UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 12 (IPS) - Two years after Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the country faces 100 to 250 billion dollars in cleanup and compensation costs, tens of thousands of displaced people and widespread impacts of radiation.

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Mar 12 (IPS) - As part of the country's growing emphasis on green tech research, Brazilian scientists have developed plastic solar panels that could revolutionise power generation from this clean, renewable energy source.

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 12 (IPS) - The people of the Malvinas/Falkland islands voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to keep British rule, while Argentina has stepped up its claims to sovereignty over the South Atlantic archipelago located 450 km east of the South American nation.

HYDERABAD, India, Mar 12 (IPS) - In a country of 1.2 billion people, the threat of drought takes on epic proportions.

Over a period of two centuries (between 1801 and 2002), India experienced 42 severe droughts, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation. One of these, in 1979, cut food grain production by 20 percent; another, in 1987, damaged 58.6 million hectares of cultivated land, affecting 285 million people.

COLOMBO, Mar 12 (IPS) - Sri Lanka has paused for breath after the extreme weather conditions last year that many associate with climate change.

BRUSSELS, Mar 12 (IPS) - The negotiations launched this week for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Thailand and the European Union have raised concerns among both Thai and European non-governmental organisations, who fear that EU demands could have a negative impact on Thailand's progressive public health policies.

WADI KHALED, Northern Lebanon, Mar 12 (IPS) - The influx of hundreds of thousands of war-weary refugees from Syria to Lebanon is putting an almost unbearable strain on many of the communities that have taken them into their homes. A domestic economic crisis compounded by the arrival of such large numbers of refugees is weighing heavily on many impoverished areas.

GOMA, DR Congo, Mar 12 (IPS) - A street in Goma's city centre, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been nicknamed "the ward of death" because of the brutal crimes that frequently occur there.

WASHINGTON, Mar 12 (IPS) - Amidst growing tensions with North Korea and, to a lesser extent, China, the White House Monday insisted that its "re-balancing" toward the Asia/Pacific remained on track and that Washington is fully committed to its allies there, especially Japan and South Korea.

WASHINGTON, Mar 11 (IPS) - Around 100 scholars, former government officials and policymakers are calling on the U.S. Congress to enact pending legislation enabling broad governance reforms within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would strengthen the voice of developing countries within the institution.