WASHINGTON, Nov 05 (IPS) - Deep cuts in food aid for poor people in the United States are poised to bring higher demands on charities and food pantries across the country that provide food to families in need – and which are already overstretched.

BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 05 (IPS) - South America has gone from the world's granary to the site of innumerable international infrastructure, energy and mining megaprojects. It is now facing a new dilemma: bolstering the economy with the promise of reducing inequality, in exchange for social and environmental costs that are taking their toll.

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov 05 (IPS) - Abu Waleed isn't quite sure where to begin his litany of grievances. Bugs that chomp their way through the mint he grows, or the dry well that forces him to pump water from a half kilometre away? Or perhaps the 160 dinars he spent on spinach seeds only to see scant growth after planting.

DHAKA, Nov 05 (IPS) - On a hot and humid day in northwestern Bangladesh, Anisa Begum sits with a group of 25 homemakers, explaining how to use natural fertilisers to increase grain yield.

KOLKATA, Nov 05 (IPS) - More than 2,500 Indians have died in the course of clinical trials in recent years, government figures reveal.

WASHINGTON, Nov 05 (IPS) - On the 34^th anniversary of the seizure by Iranian militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, a growing number of experts here believe Washington and the Islamic Republic may be moving toward détente, if not rapprochement.

WASHINGTON, Nov 04 (IPS) - Four prominent climate and energy scientists are calling on environmentalists to rethink their longstanding opposition to nuclear energy, warning that there is no "credible path to climate stabilization that does not include a substantial role for nuclear power".

WASHINGTON, Nov 04 (IPS) - In his final letter to his family, 30-year-old Iraq war veteran Daniel Somers wrote of having never returned from war. "In truth, I was nothing more than a prop," reads the suicide note dated Jun. 10, 2013, six years after his final deployment. "In truth, I have already been absent for a long, long time."

JUBA, Nov 04 (IPS) - The non-binding referendum in Abyei – where people voted overwhelmingly to join South Sudan – and the ensuing celebration, has brought little immediate resolution to the long-festering Abyei problem.

GOMA, DR Congo, Nov 04 (IPS) - As the majority of East African Community countries signed an agreement paving the way for a single tourist visa in the region from 2014, some believe that Tanzania's hesitance to agree to this integration is largely due to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.