WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (IPS) - Highlighting his much-ballyhooed "pivot" from the Greater Middle East to the Asia- Pacific region, Barack Obama leaves Friday for a four-day tour to Southeast Asia, including the first-ever visit by a U.S. president to Myanmar.

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (IPS) - The World Bank has begun a highly anticipated reappraisal of its social and environmental "safeguards" policies, a process that is slated to take place over the next two years.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 (IPS) - When the United Nations commemorates World Toilet Day next week, there will be a lingering question in the minds of activists: how best can water and sanitation be given high priority in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the U.N.'s post-2015 economic agenda?

MEXICO CITY, Nov 15 (IPS) - Conservative outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderón is to face a ballot again - not to compete for public office but to receive the verdict of a citizens' trial that is accusing him of violating the constitution.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 15 (IPS) - Aluminium, opposed by environmentalists mainly because of the amount of energy needed to produce it, is one of the targets of the heated campaign against hydroelectric dams in Brazil's Amazon jungle region.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Nov 15 (IPS) - Two-thirds of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves cannot be used without risking dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned this week.

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (IPS) - Paula Broadwell, whose affair with Gen. David Petraeus brought his career to a sudden end last week, had sought to help defend his decision in 2010 to allow village destruction in Afghanistan that not only violated his own previous guidance but the international laws of war.

, Nov 15 (IPS) - Although it remains the fastest growing region, Asia is already experiencing an economic slowdown, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to fall from 6.8 percent in 2011 to slightly below six percent in 2012. Several countries - including China, India and Turkey - have been adversely affected by weaker demand from developed countries.

DOHA, Nov 15 (IPS) - State media report that Xi Jinping is to take the reins of China's all-powerful Communist Party in a leadership transition that will put him in charge of the world's number-two economy for the next decade.

JERUSALEM, Nov 15 (IPS) - As Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip enters its second day, Palestinians fear that this is only the beginning of another widespread Israeli offensive into the besieged Palestinian territory that would leave them nowhere to hide.