Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 2006 (IPS) – Every year, the U.N. s Department of Public Information unveils its list of the world s 10 most under-reported stories, implying that politics, murder and sex scandals still take precedence over poverty, peace-building or economic development.
Every year, the U.N. s Department of Public Information (DPI) unveils its list of the world s 10 most under-reported stories, implying that politics, murder and sex scandals still take precedence over poverty, peace-building or economic development.

The list, released by the United Nations Monday, covers a wide range of stories from the plight of asylum seekers and refugees in ongoing conflicts to earthquake relief and post-war reconstruction that received little or no play in the …

Jare Ajayi

VANCOUVER, Jun 16 2006 (IPS) – Keeping a promise made at the United Nations six years ago to dramatically improve the lives of at least 100 million poor city dwellers by the year 2020 will be a major focus of the World Urban Forum here from Jun. 19 to 23.
The third gathering of its kind since the forum was launched in 1998 by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, also called U.N.-Habitat, this year s theme is Sustainable Cities: Turning Ideas Into Action . It is expected to draw more than 15,000 participants from non-governmental organisations, academia, and national and local governments.

Given the fact that about half the world s population of 6.5 billion live in towns and cities (a proportion that will hit two-thirds by 2020, according to U.N.-…

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Jul 31 2006 (IPS) – Critics of a controversial pipeline in the Amazon rainforest that has ruptured five times since its inception in 2004 are dismayed that the main public funder of the project is on the verge of giving more money for its second phase despite earlier promises to await the results of audits probing the pipeline s persistent leaks.
Last week, the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed a mandate letter with companies of the Peru Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline that transports gas from the highly controversial Camisea field.

The letter kick-starts the due diligence process, a mechanism that often signals the imminent release of further loans.

The companies, led by Texas-based Hunt, SK Corporation …

Raúl Gutiérrez

SAN SALVADOR, Sep 5 2006 (IPS) – Juan Carlos Merino, known during his days as a guerrilla fighter as Camilo , has undergone three operations on his spine since he was injured by right-wing paramilitaries in 1987, at the height of El Salvador s civil war. But despite the doctors best efforts, he can still just barely move his legs.
However, Merino doesn t let that get in his way. He drives a tractor, and rides out on horseback to supervise his crops and fish farming tanks. He also built pens for raising chickens and two pigs in his yard.

The 48-year-old campesino and former combatant with the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), who says his dream is to walk again, rides back to his house in the municipality of Cinquera, located 60…

กรุงเทพฯ, ประเทศไทย (วันที่ 25 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2567) – เน็ตมาร์เบิ้ล ผู้พัฒนาและให้บริการเกมมือถือคุณภาพสูงชั้นนำ มีความตื่นเต้นเป็นอย่างยิ่งที่จะประกาศว่าเกมมือถือและ PC ที่จะเปิดให้บริการเต็มตัวเร็ว ๆ นี้อย่าง Solo Leveling:ARISE ได้ขึ้นอัน…

สำหรับสัปดาห์ที่ผ่านมา แฟนเกมที่ตื่นเต้นต่างได้เล่น Demo ของ Final Fantasy VII Rebirth ที่ทุกคนรอคอยบน PS5 อย่างไรก็ตามในเกมเวอร์ชั่นนี้ผู้เล่นบางคนรู้สึกผิดหวังเล็กน้อยกับภาพกราฟิกที่ค่อนข้างหยาบและประสิทธิภาพทางเทคนิคของเกมโชคดีที่ Square Enix ดูเหมือนจะแก้ไขเรื่องนี้ในเร็ว ๆ นี้

ปัญหาทางเทคนิคนี้�…

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Sep 25 2006 (IPS) – An organisation that assists the deafblind has helped make their plight more visible in Venezuela, while knitting a network aimed at improving the quality of life of those who are dual sensory impaired.
Sordociegos (Deafblind) of Venezuela (SOCIEVEN) has worked for 10 years, teaching and improving the quality of life of around 100 deafblind people, and now we are seeking out many more, people we have never met, María Luz Neri, director of the non-governmental organisation, told IPS.

According to her estimates, there could be as many as 4,000 dual sensory impaired people in this South American country of 26.5 million.

Neri said the situation is similar or more accentuated in other countries of Latin America, accor…

Ernest Chiombe

MASERU, Nov 3 2006 (IPS) – Twenty dollars seems a meagre amount, but it has brought an end to backbreaking toil and food insecurity for many of Lesotho s elderly.
Two years ago the government of the small landlocked country started a pension system for citizens over the age of 70. Today, more than 76, 000 people are receiving a monthly pension of approximately 20 dollars.

Whereas such steps in Southern Africa are frequently taken at the behest of donors or the international financial institutions, Lesotho s government introduced the grant in order to address worsening poverty among the elderly.

Lesotho, geographically encircled by South Africa, is home to 1.8 million people of whom 56 percent live on less than two dollars per day. The World Food…

Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, Nov 30 2006 (IPS) – While there is no indication that the George W. Bush administration is willing to roll back its current restrictions on funding for HIV/AIDS, it may find it difficult to maintain the status quo when Democrats take charge of the U.S. Congress in January.
With increasing pressure from women groups, religious organisations and health advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers seem ready to challenge the notion that abstinence from sex until marriage is the best way to combat AIDS at home and abroad.

We will see a strong effort this year, said Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of her plans to introduce new legislation to remove abstinence only conditions on HIV/AIDS funding.

If passed, the proposed Protection Against Trans…

Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Jan 19 2007 (IPS) – Most of the world s poor depend on livestock to survive, but international poverty reduction efforts devote little attention to the health of these animals, experts say.
Animal diseases not only decimate herds and flocks in Africa and Asia, they prevent the sale of animals into the growing markets for meat, milk, eggs and other animal products at home and abroad, according to a policy paper published Friday in the journal Science.

Livestock are incredibly important to livelihoods and economies of developing countries, said Brian Perry, a veterinary surgeon at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), a Nairobi, Kenya-based independent research centre.

Roughly 70 percent of the world s poor depen…