Indigenous leaders from all over South America are making their way by foot, canoe and eventually on buses to be part of the Kari-Oca Caravan to Rio de Janeiro, to talk to world leaders at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20.

The thematic battle at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Brazil next week will be primarily around the new concept of a 'green economy' - and how best to define it.

Building the cities of the future requires not only smarter planning but a profound shift toward greater equity and social justice, says Joan Clos, executive director of the U.N. Human Settlements Programme, or UN-HABITAT.

The people of Nepal are justifiably proud that their country was never colonised, even though most other countries in the region were under the British. The joke in Kathmandu is that the British in India took one look at the mountains to the north, and didn't bother conquering Nepal because they found it ungovernable, writes Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepali Times newspaper in Kathmandu.

Tuareg and Islamist rebel groups which seized control of northern Mali in March are trying to find common ground for the joint administration of the territory. Residents of the region fear that individual and collective freedoms will not be respected if such an alliance sets up an Islamic state.

This month, Argentina will join the growing list of Latin American countries that compel tobacco companies to display health warnings about the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs, illustrated with graphic images.

The influence of journalists and film directors who are sensitive to the issue of gender equality is becoming visible in the Cuban media, where intellectuals and activists are demanding more action to break with sexism.

The imposing stronghold is almost transparent, barely noticeable, in the pitch- black desert. On top of the stands, with a thousand kilowatts at his finger’s tip, Avi Yona Bueno turns the night into lights, revealing sets, sites, and sounds. 'I’m god,' smiles the lighting designer. 'I’m god to my children.'

Six weeks of talks between Pakistan and the United States have been halted, a Defence Department official stated here on Monday.

On the eve of the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil, the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report Monday ranking the world's biggest countries on their use of renewable energy.