News stories by Sabina Zaccaro

ROME, Mar 15 (IPS) - No one would expect a Pope elected by an extremely conservative conclave to implement revolutionary reforms within the Catholic Church. Still, many see in the newly elected Pope Francis some signs of change.

ROME, Oct 19 (IPS) - It is a tried and tested truth that when women come together in groups they can address their issues more powerfully than they can as individuals.

ROME, Oct 09 (IPS) - New data from the United Nations reveals that there has been progress in reducing the number of hungry people worldwide. But an estimate that nearly 870 million people, one in eight, suffered from chronic undernourishment over the last two years is “unacceptable”, experts say.

The upcoming Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development will not succeed if the crises of hunger and malnutrition are not effectively addressed. The issues are so inextricably linked with sustainable development that they have to be part of the agenda, according to a report released Wednesday by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) for the upcoming Earth Summit that will take place in Rio de Janeiro from Jun. 20-22.

The European Union has been using all means necessary to fill the multi- billion-euro fund for climate change, including the controversial mobilisation of public resources through private financial intermediaries.

A diverse blend of coffee is going to pervade the city of Milan in 2015. World producers will come together to show, exchange and market their coffee in a global alliance without geographical-based membership.

As the links between food security and climate change become increasingly inextricable, the necessity for sustainable agriculture is now a universal concern.

'The journalists who turned the world over. Voices of another information'. It is the title of a book published recently in Italy, telling the story of the IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency.

Basic income security and access to social services can improve food production and consumption in the developing world, and these can be boosted by South-South cooperation.

Of the 12 ministers nominated Wednesday by Italy's premier-designate Mario Monti, not one is a politician.