WASHINGTON, Nov 08 (IPS) - "We are especially distressed by the high prevalence and increasing numbers of malnourished children under five years of age in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Moreover, more than 2000 million people, mostly women and children, are deficient in one or more micronutrients..."

QUITO, Ecuador, Nov 08 (IPS) - A surge in wildlife crime is fuelling criminal syndicates, perpetuating terrorism, and resulting in the loss of major revenues from tourism and industries dependent on iconic species while also endangering the livelihoods of the rural poor.

But this surge in wildlife crime is not only threatening iconic species, which include elephants, rhinos and tigers, but also lesser-known animals that are also on the brink of extinction.

KIRKUK, Iraq, Nov 08 (IPS) - "Going  back home? That would be suicide. The Islamists would cut our throats straight away," says Khalil Hafif Ismam. The fear of this Mandaean refugee sums up that of one of the oldest yet most decimated communities in Mesopotamia.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 08 (IPS) - "If I had to choose today I would stay back home, I wouldn't come to look for work here," said Josefa Gomes, who 30 years ago moved from Serra Redonda, a small town in Brazil's semiarid northeast, to the city of Rio de Janeiro, 2,400 km away.

GUNTHORPES, Antigua, Nov 07 (IPS) - As concern mounts over food security, two community groups are on a drive to mobilise average people across Antigua and Barbuda to mitigate and adapt in the wake of global climate change, which is affecting local weather patterns and by extension, agricultural production.

NAIROBI, Nov 07 (IPS) - Experts are raising alarm that years of HIV interventions throughout Africa have failed to stop infection among young women 15 to 24 years old.

WASHINGTON, Nov 06 (IPS) - The world's largest corporations continue to publicise scant information about their global operations, according to new analysis that warns that extractives companies in particular are unprepared for pending disclosure requirements.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (IPS) - Ongoing military conflicts in the strife-torn Middle East - specifically in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Palestine - have resulted in widespread civilian casualties, impacting heavily on the most vulnerable in besieged communities: women and children.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 06 (IPS) - Residents of the Khyber Agency, one of seven administrative districts that comprise northern Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), are in the worst possible predicament: either course of action they choose now, they say, could result in death.

VIENNA, Nov 06 (IPS) - The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has come a long way since 1997, when it faced the risk of closure in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War.