and possibly bring it under the umbrella of the Department of Political Affairs - has sparked a critical reaction from member states, peace activists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: From the Burkinabe Countryside to Italian Tomato Fields

For Mady Daboné, Europe beckons. "Staying here...is misery," the 30-year-old from the village of Begdo in eastern Burkina Faso told IPS, adding that several of his friends were already abroad. "I have about twenty of them in Italy and Spain. They have all done well, even though they suffered at the beginning."

DEVELOPMENT: South-South Trade Boom Reshapes Global Order

The world's new economic powerhouses, including India, Brazil, South Africa and China, are largely responsible for a dramatic surge in trade and investments among the 132 developing nations in the global South.

POLITICS: A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Key political figures from the West and the Muslim world, as well as the outgoing U.N. chief Kofi Annan, urged the international community Monday to seriously examine ways to promote greater dialogue among civilisations and cultures.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Malawi On Track to Meet Child Mortality MDG

Looking at Patience Ziyenda, 37, one would say that she is a jovial woman. But deep inside, Patience is sad. She is among the many women in Malawi who have been struck by the catastrophe of child mortality.

HEALTH: ‘Children Are the Hope of the World’ Says Che’s Daughter

Aleida Guevara March has the eyes of her famous father, the revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara. She speaks energetically, as if she is attempting to convince a full auditorium of her ideas. But she also smiles tenderly as she remembers her father.

PERU: Apristas, Fujimoristas Back Law Increasing Oversight of NGOs

The governing Peruvian Aprista Party and pro-Fujimori members of Congress demonstrated their virtual alliance by passing a law that will allow the state to exert greater control over non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

DEVELOPMENT: Trade Agreements, Darfur in the Spotlight at ACP Gathering

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is taking place under the theme 'United for Peace, Solidarity and Sustainability'; however, negotiations at the meeting may have a somewhat less harmonious tone.

DEVELOPMENT: ACP States Feeling the Pinch of 2007 Trade Deadline

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will kick off on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, amidst fierce speculation over the fate of trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and ACP nations.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “What Is WSF? Something That Will Bring Me Medicine?”

In just two months time the World Social Forum (WSF) will get underway in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, marking the first instance in which Africa is acting as sole host of the event.

POLITICS: Ideology Widening Muslim-West Divide

The key reasons for the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies are not religious but political, concludes a report presented to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday in Istanbul, Turkey.

DEVELOPMENT-BENIN: A Blow Against Poverty

Benin is hoping that a five-year, multi-million-dollar grant from the United States under the auspices of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) will finance development projects to reduce poverty, notably through resolving land ownership and credit problems.