SENDAI, Japan, Mar 16 (IPS) - Cyclone Pam has not only caused unprecedented damages to the Pacific island of Vanuatu but also lent urgency to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's plea that disaster risk reduction is in "everybody's interest".

MANILA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Filipino Catholic priest and activist Reverend Father Robert Reyes, dubbed by media as the "running priest", joined a protest of environmental and public health activists last week by running along the streets of the Makati Business District, the Philippines' financial capital, to urge the government to immediately re-export the 50 Canadian containers filled with hazardous wastes that have been in the Port of Manila for 600 days now.

BRATISLAVA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups in Central and Eastern Europe, which still faced mixed prospects as they fight for rights and acceptance, are now taking some heart from the "failure" of a referendum in Slovakia, a member of the European Union.

ROME, Mar 14 (IPS) - Rural women make major contributions to rural economies by producing and processing food, feeding and caring for families, generating income and contributing to the overall well-being of their households – but, in many countries, they face discrimination in access to agricultural assets, education, healthcare and employment, among others, preventing them from fully enjoying their basic rights.

MANAGUA, Mar 14 (IPS) - Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the Americas, is tapping into its depleted coffers to upgrade its ageing military fleet with costly new equipment from Russia – a move that has sparked controversy at home and concern among the country's Central American neighbours.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 (IPS) - On Apr. 6, 2013, Nadia Sharmeen, a crime reporter, was assigned to cover a rally organised by Hefazat-e-Islam, an association of fundamentalist Islamic groups in Bangladesh whose demands included a call to revoke the proposed National Women Development Policy.

MBOMAO, Gabon, Mar 13 (IPS) - There is rising anger among trade unionists, environmentalists and civil society groups in Gabon after a wood company, Rain Forest Management (RFM), sacked 38 fixed-term workers last month in Mbomao, Ogooué-Ivindo province.

SENDAI, Japan, Mar 13 (IPS) - As the world inched towards a crucial United Nations Conference in Sendai, Japan, Margareta Wahlström, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), assured that there was "general agreement" on the need to "move from managing disasters to managing disaster risk". 

BRISBANE, Mar 13 (IPS) - Although global citizenship education has now received the recognition it deserves, much of the literature recycles old agendas under another name -  'education to promote peace and justice', 'sustainability', 'care for the environment', 'multi-faith' and 'multi-cultural understanding'  - and so forth.

ROME, Mar 13 (IPS) - Artificial meat. Indoor aquaculture. Vertical farms. Irrigation drones. Once the realm of science fiction, these things are now fact. Food production is going high tech – at least, in some places.