Fueled in part by a Russian drought that has caused the country to cut its wheat exports, food prices have risen to their highest levels in two years. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that food prices have shot up 5% in July and August. Stocks remain high, however, and despite the summer slump, [...]
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on delegates to Advance Global Health summit in Melbourne, Australia, to continue to focus on ways to improve women and children’s health initiatives as part of the organization’s Millennium Development Goals. The event brings together charities and aid groups that work with the UN, and comes ahead of a [...]
Posted in Children, Environment, Health, MDGs, Women 
Tags: Children, Environment, Health, MDG, Women 
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Amid rising violence throughout Afghanistan and Taliban death threats, women in Afghanistan are running in next month’s parliamentary elections in record numbers. The number of women serving in Afghanistan’s parliament has more than doubled since 2005.
With voting billed for 18 September, Kabul’s streets have been plastered in posters and billboards, many of which show [...]
For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they’ve bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message.
More than 30% of malaria medicines sold in Africa are reportedly counterfeit, a problem that has led Nigeria to adopt mPedigree, which enables users to independently verify that their anti-malarial drugs [...]
Posted in Education, Environment, Grassroots, Health Tags: Africa, Health, Mobile, Mobile health 1 Comment »
Direct peace talks between Israel and Palestine could begin as early as September — the first talks since December 2008. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell have urged the resumption of peace talks before the end of the Israeli moratorium on new building in Jewish [...]
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization officials say the impending Aug. 21 opening of the country’s first nuclear power plant demonstrates Iran’s ability to withstand international pressure and pursue domestic policy goals. Iran is under multiple sets of United Nations-backed sanctions over concerns the country’s nuclear program may be intended to create weapons. Read more on: Bloomberg
Russia [...]
Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic ’spiritual principles’ in order to protect the environment.
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man’s destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions – but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current ‘division’ between man and nature had [...]
Afghan human-rights advocates worry an order by the Taliban to stone a couple in Kunduz province Sunday is just the latest sign of the Taliban’s growing confidence in their ability to impose their will on the Afghan population. Witnesses said hundreds of villagers — including family members — participated in carrying out the sentence, which [...]
Islamabad, Aug 15 – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called upon the world to step up assistance to Pakistan, where some 20 million people are affected by the country’s worst floods.
More than 700,000 houses and over 3.2 million hectares of standing crops have been destroyed or damaged, officials said. Ban will hold a joint press [...]
Posted in Climate Change, Environment, Human Rights Tags: Children, Environment, Human Rights, Millennium Development Goals, UN 2 Comments »
Russian forest authorities and Greenpeace are expressing worry the presence of fires in areas still contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster may send radioactive smoke into populated areas. Environmentalist say there is no current way to gauge the scope of the threat or how far contaminated particles may have spread. “Fires on these territories [...]
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