BERKELEY, California, Jul 13 (IPS) - Amber, 24, who’s been living on the streets half her life, was sitting on a sunny sidewalk in downtown Berkeley last week, cuddling her three-month-old puppy and talking to a friend. But if voters approve a measure the city council placed on the November ballot, sitting on the sidewalk – after a warning – could cost her 75 dollars.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 13 (IPS) - When the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) unveils its annual flagship Human Development Report (HDR) in mid-October, the primary focus will be on a growing new phenomenon on the economic horizon: the rise of the global South and the significant progress in South-South cooperation over the last decade.

, Jul 13 (IPS) - WASHINGTON, Jul 12 2012 (EurasiaNet) - When it comes to the brewing arms race in the Caspian Sea region, no one can accuse Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of navel-gazing. Ashgabat is now able to back its claims to some energy-rich patches of the sea with considerable firepower.

, Jul 13 (IPS) - UNITED NATIONS July 12 (IPS) – Eighteen  years after the genocide,  Rwanda demonstrates that rebuilding a nation is possible. On Thursday the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the world premiere of the short documentary: “Rwanda - Reaching New Heights”  which  was followed by an online  discussion with film-maker Zak Mulligan and UNDP Rwanda Country  Director Auke Lootsma, who was on video call from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

WASHINGTON DC, Jul 13 (IPS) - The Uganda Scouts Association, described as a youth development organization, is spearheading a nation-wide campaign to reach young people in schools and out of school through their programmes targeting  the health of students and their  households, according to Cleopatra John Byarugaba,director of the U Report in Uganda.

CAIRO, Jul 13 (IPS) - The independent trade unions that have sprung up across Egypt over the last 17 months face an uncertain future, caught between Islamists and the military and operating under labour laws that have not changed since Hosni Mubarak was in power.

WASHINGTON, Jul 12 (IPS) - The world’s population now stands at about seven billion, and by 2050, this figure will hit a whopping nine billion.

, Jul 12 (IPS) - South Korea is at the cutting edge of global technology. It is one of the most wired countries, and its biggest cities have the fastest Internet connections in the world.

, Jul 12 (IPS) - Farming flowers in slums is becoming an option for jobless youths in cities across Cameroon. Flowers and ornamental trees are planted to decorate compounds ,roadsides, lanes and tourism sites. Aaron Kaah reports.

, Jul 12 (IPS) - Starting plantation farming in Cameroon in the 1980’s, and the spraying of pesticides, almost drove certain snail species to extinction. But farmers in the coastal regions of Cameroon are now cultivating the animals for food, traditional medicine and income.