CAIRO, Apr 18 (IPS) - There is an oil producing country situated in the Gulf region, made of a cluster of islands. It is small, surface and population wise. But it holds the dubious privilege of ranking top of the list of 14 out of the 33 countries most likely to be water-stressed in the year 2040.

DOHA, Qatar, Apr 18 (IPS) - Thanks to tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, major oil producers couldn't come to an agreement in Doha to freeze their output to January levels to raise oil prices. The current low oil prices have a lot to do with the grim outlook for global economic growth while supply is growing. China, the second largest economy in the world, is slowing down. Not surprisingly, global oil demand is much lower at 94.8 million barrels a day vis-à-vis supply of 96.3 million barrels a day in the first quarter of 2016 according to the International Energy Agency.

CAIRO, Apr 18 (IPS) - This is not about any alarming header—it is the dramatic conclusion of several scientific studies about the on-going climate change impact on the Middle East region, particularly in the Gulf area. The examples are stark.

MALANVILLE, Benin, Apr 18 (IPS) - Salabanya Tabaitou no longer squints from the irritating wood smoke each time she has to parboil her rice paddy.

Now Tabaitou feeds logs into a chute of a specially designed brick stove with a chimney that draws away the smoke. The stove with a stainless steel parboiling vessel cooks her rice in 20 minutes - something she would have spent two hours doing using the traditional method.

ASUNCION, Apr 16 (IPS) - "There were cases of people who stopped coming to work after receiving their first wages and then came back a few days later to ask if there was more work," because they were used to casual work in the informal economy, said Ivonne Ginard.

, Apr 15 (IPS) - The plight of 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted two years ago is all too common in Nigeria's conflict-affected north-eastern communities, and up to 7,000 women and girls might be living in abduction and sex slavery, senior United Nations officials on 14 April 2016 warned.

ROME, Apr 15 (IPS) - 13 April 2016 – Make no mistake--the Middle East is the longest and perhaps the most complex crisis in recent History, this explaining the innumerable, successive –and frustrating- attempts to solve it.

ROME, Apr 15 (IPS) - A total indifference has accompanied the number of refugees injured by Macedonian police in Idomeni, where more than 12 000 people, including 4 000 children have been trapped, since Austria asked Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, to prevent the continuing passage of refugees. Austria has now informed the Italian government that it will send several hundred troops to its border with Italy.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 15 (IPS) - With Kenya's meteorological records over the last 50 years indicating increased irregularity and variability in precipitation, the effects of changing climate are hitting hard. Rising temperatures as well other forms of extreme weather events in form of droughts and floods are a common feature.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 14 (IPS) - After hundreds of questions were posed to nine candidates vying for the role of United Nations Secretary-General this week, a lasting question remains; will the UN's new leader stand for the powerful or the powerless?