RIGHTS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Disability and Sex Can Share the Same Bed, Say Women

Fulgence Zamblé

ABIDJAN, Nov 1 2006 (IPS) – Marginalised by society because they have few legal or institutional forms of protection, disabled women in Cote d Ivoire are now coming out of the shadows and demanding their rights particularly those related to their sexual and reproductive lives.
Even if we don t get benefits, what s important to us is our rights, said Fatim Koné, a resident of the Ivorian financial capital, Abidjan, who had a leg amputated three years ago.

Anne-Cécile Konan, a disabled person, and president of the National Union of Handicapped Women of Cote d Ivoire (Union nationale des femmes handicapées de Côte d Ivoire) agrees. Society has to listen to us we re not going to turn back, she notes.

The union a non-governmental organisation …

WORLD AIDS DAY: Mozambican Children Carrying the Burden of HIV and Stigma

Ruth Ansah Ayisi

MAPUTO, Nov 30 2006 (IPS) – Dressed in jeans and a sweater, Julia watches cautiously as her mother talks on her behalf. But as the interview proceeds, she gains confidence and begins to speak for herself.
When the psychologist told me I was HIV-positive, I was angry, says Julia without a trace of bitterness. She has the composure of someone much older than her 13 years.
Dressed in jeans and a sweater, Julia* watches cautiously as her mother talks on her behalf. But as the interview proceeds, she gains confidence and begins to speak for herself.

When the psychologist told me I was HIV-positive, I was angry, says Julia in a melodic voice, without a trace of bitterness. She has the composure of someone much older than her 13 years.

I never…

ENVIRONMENT: Evangelicals, Scientists Team Up on Warming

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 2007 (IPS) – One year after the launch by nearly 100 evangelical Christian leaders of a major initiative on global warming, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has announced a joint effort with scientific groups to urge stronger efforts by the government to protect the global environment.
The unprecedented coalition, whose scientific members are led by Harvard University s Centre for Health and the Global Environment, released an Urgent Call to Action here Wednesday that called for fundamental change in values, lifestyles, and public policies needed to address global warming and other environmental problems before it is too late .

Business as usual cannot continue yet one more day, the coalition warned in letters sent to U.S. Pr…

แฟนอาร์ตเซนิกาเมะ และฟุชิกิดาเนะในร่าง Paradox

Paradox Pokémon เป็นหนึ่งในประเภทของโปเกมอนที่จะปรากฎตัวใน Pokémon Scarlet และ Violet โดยเจ้าโปเกมอนเหล่านี้เป็นสิ่งมีชีวิตลึกลับรูปแบบใหม่ของโปเกมอนที่มีอยู่ พวกมันจะแบ่งออกเป็นรูปแบบยุคก่อนประวัติศาสตร์หรืออนาคตนั่นเอง คำพูดจาก สล็อตเว็บตรง

การเปิดตัวโปเกมอน Paradox ใน Po…

โปรดิวเซอร์ Dynasty Warriors เผย ‘เกมจะไม่สามารถไปต่อ หากคิดแต่จะเพิ่มตัวละคร’

หลายคนอาจจะได้เห็นภาพตัวอย่างใหม่ของ Dynasty Warriors Origins เกมภาคล่าสุดสำหรับแฟรนไชส์สามก๊กมุโซวแล้ว ซึ่งนอกเหนือจากงานภาพที่ปรับระดับเพื่อประสบการณ์เน็กซ์เจ็นและแอ็กชันมันส์หยดติ๋งแบบหนึ่งรุมพันที่เป็นที่รู็จักกันแล้ว อีกหนึ่งส่วนที่ได้รับการปรับแต่งใหม่ก็คือระบบตัวละครที่จะให้เร�…

โอตาคุหนุ่มไต้หวันหยุดยั้งเหตุการณ์แทงกันด้วยพลังแห่งอนิเมะ!

เมื่อวันที่ 4 มิถุนายน ทางรัฐบาลเมืองไทจง ประเทศไต้หวัน ได้ยกย่องความกล้าหาญของประชาชนจำนวน 17 คน หนึ่งในนั้นคือ นาย Xu Ruixian หรือที่ได้รับฉายาว่า “พี่ผมยาว” ผู้ต่อสู้กับผู้ต้องสงสัยก่อเหตุแทงกันบนรถไฟฟ้าใต้ดิน (MRT) เมื่อวันที่ 21 พฤษภาคมที่ผ่านมา

ระหว่างการให้สัมภาษณ์กับสื่อมวลชน นาย Xu �…

SCIENCE: Primordial Ocean Ooze May Hold Wonder Drugs

Enrique Gili

SAN DIEGO, California, Feb 9 2007 (IPS) – A new breed of prospector is hunting for buried treasure on the sea floor, this time looking for breakthrough drugs derived from the natural heritage of the world s oceans.
Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography believe that this vast and unexplored region may hold medical treatments for a host of ailments, from infectious diseases to cancer.

From his seaside corner office overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Dr. William Fenical, director of the Scripps Centre for Marine Biotechnology, presides over a research facility that has discovered more microorganisms in a single teaspoon of ocean water than there are trees in an entire rainforest.

He believes they have the potential to save the lives of mi…

Q&A: “We Want to Take Control of Our Water”

Interview with Patrick Findane

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 20 2007 (IPS) – In a State of the Nation address delivered in February, South African President Thabo Mbeki said his country had already achieved the Millennium Development Goals in respect of basic water supply, with improvement of access from 59 percent in 1994 to 83 percent in 2006.
Eight development goals were adopted during the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, in a bid to raise living standards globally by 2015. They include halving the number of people without sustainable access to potable water.

At present, a household of approximately eight people in South Africa receives some 6,000 litres of free water monthly.

However, Patrick Findane, assistant coordinator for the Coalition Against Water Pri…

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: MDGs a ”Bright Idea” or Scam of the Rich?

George Njogopa

DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 23 2007 (IPS) – While the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a bright idea , the hidden agenda of western countries makes it impossible for African states like Tanzania to achieve the goals, expounds actor Rashid Mkwinda.
He is one of the people whose thoughts IPS canvassed in the streets of Dar es Salaam in a series of random interviews about the MDGs. For him, Southern Africa s ability to achieve the MDGs is firmly connected to the superpowers international policy approach to developing states.

Indeed, Mkwinda wonders if the MDGs are not like other global programmes which have as their aim the exertion of power over poor countries and the exploitation of Africa s resources.

It is clear that America and i…

ENERGY-MALAWI: Technology to Save Forests

Pilirani Semu-Banda

BLANTYRE, May 31 2007 (IPS) – Malawi s utilisation of energy resources is heavily dominated by firewood, which provides 93 percent of all energy needs. Current annual household consumption of firewood and charcoal are at 7.5 million tons, exceeding sustainable supply by 3.7 million tons.
Poverty and population growth in the country are placing escalating pressures on Malawi s indigenous forests which, the ministry of environment says, translates into an annual destruction of approximately 50,000 to 70,000 hectares of forest.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is hopeful that a new ethanol-based innovation will go some way to addressing Malawi s energy problem. The UNDP has included a local company s development of an ethanol-based stov…