DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Rippling Out Like a “Tsunami”

"A rolling tsunami of social unrest is underway as we speak - hungry people are desperate people capable of taking desperate actions. This tsunami is rapidly enveloping the global South, and it won't take much longer before it knocks at the door of the global North," warned Vicente Garcia-Delgado, the U.N. representative for CIVICUS, the world alliance for citizen participation.

TRADE: COMESA Summit in Balance Because of Zimbabwe Chaos

Zimbabwe, which is in a political and financial tailspin, has missed out on an opportunity to save some of its tattered international reputation. The Common Market for East and Southern Africa’s (COMESA) 13th summit would have taken place in the country’s north-eastern resort town of Victoria Falls but has been postponed indefinitely.

DEVELOPMENT: UN Sees Major Successes in Child Survival

The developing world is making significant progress in child survival despite the fact that nearly 2.2 billion children worldwide continue to battle poverty, sexual abuse, forced military conscription, labour exploitation and HIV/AIDS.

CAMBODIA: Seeing Opportunity in Rising Food Prices

Cambodian government sees opportunity for this impoverished country in the global rise in food prices that could help turn the fortunes for its agrarian economy.

TRADE-AFRICA: EPA Threatens to Tear Apart Oldest Customs Union

The fate of the world’s oldest customs union, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), is hanging in the balance as a result of the economic partnership agreements that most SACU countries have signed with the European Union (EU).

PERU: Women – The Guardians of Potato Biodiversity

In South America’s Andes mountain region, indigenous women have traditionally been responsible for selecting, conserving and managing seed potatoes from the countless native varieties of the crop, thus ensuring diversity and continued production while contributing to food security among their people.

SPAIN: Fight Against Domestic Violence only Strong on Paper

While domestic violence in Spain is becoming more and more visible, the country’s laws and justice system are proving weak instruments to fight the phenomenon, according to experts from different fields who are demanding further legal reforms to address the issue.

TRADE-MALAWI: Aid Will Not Be Conditional Upon Signing of EPAs

The European Commission (EC) has assured Malawi that the country will continue receiving cooperation aid even if it does not sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

PERU: Summit Discusses Climate Change as Glaciers Melt

Peru is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which is already having perceptible effects in this country. According to a report by the National Environment Council (CONAM), the area of glaciers in the Andes has shrunk from 2,042 to 1,596 square kilometres in just 25 years.

CULTURE-CHILE: Free Book Selections for 400,000 Families

The Chilean government has begun distributing carefully selected packages of books to thousands of low-income families. But the programme aimed at promoting reading is not without its detractors, who question the extent of its real impact.

HEALTH: World Bank Shifting Gears on AIDS in Africa

The World Bank says it is recalibrating its financing for anti-AIDS efforts in Africa, which shoulders more than two-thirds of the world's HIV/AIDS burden.

TRADE: Zimbabwe Is the Fly in the New FTA Broth

With an electoral crisis, world-record inflation and a collapsing economy blighted by a brain drain and a generally restive population, Zimbabwe could prove to be southern Africa’s ‘‘problem child’’ as the region seeks to link its economies in a new free trade area (FTA).

TRADE-MALAWI: Turmoil as Tobacco Prices Fluctuate

Malawi’s tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors.

TRADE-AFRICA: EU Seeks to Subdue Competitive China

With the ascendance of China as a robust force on Africa’s economic and political scene, plans are afoot in the European Union (EU) to pre-empt the Asian nation’s dominance on the continent by forming a trilateral partnership that places Europe squarely in the centre.

RIGHTS: Women’s Groups Push for Gender-Sensitive Budgets

As women's groups and political activists intensify their global campaign for gender empowerment, there is a growing trend towards "gender budgeting" both among developed and developing nations.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Water "Undervalued and Not Treated With Respect"

A two-day conference on water issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened Wednesday in Maseru, Lesotho, has seen representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and other groups discuss the likely effects of climate change on development in the region.

LATIN AMERICA: Food Price Inflation Threatens Children

Child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean will be aggravated by global food shortages, even though the region produces much more food than it consumes, say experts and officials.

Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet

White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

DEVELOPMENT: Sweden, Ireland, Britain Lead in Aiding Africa

Sweden, Ireland and Britain top an index of 21 rich countries that ranks their commitment to help develop African nations. The United States, the world's largest economy, was a distant thirteenth, while Japan remains the least committed to the continent among rich nations.

DEVELOPMENT: Can Sorghum Solve the Biofuels Dilemma?

A new crop that provides food, animal feed and fuel at the same time promises to help developing countries redirect money spent on oil imports to benefit their own farmers. Is sweet sorghum biofuel's "holy grail"?

HEALTH-KENYA: Months After Dump Scare, Problems Persist

Every day, the Dandora dumpsite in the eastern part of Nairobi receives 2,000 tonnes of rubbish - about half of the waste generated daily by the capital's 4.5 million people. The 12-hectare site is a low mountain of smouldering trash. Vultures and marabou storks circle overhead in anticipation of a meal.