KOSICE, Slovakia, Feb 23 2013 (IPS) – Local activists have begun protests in Slovakia after a government ministry appeared to give its backing to a controversial uranium mining project despite reassurances to people living near the proposed site that no mining would be allowed to take place.
Studies carried out by the Canadian firm European Uranium Resources have shown massive uranium ore deposits in the Kuriskova-Jahodna area, near Kosice, Slovakia’s second largest city.
But fierce local opposition to the plans for a mine had previously led to regional authorities saying they would not let any mining go ahead.
Now, though, it has emerged that just before Christmas, the Slovak Economy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with European Uranium Resource…
South Africa is leading in the scaling up of Kangaroo Mother Care, a lifesaving intervention that mothers can easily practice. Pictured here are Charlene Paul and her baby in front of their house, next to Athlone Training Stadium in Cape Town. Credit: Ann Hellman/IPS
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 23 2013 (IPS) – A young mother – who only wants to be identified as Karren – beamed as she nursed her newborn baby at the University of Witwatersrand’s Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, in Hillbrow, South Africa.
It is her first pregnancy and Karren had to learn, from a qualified nurse, how to hold and care for her baby.
While Karren will soon be counting her baby’s …
Local activists say they want to see the eradication of FGM in Somalia but note that a “cultural shift” to practice a less severe form could be seen as a positive step towards total elimination of FGM in Somalia. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS
MOGADISHU, Jun 20 2013 (IPS) – Seven-year-old Istar Mumin lies on a bed, motionless, in one of the rooms of her family home in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district. She has just gone through the horrifying ritual of “the cut,” which was carried out by a local Somali nurse.
“I am in pain. I cannot move. They cut me,” a teary-eyed Mumin, who was visibly weak from the procedure, tells IPS.
Elsewhere in the ho…
WASHINGTON, Aug 10 2013 (IPS) – The controversial topic of medical cannabis has been put under a microscope after the internationally known neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta came out in support of its use this week.
An ounce of Green Crack bought from a dispensary in California. Credit: Coaster420/public domain
In a lengthy on CNN, Gupta outlines the benefits of medical cannabis, claims that U.S. citizens have been misled by the government for years, and apologises for his role in that. This reversal of opinions occurred during the yearlong production of his documentary �…
Outside the New York federal courthouse, Ecuadorians and their supporters gather to protest the Chevron lawsuit. Credit: Samuel Oakford/IPS
NEW YORK, Oct 15 2013 (IPS) – Two years after they were awarded 18 billion dollars by an Ecuadorian court for environmental damage caused by Chevron in the Amazonian rainforest, a group of indigenous villagers and their U.S. lawyer went on trial Tuesday in New York, accused by the oil company of bribery and racketeering.
Chevron was found liable in 2011 for an ecological catastrophe caused by pollution released in the 1970s and 1980s by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001 and for which they agreed to assume legal obligations.�…
Yemen’s preoccupation with the leafy stimulant qat is having dire consequences. Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS.
SANAA, Jan 31 2014 (IPS) – The Yemeni capital of Sanaa is reputed to be over 2,500 years old, making it one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. But it is living on borrowed time.
Economists warn that if poverty trends continue, by 2030 more than half of the Sanaa’s projected four million inhabitants will be unable to afford their basic food needs. But before that happens, the city will run out of water.
“Sanaa is using water much faster than nature can replace it,” says Noori Gamal, a hydrologist at the Ministry of Water and…
Philippe Cori, director of the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) European Union Partnership Office in Brussels, says over the last decades, development assistance from partners like the EU and its member states has been critical to expanding and improving the quality of basic social services, especially for the poorest and most marginalised children.
UNICEF says in many parts of the African continent children are living beyond their fifth birthday, more children are going to school and more children are better equipped for the challenges of the 21st century. Pictured here are students at Motshane Primary School, Mbabane, Swaziland. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/I…
Seventeen states currently grant gay couples the right to marry. Credit: Bigstock
WASHINGTON, May 16 2014 (IPS) – Honouring the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Friday emphasised progress in advancing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons, but a new report on criminalisation of LBGT people suggests that there is still a long way to go.
“Today of all days, we are reminded that the cause of justice can and must triumph over hatred and prejudice,” said Kerry said in a statement.“The United States arrests and prosecutes more people on the basis of their HIV status than the r…
This is the first story in a three-part series on HIV and contraception in Africa
The contraceptive needs of HIV positive women are often put on the background. Credit: Mercedes Sayagues/IPS
NAIROBI, Aug 14 2014 (IPS) – In the rush to save babies from HIV infection and treat their mothers, experts warn that a key element of HIV prevention is being neglected in Africa – contraceptives for HIV positive women.
Yet contraception is the of successful prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child (PMTCT), along with preventing infection among women and babies, and caring for those infected.
“The contraceptive needs of HIV positive women are o…
Alicia is one of the millions of Chilean women who have had an illegal, unsafe abortion because in their country terminating a pregnancy is punishable with up to five years in prison, regardless of the circumstances. Now the country is moving towards legalising therapeutic abortion. Credit: Marianela Jarroud/IPS
SANTIAGO, Sep 24 2014 (IPS) – Chile, one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, is getting ready for an unprecedented debate on the legalisation of therapeutic abortion, which is expected to be approved this year.
In Chile, more than 300,000 illegal abortions are practiced annually – a scourge that is both cause and effect of many other social pro…