NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 19 (IPS) - Every year, one million Kenyans are driven below the poverty line by healthcare-related expenditures. Poverty predisposes them to disease and slows all aspects of growth in the economy.

ROME/OUAGADOUGOU, Jun 19 (IPS) - Ignoring the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa's interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

ABUJA, Nigeria, Jun 19 (IPS) - A genetic resource centre run by the Nigeria-based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture has banked thousands of crop varieties for disaster relief and research, holds the world's largest and most diverse collection of cowpeas, and contains some of Africa's rarest insect species.

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 17 (IPS) - In Latin America and the Caribbean, which account for 12 per cent of the planet's arable land, and one-third of its fresh water reserves, a number of factors contribute to soil degradation and to a rural exodus that compromises food security in a not-so-unlikely future.

OUAGADOUGOU, Jun 16 (IPS) - The 23^rd World Day to Combat Desertification was celebrated in Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou on June 15 with a call to create two million jobs and restore 10 million hectares of degraded land.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 (IPS) - Prolonged conflicts in the Middle East have led to a deadly humanitarian crisis, with as many as 17.5 million people displaced in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

ROME, Jun 16 (IPS) - With the clock ticking toward the 2030 deadline for meeting the international goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, five of the world's most important emerging economies are well positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve these objectives, according to the United Nations.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 (IPS) - Implementing climate-smart agriculture is critical to reduce hunger and poverty, according to International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) new president Gilbert Houngbo.

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 16 (IPS) - In January 2008, Rosana Galliano was shot to death in Exaltación de la Cruz, a rural municipality 80 km from Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Her ex-husband, José Arce, who was sentenced to life in prison, had hired hitmen to kill her.

ROME, Jun 15 (IPS) - Reducing gender disparities at workplaces by 25 per cent by 2025 could inject nearly 5.8 trillion dollars into the global economy and boost tax revenues, according to a United Nations, ahead of the UN Labour Organization's Summit on "A better future for women at work" on June 15.