CENTRAL ASIA: Together They Lose
Rarely have so many donor countries spent so much for so long to achieve so little. In fact, the scores of Western countries ranging from the Netherlands to the United States that have tried for 20...
View ArticleMicrofinance Works - For the Rich
Jesús Guerra, a volunteer at this week's Fifth Global Microcredit Summit in this Spanish town, was nonplussed by the expensive gold watch sported by a banker from a developing country.
View ArticleAFRICA: Wanted: Greener Cities
In Africa, where urbanisation will be one of the major developments over the next few decades, it will be key for cities to figure out how to handle rapid urban expansion and much-needed economic...
View ArticleUnique Mexican Oasis in Danger of Vanishing
A rare wetlands ecosystem in the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico that may hold key information about the origins of life on earth – and even about possible life on Mars – is in serious danger of...
View ArticleU.S. Leads Challenge to Ban on Cluster Munitions
Deliberations are underway for a United States-backed proposal to allow the continued use, production, trade and stockpiling of cluster munitions at the Fourth Review Conference of the Convention on...
View ArticleEL SALVADOR: Giving Young Slum Dwellers a Chance
In a country where hard-line policies have failed to make a dent in soaring levels of violent crime, Salesian priest José María Moratalla has produced good results by offering educational and...
View ArticleChina Confronts its Own Greece
Europe has its Greece moment and China has its Wenzhou crisis. When European leaders were calling on China to step in and provide a lifeline to the eurozone by investing in its bailout programme,...
View ArticlePAKISTAN: Beating the Taliban on the Playing Fields
An outbreak of sports fever has gripped the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Northern Pakistan, as increasing numbers of civilians and government officials latch on to team sports as...
View ArticleINDIA: Dangers of a Lax Nuclear Strategy
On August 26, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned, taking responsibility for the disastrous meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was caused by the March 2011 undersea...
View ArticleDEVELOPMENT: New Aid Model Expected at Busan
A new model of making development assistance more successful is expected to emerge at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), to be held Nov. 29 - Dec. 1 in Busan, Korea.
View ArticleEx-Inspector Rejects IAEA Iran Bomb Test Chamber Claim
A former inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repudiated its major new claim that Iran built an explosives chamber to test components of a nuclear weapon and carry out a...
View ArticleKYRGYZSTAN: Bishkek Struggling to Find Right Economic Path
In a small office on the second floor of the Kyrgyzstan Stock Exchange, a lone administrator checked the time and looked up from the computer: "Two o'clock. No applications received. Auction for sale...
View ArticleU.S.: Bottled Water Companies Target Minorities, But So Do Soda Firms
Water is the lifeblood of this planet, whose inhabitants are watching its accelerated spiral into crisis mode even as they struggle to address the issues and lifestyles that are stretching the earth's...
View ArticleISRAEL: Women Push Back Into Public Space
They're looking at you "uncensored". Posters of women by women have recently multiplied on the holy city walls. "Women on billboards are back in Jerusalem," they proclaim defiantly.
View ArticleCLIMATE CHANGE: Himalayan Nations Yet to Break the Ice
Chungda Sherpa, a former herder from eastern Nepal, has a warning tale ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in Durban.
View ArticleU.S.: Occupy Targets Foreclosures
Five months ago, Gayla Newsome was at work when she got the call. A sheriff had come to her home of 15 years and put her two pajama-clad daughters out on the curb of her West Oakland street. Newsome...
View ArticleCuba Strengthens Regional Ties
With the recently-created Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Cuba is strengthening its regional reinsertion, while progress towards normal ties with the United States would...
View ArticleErosion Threatens an Island Culture
Majuli island on the Brahmaputra river in the eastern Indian state of Assam is quickly losing its landmass to erosion. Majuli has long been regarded as one of the largest inhabited river islands in...
View ArticleENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Women Turn Waste Into Wealth
Standing on the shimmering white beach and gazing out at the turquoise blue waters of the Arabian sea, it is hard to believe that a decade ago this international tourist destination was under siege by...
View ArticleHUNGARY: ‘Unorthodoxy' Fails, IMF Returns
A year after slamming the door on the International Monetary Fund and announcing that a small country like Hungary could pursue an independent economic policy, conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban...
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