ENVIRONMENT-THAILAND: Seeing the Light With Solar Power

Till over a year ago, health officials worried over maintaining the cold chain for vaccines delivered to children on this island. These included the ten given to new-born Thais, such as those for polio, diphtheria, tetanus, Japanese encephalitis and tuberculosis.

ENVIRONMENT: Chile’s Biggest Freshwater Reserve Left Unprotected

Chile possesses vast freshwater reserves in its glaciers, but lacks laws to protect them. Lawmakers, farmers and environmentalists are calling for legislation to fill that gap.

Q&A: “I Said to Myself, Why Not Create an NGO Focused on the Dignity of Women?”

Later this year, Salamatou Traoré - a leading health worker in Niger - will be awarded a five thousand dollar grant from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in recognition of her work to assist women who suffer from fistulas. She is one of three persons being honoured by the agency for their efforts to uplift women.

PARAGUAY: Shooting Ranges, Munitions Depots Within City Limits

The humble dwellings of the Varadero neighbourhood in the Paraguayan capital still show signs of the devastating explosion that occurred three years ago in a navy arsenal located within a residential area.

Q&A: “People Often Cannot Avoid Putting at Risk the Natural Resource Base Upon Which They Depend”

With the World Day to Combat Desertification set to take place shortly (Jun. 17), efforts are gearing up to highlight the threats posed by land degradation in much of Africa - as well as initiatives to safeguard against desertification.

G8-AFRICA: Shortfall on Help in AIDS Fight ‘Devastating’

Although the Group of Eight industrialised nations agreed at their summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, to allocate 60 billion dollars to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa, health activists say the treatment targets are much lower than originally pledged, which is "devastating news", especially for the millions of people with HIV/AIDS.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Emigration a Blessing for Biosphere Reserve

Pressure on natural resources and biodiversity in Mexico's Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve has been reduced as a result of the emigration of half its human inhabitants - some 50,000 people - to the United States.

ENVIRONMENT-RWANDA: Unhappy Ending of a Welcome Return

The return in 1996 of over a million Rwandans who had fled their country in the wake of genocide two years earlier, fearing persecution at the hands of Tutsi rebels who took control of Rwanda, was greeted with relief in many quarters.

BOLIVIA: Safe Abortion Nearly Impossible Even in Cases of Rape

Bolivia's constituent assembly has just two months left to finishing rewriting the country's constitution. In 10 months of sessions, it has approved a single article, regarding the right to hold football matches at high altitudes, in response to the International Football Federation's (FIFA) ban on high-altitude international matches.

G8: Much Talk, Too Few Results

This year's summit of the G8 heads of government will likely be remembered as a "how not to" organise such an event, for the contrast between the expectations it raised and its negligible accomplishments, and for its enormous security costs.

CARIBBEAN: Leaders Seek Funds to Transform Agriculture

Convinced that agriculture holds the key to the socioeconomic development of the Caribbean, regional leaders have drawn up a project list totaling almost 300 million dollars for regional and international donors to help transform the sector.

AFRICA: G8 Has Yet to Deliver on Aid Promises – World Bank

The industrialised nations of the Group of Eight are failing on the promises made in their previous summits to help Africa's economic development and to push for poverty alleviation for those struggling to survive on less than a dollar per day, say World Bank experts and development activists.

G8: Health Over Intellectual Property Rights, Says G5

The Group of Eight industrialised countries suffered a setback Friday in its plan to strengthen intellectual property rights through "promoting innovation - protecting innovation" when the five developing world's leaders - China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico - forced a key change in the final statement.

G8: Summit Falls Short on Africa Aid, Hedge Fund Regulation

The Group of Eight industrialised countries (G8) agreed to allocate 60 billion dollars in new aid to Africa in "the coming years", to beef up the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and to improve primary education across the continent.

BRAZIL: Water Sources Threatened by Lack of Low-Cost Housing, Sanitation

José Carlos Bezerra knows that the sewage from his house flows directly into the Guarapiranga reservoir, the source of water for millions of people in Brazil's largest city. But what can he do, he asks, if he can't afford to live anywhere but in this slum?

CLIMATE CHANGE: Emerging G5 Take Counter-Proposal to G8

A coalition of the major developing countries - China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico - has a plan to fight climate change that will be presented here Friday as an alternative to the "watered-down" approach announced Thursday by the Group of Eight industrialised countries.

DEVELOPMENT: The ‘Good Guys’ Chastise the G8 ‘Villains’

"You shouldn't have any doubts, the good guys are us," says Patrick, 20, dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and a sport jacket, with a flamboyant pink Mohawk haircut, as he reads a pamphlet on development aid for Africa.

EDUCATION-AFRICA: Will eLearning Make Teachers Redundant?

Does electronic learning (eLearning) threaten to displace the teacher?

ECONOMY-KENYA: Branson Flying More and Cutting Carbon Emissions

With the introduction of Virgin Atlantic flights on the London/Nairobi route company chief Sir Richard Branson is not only tapping into a lucrative tourism market, he is also offering export opportunities to local farmers.

G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Backs Rising South-South Cooperation

Dramatically explosive growth in trade and investments among the world's developing nations has prompted a call to strengthen the growing economic trend at a proposed international conference on South-South cooperation.