SOUTH AFRICA: High Stakes Battle Between Mining and Environment

Environmentalists and tour operators appear to be losing the battle against mining companies in Mpumalanga, a province in the east of South Africa. This confrontation - which also pits two ministries against each other - will determine the future of hundreds of lakes and rivers, and has implications for the economic sustainability of the province.

HEALTH: UNAIDS Head Puts the Spotlight on Children and Teens

The executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is urging action as concerns the transmission of HIV to children through sexual abuse, incest and early teenage sex.

ZIMBABWE: A Water and Sewerage Crisis That Goes "Straight to the Grave"

A young Zimbabwean couple glances furtively around before settling on a bench in a bare patch of ground that used to be a recreational park in Glen View, a sprawling, high-density suburb of the capital, Harare. It’s a Monday morning, and the two of them are struggling to come to terms with a strange sickness that has gripped their family. Every move they make in the direction of the Glen View One Satellite Clinic shows they are in great pain.

TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Non-Tariff Barriers Blocking Flow of Goods

While the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has moved towards liberalising trade to make the flow of goods between countries easier and economically more rewarding, non-tariff barriers continue to be a concern, a recent study found.

HEALTH: Simpler AIDS Drugs to Benefit Children

A new form of AIDS treatment for children, targeted at families in rural areas, will be available within months, according to an official from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: Bringing Millennium Goals to Life

"Daniel San Juan Tolentino dug his own grave. A pile of earth fell on him and buried him." So begins the article on child labourers in Mexico that won first prize in the "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals" Journalism Awards, organised by IPS and UNDP.

EAST AFRICA: Why Women Remain Trapped in Informal Trade

In Malawi up to a quarter of all households are headed by women. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and some 80 percent of Malawians directly depend on this sector. With an average of six children per household, most women embark on small business ventures to supplement their income from agricultural activities.

ENVIRONMENT-AFGHANISTAN: Goodbye Stinky, Dry Latrines

The pervasive smell of human ordure is warning enough that this is a city that badly needs a sanitation system.

DEVELOPMENT: Afghanistan in Dire Straits

Against the backdrop of an escalating military conflict, Afghanistan is facing a rash of new problems, including increased poverty, widespread corruption, a breakdown in the rule of law and a paralysed judiciary, according to a new report released here.

SOUTH AFRICA: A National Health Controversy Takes on Regional Dimensions

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), one of South Africa’s largest AIDS lobby groups, says it has obtained evidence indicating that government was implicated in illegal medical experiments on people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, involving the discredited product Virodene.

VENEZUELA: Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign Targets Men

If the coffee is cold, he goes ballistic, smashes the cup on the floor and lashes out at his partner. If she doesn’t come running when he calls, or their daughter cries, he shouts impatiently and hits her. These are some of the scenes in unprecedented TV spots now appearing in Venezuela.

TRADE-EU: World Bank Asks For More Time on EPAs

Senior World Bank staff have asked the European Union to consider extending the end-of-year deadline it has set for a series of free trade agreements with Africa.

TRADE: Only a Handful Are Lords of the Food Harvest

The food and beverage industry is experiencing a high degree of concentration, with 10 distributing companies controlling 24 percent of the world market, according to a report being studied this week by workers’, employers’ and government representatives gathered by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

TRADE-AFRICA: Improved Regional Integration Still Key For Success

While its economic landscape is brightening, Africa is still bedeviled by some of the same obstacles that has historically served to undermine economic development in the resource and labour-rich region. And many of those woes could be solved through development of further intraregional trade.

DEVELOPMENT-MALAWI: Lack of Running Water Puts Girls&#39 Education at Risk

Rita Kalikokha of Dowa, a rural district in central Malawi, thinks about abandoning school every time she menstruates.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: “We Drink Condoms and Panties”

Police arrested ten people who were part of a large group of protesters blocking the N4 highway linking South Africa and Botswana earlier this month. Residents of the tiny village of Ntsweletsoku were so angry about the persistent water shortages in their area that they resorted to violent demonstrations to attract the attention of the authorities.

TRADE-EAST AFRICA: &#39&#39A Foreigner Cannot Develop Us&#39&#39

While east Africans still hold reservations about the benefits of the economic partnership agreement (EPA) currently being negotiated with the European Union (EU), both government and civil society representatives seem to be accepting that it is the best option available.

MOROCCO: Polls Largely Maintain the Status Quo for Women in Parliament

This month's parliamentary elections in Morocco have seen the number of women legislators decline from 35 to 34 in the 325 member body. With 30 of the female representatives elected under a quota, the results would seem to indicate that women face challenges in making their presence felt in the lower house - even though a proportional representation system is used for polls.

TRADE-CANADA: Losing Water Through NAFTA

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada lost control over its energy resources. Now, with "NAFTA-plus", it could also lose control over its freshwater resources, say experts.

AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Using Alternative Methods to Adapt to Drought

"It is painful to think that global warming will further aggravate the lack of rainfall" in Brazil’s semiarid northeast, said Luiz Tomacheski, who was stunned to see firsthand the dry landscape of twisted thorny shrubs and patches of brown grass in this region.

TRADE-EAST AFRICA: How to Safeguard Food Security in EPAs

Government leaders and exporters in east Africa are adamant that certain products be excluded from the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) to prevent detrimental effects on the livelihoods of the majority of people in the region.