DEVELOPMENT-LATIN AMERICA: &#39Italy Wants to Play Its Role&#39

The European Union could help in better distribution of the benefits of economic growth in Latin America, under proposals presented at a meeting between Italy and Latin America-Caribbean countries this week.

FINANCE: IMF, World Bank Meetings: Agendas Great and Small

Downtown Washington has begun to resemble a menagerie as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) gear up for annual meetings.

DEVELOPMENT: Millions Stood Up, Will World Leaders Follow?

Millions of people across the world took part in meetings and rallies calling for economic and social justice for the marginalised and downtrodden in a way that perhaps the world had never witnessed before.

ENVIRONMENT-BOLIVIA: Slash and Burn – a Smoking Gun

Every year, when the (southern hemisphere) spring arrives in Bolivia, the skies are covered with smoke, while anti-pollution campaigns to dissuade farmers from using their traditional slash-and-burn farming technique fall on deaf ears.

TRADE-ZIMBABWE: A Balancing Act Between China and the EU

The Zimbabwean government’s isolation from the international economic arena has forced it to turn right while indicating left.

Q&A: “It Was Not Your Typical ‘Complaining’ Environment”

The second IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) heads of state summit took place Wednesday in the South African capital, Pretoria, with the aim of deepening South-South co-operation. But, the gathering hasn't only been about talks between country leaders.

LATIN AMERICA: NGOs Call for Regional Whale Sanctuary

A score of Latin American whale conservation organisations have asked the Chilean senate to support their proposal to create a whale sanctuary in this country’s territorial waters, ahead of the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to be held in Chile in 2008.

HEALTH: No Woman Should Die Giving Life, Says UNFPA

In this 21st century, when medical science and gender empowerment are rising progressively, "no woman should die giving life", declares Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).

DEVELOPMENT: The Missing Piece of the Poverty Puzzle

Women are seen as the key for ending global poverty and the issue of gender equality is receiving special attention at events marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Wednesday.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Sanitation Is About Mobilising Communities

Off the dusty highway that connects the temple town of Madurai to the provincial capital of Chennai, this village strikes the stray visitor with its cleanliness.

Q&A: &#39GCAP Is About Political Engagement&#39

Rights activist Irfan Mufti, currently working as campaign manager for the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), is confident that this year will see the movement influencing national budgets as well as the policies of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

DEVELOPMENT-MOROCCO: Debate Over Policies to Assist Beggars

Morocco's social development minister, Abderrahim Harrouchi, says efforts are underway to address the plight of thousands of beggars in the North African country.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Little Enthusiasm Over Anti-Poverty Campaign

The enthusiasm among social groups in Mexico and Central America for the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is not reflected by the general public, which has displayed scant interest in this week's event.

LATIN AMERICA: Historic Chance to Get Rid of Hunger

High economic growth rates, political will and laws aimed at ensuring the right to food will not be enough to eradicate hunger in Latin America by 2025, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which calls for ongoing investment, improved coordination of programmes and support for family farming.

SOUTH AMERICA: Call Against Poverty Takes Aim at Inequality

More than two years after the launch of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), social movements in South America are putting the accent on the fight against social inequality and criticism of the neoliberal economic model, which they see as hindering development.

HEALTH-ASIA: Nutrition Is Key to AIDS Treatment Say Experts

People living with HIV and AIDS in two corners of Asia may benefit from a campaign that seeks to broaden public policy responses to the syndrome. Central to this new drive is to make nutrition programmes a part of treatment, say experts.

HEALTH: Maternal Mortality Shames Superpower U.S.

Despite its enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind other industrialised countries - and even some developing ones - in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth.

ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: The Unusual Wealth of the Choco

"Let's go to the sea, let's go to the sea," one hears a nervous voice say every so often in the fishing village of Bahía Solano, on the Colombian Pacific coast. A package has been seen floating and boats are going after a not-so-traditional catch: cocaine thrown out by fleeing drug traffickers.

TRADE: South Africa Won&#39t &#39&#39Roll Over&#39&#39 on Singapore Issues

The European Union (EU) needs to downscale its ambition to include the so-called ‘‘new generation’’ or Singapore issues in the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with southern African countries before the end of the year, says South Africa’s deputy minister of trade and industry, Dr Rob Davies.

ENERGY-SOUTH AFRICA: The Poor Fly Under the Solar Water Heating Radar

Earlier this year, IPS reported that the South African coastal city of Cape Town was debating a "first of a kind" bylaw that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. This got us thinking: what of solar water heating for less expensive structures - especially homes being built under the country's extensive low cost housing programme...Are any initiatives on the drawing board in this regard?

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nobel Prize Recognises Scientific Community

Climate change is linked to world peace because the effects of global warming can threaten stability and harmony in the world, according to Rajendra Pachauri, one of thousands of international scientists who are to share the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.