Q&A: 'Monitor Aid Delivery Against Pledges'

The European Union commitment to stepping up development aid is expected to be put to the test at the G8 summit in Hokkaido in Japan next month.

HEALTH-MALAWI: Water Woes in Model Hospital

Gladys Mawera's face is contorted with pain -– both she and her newborn baby survived a complicated birth three days ago - but she has not been able to take the painkillers and antibiotics prescribed to her by the medical personnel at the Chiradzulu District Hospital in southern Malawi. The hospital has been without water for five days.

FINANCE-US: More Debt Relief in Sight for Poorest Nations

Anti-debt campaigners say legislation passed by a U.S. Congressional committee this week that would expand debt cancellations to an additional 25 poor nations could prove effective in fighting poverty, stopping environmental degradation and easing the traditional strict economic conditions that accompanied loans and often led to economic chaos.

Q&A: Is Democracy Dangerous in Multi-ethnic Societies?

The Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE) would seem to have its work cut out for it in a world racked by brutal and enduring conflict. The centre's goal is to explore the links between ethnicity, inequality and conflict in order to identify policies that could lead to more inclusive multi-ethnic societies.

HEALTH-PARAGUAY: Hospitals on the Critical List

Paraguay’s public hospitals are on the verge of collapse, due to a lack of resources for responding to the wave of southern hemisphere winter illnesses. The first measure to be adopted by the new government that will take over in August will be to declare a "social emergency" in healthcare, the future health minister told IPS.

DEVELOPMENT-EU: Saving Agriculture From Climate Change

Climate change will top the agenda of an international food conference on Europe that begins Thursday in Innsbruck, Austria.

CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S. Intelligence Cites Litany of Dangers

While the United States is relatively well placed to cope with the likely consequences of global warming over the next 20 years, many developing countries, especially in Africa, South, Central and East Asia, and Central America, could suffer serious problems, particularly related to water scarcity and migration, according to testimony here Wednesday by a top U.S. intelligence officer.

DEVELOPMENT-GHANA: No Place to Lay Their Heads

Agbogbloshie Market is a vibrant market in the heart of Accra, Ghana's capital, where one can buy almost anything. But the market is also the stage for a sad tale of many who gain nothing from the commercial bustle: hundreds of young girls from the northern part of the country who work as porters in Accra's markets.

CORRUPTION: Graft Sapping Precious Water Resources

The world's growing water crisis - with nearly 1.2 billion people lacking a steady water supply and more than 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation - is fundamentally a crisis of governance, with corruption as one root cause, says a new report by Transparency International.

CLIMATE CHANGE: 100-Percent Renewables Not a Pipe Dream

North America's abject failure to meet the challenge of climate change has been "un-American", environmentalist and scientist David Suzuki told delegates Tuesday at the World Wind Energy Conference, the first ever in the region.

DEVELOPMENT: 'Aid From New EU Members Disregards Women'

Foreign aid budgets administered by the European Union's most recent entrants do not pay sufficient heed to the needs of women in poor countries, a series of new studies has found.

DEVELOPMENT: Mobile Phones Soar in Internet-Starved Africa

The beleaguered African continent continues to lag far behind the rest of the world in battling poverty, hunger and HIV/AIDS, but it is making dramatic progress in the field of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

LATIN AMERICA: Quality of Life at School Boosts Learning

The school environment is the factor that makes the greatest difference in student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to UNESCO’s Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (SERCE). Equality in the education system, however, is still a distant goal.

TRADE: U.S. Farm Subsidies May Survive WTO Doha Round

Delegates at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) disagree with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy’s view that the negotiations on trade in agricultural products are ‘‘nearly there’’.

NEPAL: A Small Victory for Nepali Women

Representatives from the Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits and other indigenous groups were present when Nepal’s newly elected constituent assembly sat for its very first meeting late last month, and 191 of the 601-member assembly were women.

RIGHTS: Mistreatment of Widows a Poorly Kept Secret

Millions of women in many parts of the world are facing discrimination and abuse simply because they happen to be either widows or divorced, according to a new report released by a U.S.-based independent research organisation.

TRADE: WTO Delegates Following Talks Through News Media

As closed-door meetings proceed between selected countries, other member states of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have resorted to following media reports in an attempt to stay abreast with the current Doha Round of negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods.

TRADE: China and India Should Join Effort to Stop Illegal Logging

‘‘Greed should not lead us to destroy our forests,’’ according to Abraham Ansah, an executive member of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) the Bunso Conservationists.

DEVELOPMENT: Water Flowing Back Into Public Hands

The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of ending privatisation of such services.

PHILIPPINES: Jatropha Key to Self Sufficiency?

The jatropha plant may be the key to addressing the problems of energy and food self-sufficiency in the Mekong region. Cultivating this hardy plant will not only provide biofuel but will also ensure that agricultural lands devoted to food production will not be diverted to fuel crops.

Q&A: Tough Talk On Reaching Goals

The director of the Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty, is an angry man. Last year he was confronted with the climate change issue and now it is the global food crisis.