SAN SALVADOR, Aug 03 (IPS) - Pregnancies among girls and adolescents continue unabated in Central America, where legislation to prevent them, when it exists, is a dead letter, and governments are influenced by conservative sectors opposed to sex education in schools.

WASHINGTON DC, Aug 03 (IPS) - The Colorado river basin has recently been wracked by an extended drought which brought to the fore major concerns regarding hydroelectricity production. Up on the Colorado sits the iconic Hoover Dam, which transforms water into enough electricity to power 1.3 million people in Nevada, Arizona and California.

SOKOTO, NIGERIA, Aug 03 (IPS) - In February this year, Chichi Okonkwo not only lost her husband but was stripped of everything they owned together. Her husband was severely injured in a car accident about a month earlier. Despite being rushed to a hospital in Enugu, where they resided, he succumbed to his injuries weeks later. To compound her grief, Okonkwo’s late husband's male siblings forcibly entered her home in the city a few hours after his passing, confiscating her husband’s land documents, car, money, clothes, and marriage certificate.

NEW YORK, Aug 03 (IPS) - In Asia, freedom of the press continues to erode, especially in authoritarian regimes where journalists are often targeted in broad daylight.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres congratulated the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) on the start of their bilateral ceasefire which entered into force on Thursday, his spokesperson said in a statement.

Thirteen people have been killed and more than 60 injured in four days of deadly violence at the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, a senior UN official in the country said on Thursday.

The threat of famine, with people slowly starving to death, must be considered a red line for international peace and security, the UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator said on Thursday, warning that warring groups deliberately use hunger as a tactic of war.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has issued a grave warning regarding the deepening food crisis in Sudan, as the country grapples with conflict and economic decline.

ST DAVIDS, WALES, Aug 02 (IPS) - “My key message is really simple,” says Dr Simeon Ehui, the newly-appointed director general of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, which works with partners across sub-Saharan Africa to tackle hunger, poverty and natural resource degradation.

BULAWAYO, Aug 02 (IPS) - Climate change is making us sick. It has become urgent to build resilient health systems to secure humanity’s well-being, says the special envoy for climate change and health of the World Health Organization (WHO).