Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director, Michel Sidibe, touched down in Accra Wednesday afternoon on a three-day official visit to engage stakeholders in the health sector on national efforts at getting the deadly disease to zero. Read more http://www.globalnewsreel.com/2012/02/ghana-un-joins-strengths-toward-zero.html#more (...) Read the original article... More»

The lack of clean drinking water and unsanitary living conditions widely affects communities stretching across the globe, and for Rick McKenney standing by idle while people die from water-related illnesses every day is not an option. “In the States, water is there when you turn the faucet on and in a lot of places... More»

February 22, 2012. 8:30 a.m.  Social Inclusion in Peru. Speaker/s: Peru Minister of Social Development and Inclusion Carolina Trivelli. (...) Read the original article... More»

The Security Council passed a sweeping resolution on Somalia today that boosted the number of peacekeepers there. The Council also slapped new restrictions on the Somali charcoal industry. Here's why. (...) Read the original article... More»

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the United Nations relief chief, Valerie Amos to visit Syria to assess the humanitarian situation in the Middle Eastern country, where a deadly Government crackdown continues against a pro-democracy uprising. Mr. Ban has asked Valerie Amos “to visit Syria to assess the humanitarian situation and renew the call for... More»

Last year, I met amazing students in Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad, and we’ve now created profiles for seven of them so that we can continue sharing their stories. Alfadel, Alhaphis, Ali, Arafa, Hafsa, Sadia, and Salwa represent the more than 6,000 students enrolled in Goz Amer’s six primary schools. These students... More»

Sudan Jonglei people await food rations AP resized.jpg BOR, South Sudan – The recent spate of violence in Jonglei state has drawn the world’s attention to the cyclical problem of inter-communal violence in South Sudan. When another round of violence between the Lou-Nuer and Murle people reignited in late December 2011, it was accompanied... More»

Via our friends at Avaaz: On February 23rd, Europe could pass a directive that would introduce strict pollution controls and stop the flow of deadly tar sands oil into the EU. But 5 countries are blocking this crucial law. Tar sands oil destroys forests, lakes, and emits 25% more carbon pollution than other oil.... More»

Christina and David Romer have a new paper (pdf), focusing on the interwar era: This paper uses the interwar period in the United States as a laboratory for investigating the incentive effects of changes in marginal income tax rates. Marginal rates changed frequently and drastically in the 1920s and 1930s, and the changes varied... More»

Aleppo’s famed souk is arguably the most vibrant and interesting in the whole Middle East. What differentiates it from other great markets in the region (such as my other favorites in Sana’a in Yemen and Yadz in Iran) is the immense diversity of the local population, the fact that it remains the main center... More»

  "This fighting for a cause is part of the zest of life." -Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker  (...) Read the original article... More»

Here is a short video from a recent group of Youth Discovery Project volunteers in Costa Rica. They were in Costa Rica in December 2011. As you can see, they had quite a diverse experience.   (...) Read the original article... More»

Community and Participatory Management of Natural Resources: Experiences from Mesoamerica’s Indigenous Peoples and Forest CommunitiesBy Jeff Brez and Greg BenchwickIn today’s side event Community and Participatory Management of Natural Resources: Experiences from Mesoamerica’s Indigenous Peoples and Forest Communities, IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division hosted a robust discussion on how international organizations, indigenous... More»

Happy Tibetan New Year!!   Today, February 22, 2012, is the day of the Tibetan New Year. We thought we would share a story from one of our WONDERFUL volunteers, Sergio, who traveled to Tibet this summer past summer. (...) Read the original article... More»

Major Groups Representatives engaged in the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) process are calling for expressions of interest from organizations who have implemented projects that have successfully addressed various dynamics associated with forests and economic development for presentation in an international workshop. These projects are sought as case study for knowledge sharing during... More»