KAMPALA, Nov 15 (IPS) - Charles Kayongo of Uganda is a father of two girls aged five and three. And even though age-old traditions among his ethnic group, the Baganda, say a man should have an unlimited number of children and a son as an heir, Kayongo refuses to have more children.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 15 (IPS) - The threat of mass suicide by native Guaraní-Kaiowá people in southwest Brazil brought to light a new formula for worsening conflicts over indigenous territory: the expansion of the cultivation of soy beans and sugar cane, two top export crops.

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (IPS) - A widely respected advocate for U.S. farmworker rights received a prestigious award on Capitol Hill here Wednesday, using the occasion to highlight pending state legislation that could significantly improve lives and working conditions that some have likened to modern-day slavery.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 (IPS) - Since the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations has consistently maintained that family planning is a basic human right to be exercised by all - not just the wealthy and otherwise privileged.

KARACHI, Nov 14 (IPS) - Thirty-year-old Shahida Saleem, who was not educated past the tenth grade, is a mother of two, living with her family in Karachi. Six months ago she suffered a miscarriage and her doctor, concerned about her anaemic condition, advised her to space out her next pregnancy by taking contraceptives.

PRAGUE/WARSAW, Nov 14 (IPS) - Pressure from the Catholic Church, social stigma, a lack of information about sexuality and reproductive health and limited access to reproductive healthcare services are putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of women across Eastern Europe at risk.

MÁLAGA, Spain, Nov 14 (IPS) - A huge pot of rice steams on the stove at the soup kitchen run by Emaús in the municipality of Torremolinos, on the outskirts of this southern Spanish city. This morning, like every other, Pepi, Adriana and Diego are cooking for over a hundred people who can no longer afford to feed themselves.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 14 (IPS) - If a black woman and a white woman both need emergency obstetric care, a Brazilian doctor will assist the white woman because of the stereotype that black women are better at handling pain and are used to giving birth.

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (IPS) - After weathering the departure of its executive director amidst a misallocation scandal earlier this year, the world's largest funder of programmes to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is poised to announce a new leader Thursday.

, Nov 14 (IPS) - Every day at least five women are brought to the gynaecological ward of Uganda's Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala for treatment for complications caused by crude attempts to terminate their pregnancies.