Triple Summit in Singapore Puts Urban Planning on the Map

With over 20,000 international participants, a triple summit wrapping up today in Singapore is generating an abundance of ideas on sustainable cities.

U.S. Education System Not Helping Immigrant Parents

Immigrant parents in the United States face serious challenges accessing early elementary programmes for their children, advocates here are warning.

Rich Getting Richer as the Poor Crawl Slowly Out of Poverty

The very contemporary medieval novels of Welsh author Ken Follett transport readers to a time when the rich had everything - and the poor didn’t even own themselves.

Wheat Smugglers Bring High Prices, and Hunger

With its lush valleys and well-watered plains, Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province produces plenty of food for the local population, including 10 million tons of wheat every year. So why are the people of this bountiful mountainous region going hungry?

Kenya’s Climate Change Legislation Takes Shape To Save Struggling Farmers

Daniel Njau, a small-scale farmer from Nyeri County, central Kenya, is torn. He just may have to give up his six-hectare tea plantation in favour of farming climate-resilient food crops.

Venezuelans Thirsty in a Land of Abundant Water

Although Venezuela has 520 long rivers, taps often run dry, many poor neighbourhoods depend on tanker trucks, water rationing remains a reality, and in some areas water quality is very poor.

Côte d’Ivoire Rides the Fast Track to Public Transport Development

Two years ago, it would have taken Catherine Adjoua almost an hour to travel from M’Badon, the isolated fishing area where she lives that has no asphalt roads, to reach her workplace some 13 kilometres away in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital.

World Applauds Ambitious U.S. Carbon Cuts

New efforts by the U.S. to reduce its carbon emissions are being welcomed around the world. On Monday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

Low-Wage Workers Butt Heads with 21st Century Capital

“Supersize my salary now!”  The refrain rose over a busy street outside a McDonald’s in downtown Seattle.

Let There Be Light, Implores U.N. Chief

When night falls, there are over 1.3 billion people, mostly in the developing world, who live in virtual darkness because they have no access to electricity.

Foreign Aid Funding Luxury Hotels in Myanmar

New investments from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm, may perpetuate economic inequality rather than alleviate poverty in Myanmar, critics here are warning.

Pakistan’s Coal Rush: A Bubble Waiting to Burst

Mukhtar Ali is one of the many Pakistanis who are furious at politicians and authorities for failing to provide citizens with a regular supply of electricity during the smouldering summer months.

Cell Phones and Cash Grants Can Promote Growth and Development

Mobile-finance and direct cash grants are revolutionary tools that can substitute for under-developed financial sectors and help reduce poverty and promote entrepreneurship in developing countries, according to researchers here.

Working Cambodian Women ‘Too Poor’ to Have Children

The movement for reproductive justice sees women’s decision to have – or not have – children as a fundamental right. Should they choose to bear a child, women should have the right to care and provide for them; if they opt not to give birth, family planning services should be made available to enable women to space or prevent pregnancies.

Nearly One-Third of World’s Population Is Overweight

Over two billion people - or 30 percent of the world’s population - are either obese or overweight, and no country has successfully reduced obesity rates to date, according to a new study published this week by the British medical journal, The Lancet.

U.N. Development Programme Plans Lay-Offs, Salary Cuts and Demotions

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), one of the largest U.N. agencies with an estimated average annual budget of more than five billion dollars, is undergoing major structural changes - triggering large-scale staff layoffs, demotions, salary reductions and downgrading and abolition of existing senior-level jobs.

Small Farmers’ Loss of Land Increases World Hunger

The world is increasingly hungry because small farmers are losing access to farmland. Small farmers produce most of the world’s food but are now squeezed onto less than 25 percent of the world’s farmland, a new report reveals. Corporate and commercial farms, big biofuel operations and land speculators are pushing millions off their land.

U.N. Vows to Eliminate Open Defecation by 2025

At the height of his election campaign last October, Narendra Modi, India's Hindu nationalist leader, briefly set aside his spiritual aspirations when he told a surprised audience that economic development should take precedence over religion.

OP-ED: Why Ending Child Marriage in Africa Can No Longer Wait

Just 17 years old, Clarisse is already a mother of two, who lives with her husband and his four other wives in rural southern Chad. Three years earlier, she had watched her mom and sisters preparing food for a party one day. At first she celebrated along with everyone else, not realising it was her own wedding ceremony. When she discovered this, she was frantic.

Indian Girls Break Taboos on Menstrual Hygiene

Fifteen-year-old Nasreen Jehan, a student in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, proudly flaunts a yellow and red beaded bracelet encircling her wrist. This humble accessory, she tells IPS, is her most treasured possession.

Schools Reflect Segregation in Chile’s Educational System

The decentralisation of Chile’s public schools, which were handed over to the municipalities to run in 1981, gave rise to a de facto segregation that has cast a shadow over several generations of Chileans.