Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 2009 (IPS) – Despite the heavy military presence of the United States and other Western powers, Afghanistan remains the world s largest illicit producer of opium, according to a new study released by experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotics on behalf of the United Nations.
Afghanistan is the source of over 90 percent of the illicit opium in the world, Mylven Levitsky, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), told a news conference after releasing the board s latest study on the global trade in illicit drugs.
Levitsky, who thinks that lack of security is the main obstacle to halting opium production in Afghanistan, urged the U.S.-backed authorities in Kabul to take immediate measures to address the d…
Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Mar 14 2011 (IPS) – Desperate efforts by the government to avoid the looming nightmare of a nuclear meltdown in tsunami damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants, 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, have brought no relief to the public who face the possibility of another explosion that could spew deadly radiation across the country.
After two explosions in three days at Fukushima reactors No. 1 and No. 3, a third reactor No. 2 has now lost its ability to cool.
The nation was informed of a deadly development Monday that fuel rods of the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima plant may have partially melted after emergency cooling systems failed, raising the spectre of toxic radioactive contamination, given the fact the plant is operated on mixed oxide (MOX)…
Lee Middleton
Volunteers for the Sonke Gender Justice Network door-to-door medical male circumcision campaign. Credit: Lee Middleton/IPS
CAPE TOWN, Dec 1 2011 (IPS) – Although at first glance male circumcision may not be the most obvious entrée to get people talking about gender equality, activists in the Western Cape in South Africa are attempting to do just that.
A view of Gringo beach and, in the background, the city of Bajos de Haina, the Dominican Republic’s main industrial hub and port, and the third-most polluted city in the world. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS
BAJOS DE HAINA, Dominican Republic , Dec 15 2015 (IPS) – Rubbish covers the beaches and clutters the rivers, the garbage dump is not properly managed, and more than 100 factories spew toxic fumes into the air in the city of Bajos de Haina, a major industrial hub and port city in…
Manipadma Jena interviews the director general of the International Organization for Migration, WILLIAM LACY SWING
Owing to demographic drivers, countries are going to become more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious, says William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organisation for Migration. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 6 2016 (IPS) – Climate change is now adding new layers of complexity to the…
Angela, 15, from Hyderabad, India. Her vision of a violence-free world would be to live like the mermaid in her painting – free and happy. Stella Paul/IPS
INDIA/CAMEROON, Nov 26 2017 (IPS) – Sally Mboumien remembers the day she pressed a steaming hot stone against her chest. In Bawock, the rural community of western Cameroon where she grew up, young girls often had their young, sprouting breasts flattened with a hot iron or a hammer or spatulas that had been heated over burning coals.
This was good for the girls bec…
The swift descent of the elderly in India into non-communicable diseases could have various disastrous consequences.
Credit: Neeta Lal/IPS
NEW DELHI, Aug 21 2018 (IPS) – Old age morbidity is a rapidly worsening curse in India. The swift descent of the elderly in India (60 years+) into non-commu…