PHNOM PENH, Nov 17 (IPS) - The government had an almost paranoid fear of protests. A square kilometer around the Supreme Court was barricaded and off limits to the public. In faraway provinces, roadblocks were erected to stop demonstrators. Some opposition members were under temporary house arrest. But it turned out to be unnecessary. Nobody dared to protest.

GENEVA, Nov 16 (IPS) - The Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue H. E. Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim deplored the rise of xenophobia, bigotry and marginalization - targeting refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons - that is taking effect in many regions of the world.

LONDON, Nov 16 (IPS) - This weekend marks World Toilet Day (November 19)-- and the news is disheartening. One in three people are still waiting for a toilet; still having to face the indignity and often fear of relieving themselves in the open or using unsafe or unhygienic toilets.

BONN, Nov 16 (IPS) - Two years ago, 197 parties came together in Paris and agreed to the historical Paris Framework. Since that December 2015, we all have seen countless pictures of utterly devastating floods, wildfires, hurricanes happening more and more frequently all over our planet mainly affecting the poorest among us.

ROME, Nov 16 (IPS) - It might sound strange, very strange, but the news is that scientists and experts have been assuring, over and again, that using nuclear applications in agriculture --and thus in food production—are giving a major boost to food security. So how does this work?

Nov 15 (IPS) - Despite growing global pressure to reduce the use of coal to generate electricity, several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean still have projects underway for expanding this polluting energy source.

LONDON/WASHINGTON DC, Nov 15 (IPS) - "I never come here, just because of boys," Atifa says, pointing at the door of the stall. "They're opening the door." Atifa, a sixth grader in Kabul, Afghanistan, attends a school of 650 girls. Since they study in tents in a vacant lot, the only toilets the girls have access to are on the far side of the boys' school next door. The school is one of a very few for girls in the area, so some students walk over an hour each way to get there.

BONN, Nov 15 (IPS) - It is fitting that this year's conference of parties (on climate change, COP 23) is led by Fiji, a nation on the frontlines.

PORT VILA, Vanuatu, Nov 15 (IPS) - Here in Vanuatu, the ocean has been getting warmer and more acidic. Scientists are predicting that cyclone patterns will change, we'll see heavier rainfalls, a wetter wet season and a drier dry season. We're already seeing the sea rising six millimeters per year in the capital, Port Vila; higher than the global average.

BONN, Germany, Nov 15 (IPS) - "Five years ago, when we first started talking about including gender in the negotiations, the parties asked us, ‘Why gender?' Today, they are asking, ‘How do we include gender?' That's the progress we have seen since Doha," said Kalyani Raj.