Nov 12 (IPS) - This is a special year for all rights-based health advocates, as we celebrate 25 years of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 11 (IPS) - Africa, where close to half of its 1.2 billion have access to electricity, is set to become a world leader in renewable energy. As global business and development leaders met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend the Africa Investment Forum (AIF), one of the key focuses of the deals being discussed was around sustainable, renewable energy.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands, Nov 11 (IPS) - Would you trust an algorithm with your life? If that thought makes you uncomfortable, then you should be concerned about the artificial intelligence (AI) arms race that is secretly taking off, fueled by the arms industry.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 (IPS) - Every day 830 women die while giving life. At least 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage with 11,000 girls undergoing female genital mutilation. These are some of the cruel realities young women face every day. However, there is renewed hope that delegates expected to attend the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Nairobi this week will re-energise and breathe new life to the Cairo Promise.

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 08 (IPS) - Central America is an impoverished region rife with gang violence and human trafficking - the third largest crime industry in the world - as a major source of migrants heading towards the United States.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 08 (IPS) - Given the political, economic and social exigencies of contemporary peacekeeping, it is important that the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) remains engaged in the process.

COTONOU, Benin, Nov 08 (IPS) - Buses carrying cross-border traders and goods from Cotonou in Benin to the Malian capital of Bamako in Mali have recently been using the Lomé route — traveling through the capital of Togo and then getting onto the Ouagadougou corridor on their way to the Malian capital.

HARARE, Nov 08 (IPS) - Stung by the country's spiralling inflation, Zimbabwe's government workers took to the streets this week for the first ever police-sectioned march demanding improved wages.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 08 (IPS) - While the UN grapples with weighty global matters, can an Indian gift solve an unlikely matter of great concern to journalists and staffers – a partial shutdown of an escalator as part of the world body's austerity measures?

KATHMANDU, Nov 08 (IPS) - Progress in reducing malnutrition has stalled. What can be done to ensure enough of the right food for all?For the first two decades after 1990, Nepal took great strides in reducing malnutrition. But progress has stalled.