SAN SALVADOR, Feb 18 (IPS) - Despite the aggression and abuse she has suffered at the University of El Salvador because she is a trans woman, Daniela Alfaro is determined to graduate with a degree in health education.

GENEVA, Feb 18 (IPS) - February 27 will mark the 10th anniversary of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global public health treaty.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (IPS) - A rash of sex discriminatory laws – including the legalisation of polygamy, marital rape, abduction and the justification of violence against women – remains in statute books around the world.

SEOUL, Feb 18 (IPS) - The two Koreas are an odd match – both are talking about possible dialogue but both have different ideas of the conditions, and that difference comes from the 62-year-old division following the 1950-53 Korean War.

MÁLAGA, Spain, Feb 17 (IPS) - "I would get asbestos in my mouth, spit it out and carry on working," said 52-year-old Francisco Padilla. Exposure to this deadly mineral fibre over most of his working life has resulted in cancer and the removal of his left lung, the lung lining and part of his diaphragm.

ROME, Feb 17 (IPS) - "We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" – an ancient Indian saying that encapsulates the essence of sustainability as seen by the world's indigenous people.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16 (IPS) - The future of the U.N. African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) could depend largely on determining what exactly happened in the town of Tabit in Northern Darfur at the end of October last year.

GENEVA, Feb 16 (IPS) - "The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances is not a court, and I say this to avoid any misunderstanding," German expert Rainer Huhle said while presenting the committee's recommendations to the government of Mexico, where the problem has reached epidemic proportions.