News headlines in April 2012, page 6

It was the middle of the day when Tabisou, 72, suddenly saw people from her town of Amderamboukane in Mali fleeing for their lives. Her family had no time to pack their things; the fighting had already begun.

Profound discord between industrialised nations and developing countries is threatening to ruin the UNCTAD meeting being held this week in Doha, and may even endanger the survival of this United Nations body that defends the interests of the developing nations of the South.

I spent Monday morning in the library of Chicago's Lincoln Park High School, listening to students talk about what the word 'hero' means to them. This wasn't any normal school day - in a few moments they would meet Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the father of micro-lending and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Innovating and stepping up the pressure on governments are the bywords for civil society participation in the run-up to Rio+20, a conference with the ambitious goal of changing the way humankind relates with the planet.

In the wake of Fukushima, the Swiss government decided last year to slowly, but definitely phase out nuclear energy. But the new energy strategy for the next decade has drawn criticism, especially from environmental organisations.

Every minute, one child dies from malaria, yet the malaria rates have decreased by more than a third in the past decade, the World Health Organization WHO reports in the wake of World Malaria Day on Tuesday.

Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, president of the current 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly, was unanimously elected chairman of the Board of Directors of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency last week.

As the economic slump drags on in Europe, refugees and immigrants are keeping a wary eye on state budgets, as governments in the throes of austerity slash the social protections and public services that minorities rely on.

When Kenya’s newly announced geothermal power generation project comes online, it will turn the East African country into an economic powerhouse in the region.

In honour of Earth Day, we run an interview with Yves-André Wainright, who discusses ways that poor governance and the role of foreign donors have contributed to the country's environmental catastrophe.