CLIMATE CHANGE: Indian Scientists Competent But Still at Sea

The prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc), set up here in May 1909, is celebrating its centenary with year-long lectures and seminars, some of which have revealed Indian science’s lack of coherence in dealing with climate change in India.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Another Record Year for Heat, Storms

A new U.N. study on climate change reveals that 2008 was one of the warmest years since 1850 when scientists started to keep weather records.

Q&A: Failure to Translate Women’s Legal Rights into Action

Each year, for 16 days in December, the world’s focus shifts towards taking action against gender-based violence. Governments and civil society organisations raise awareness around women’s rights and lobby for gender equality. But activists lament that little action is taken throughout the rest of the year and women’s legal rights often fail to be implemented and put to action.

SOUTH AMERICA: Mercosur Shares Social Concerns, Diverges on Economy

Concern over the social impact of the global economic crisis dominated the discussions at the Mercosur Summit on Tuesday, but economic proposals by some presidents underscored their ideological differences.

VENEZUELA: “Children Can’t Even Play on Their Front Stoops”

Johana Bracamonte never had a chance to learn to read. She was just five years old the morning her uncle took her to kindergarten and they were both shot by thieves who stole his motorbike, in 23 de Enero, a shantytown on the west side of the Venezuelan capital.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Constitutions Affirmed as Essential for Democracy

One of Africa's main challenges is ensuring that constitutions reflect a consensus amongst all sectors of the population, including vulnerable groups such as women, are rarely taken into account in constitutional strengthening initiatives.

Q&A: South Africa Suffers Sanitation Backlog

Sanitation is a key element of health, and hygiene a basic need for survival. Yet, millions of South Africans, especially those living in rural areas, do not have access to basic services, such as clean, running water and sanitary toilet systems.

AGRICULTURE-ETHIOPIA: Can Foreign-Owned Farms Solve Food Crisis?

Tola Melka was planning to throw a traditional party at his shanty home in rural central Ethiopia, anticipating a bumper harvest. He was grief-stricken in late October when unexpected rains totally destroyed his almost ripened teff, a native staple crop used to make spongy bread.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Shady Dealings With Antiretrovirals

The current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is dealing a blow to the provision of free treatment and care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs).

CUBA: Even the Coral Reefs Shook

The years will pass and their children’s children will ask how much truth there was in their grandparents’ stories.

DEVELOPMENT-URUGUAY: Slowly but Surely

While Uruguay’s human development levels are improving, the country has lagged behind the faster progress made by some of its neighbours due to fluctuations in its economic performance, according to a local study sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

RIGHTS: Universal HIV Testing Raises Hopes and Fears

While prospects remain dim for a successful HIV vaccine in the near future, public health experts and AIDS advocacy groups are pinning their hopes on a new strategy released by the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO) that could end the disease's endemic phase within a decade.

DEVELOPMENT-NEPAL: Returning Power to Local Bodies is Critical

As members of Nepal’s newly-formed Constituent Assembly (CA) begin the process of a writing a new constitution for this former monarchy they will consider reviving devolution of power to local administrative bodies as the fastest way to ensure development.

DEVELOPMENT: 40 Million More Go Hungry

Rising prices have plunged an additional 40 million people below the hunger threshold this year, a new FAO report says.

CARIBBEAN: Despite Successes, Too Many Dying of AIDS

Every day, 55 people in the Caribbean are infected with the HIV virus and 38 of them die of the disease. That's 20,000 new infections and 14,000 deaths annually.

EL SALVADOR: Gold Mining ‘Is a Huge Rip-Off’ – Environmentalists

A black coffin was consigned to the flames amid music and fireworks as dozens of people from Salvadoran communities that fear the impacts of gold and silver mining celebrated a "symbolic burial" of the Pacific Rim Mining Corporation, a Canadian-based company.

SWAZILAND: Fighting Gender Violence With Financial Freedom

When a Swazi women's rights organisation noticed that many women continue to stay in violent relationships because they are financially dependent on their abusive partners, they knew something had to change. They started self-help groups that assist women in breaking away from gender-based violence (GBV) by gaining financial muscle.

DEVELOPMENT: Richest Countries Also the Stingiest

As the biggest economy in the world, the United States is hardly living up to its potential to promote global prosperity and boost development in poor countries, according to the 2008 Commitment to Development Index (CDI) released Thursday.

Q&A: With Bush, “Nothing Good Is Going to Happen in Poznan”

With the United States represented by outgoing President George W. Bush, not much can be expected of the Dec. 1-12 international conference on climate change in the Polish city of Poznan, activist Walden Bello, winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize 2003, told IPS.

Q&A: Crises Are Left for Another Day…

The Doha Financing for Development Conference is over and many are now wondering how it went and what really happened. Sylvia Borren, co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), was there.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Cholera Now a National Emergency

"Funerals of people dying of cholera are a common feature of our daily lives," said Tapiwa Hove, a resident Budiriro, a high-density suburb of Harare. "But it seems no one cares. Sewage is flowing all over. It's like living in hell."