IRIN News (Most Popular)
MALAWI: Kassim Kalukwete, "I do not have maize at home"
Kassim Kalukwete, a subsistence farmer in his 60s in the lakeshore district of Mangochi in southern Malawi said his family and many others in his village, Kungumbe, do not have food.
SENEGAL: Forecasting the future in an erratic climate
In the darkness after pre-dawn prayer a village elder would squint at the sky overhead, tilting his head back until his cap fell off, looking for a cluster of bright stars that signalled the middle of the rainy season. Now many traditional methods are becoming increasingly unreliable predictors due to climate variability, and African farmers already facing fluctuations need scientific data to help them adapt, farmers and climate experts say.
SOMALIA: Urgent help needed for thousands displaced in Galgadud
Local authorities in the central Galgadud region have appealed for urgent help for at least 80,000 people displaced by fighting in the towns of Dusamareb and Guri-Eil.
ISRAEL-OPT: Water, sewage system collapsing in Gaza, says official
The UN has warned that power networks were down in large parts of the Gaza Strip on 4 January, with hospitals relying on generators. Without power for pumps, 70 percent of Gazans are estimated to be without tap water.
ISRAEL-OPT: Bedouins lack protection from incoming rockets
Israeli cities and towns within range of Palestinian militants' rockets fired from Gaza have air raid shelters, but Bedouins in the Negev desert outside Beer Sheba, southern Israel, say they are being treated unfairly and have nowhere to hide.
SUDAN: It takes more than a law to stop the cut
A law passed in November 2008 prohibiting female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in the state of Southern Kordofan is unique in Sudan. But for it to translate into genuine abolition, deep-seated attitudes and misinformation will have to be overcome.
BANGLADESH: Acid attacks continue despite new laws
Acid attacks against women and girls are continuing despite legal campaigns to halt their spread. Over 2,600 cases have been reported since 1999, according to the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) of Bangladesh.
AFGHANISTAN: Little to eat for IDPs in makeshift Kabul camp
Azizullah's family left their home in the Sangin District of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, because of the worsening conflict, drought and food security situation. Their new home is a one-room mud-hut in the western outskirts of Kabul where over 4,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have established a makeshift camp.
YEMEN: Jews in north increasingly being harassed
Members of the small Jewish community of some 270 people in Amran Governorate, northern Yemen, say they have been receiving renewed death threats from their Muslim neighbours since the start of the Israeli offensive against Gaza on 27 December.
NEPAL: Tackling domestic violence not for the faint-hearted
Being a community-based mediator in domestic violence cases is not for the faint-hearted. Saru Tamang has been slapped, verbally abused and threatened by male members of her village in Kavre District when she has gone to mediate in domestic violence cases. The village has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country, say local rights activists.
UGANDA: Sheikh Muhamad Kibudde, "Amongst Muslims...there is a conspiracy of silence on HIV"
Sheikh Muhamad Kibudde, 43, is the deputy imam of Masjid Takwa in Kitende on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda. Two years ago, he tested positive for HIV and a year later surprised everyone by taking to the road to speak about AIDS and his own HIV status to fellow Muslims.
IRAQ: Iraqis want free food programme to continue, finds survey
An Iraqi government survey conducted late 2008 has found that 95 percent of Iraqi families would prefer to keep the state's free food programme running rather than replace it with financial aid, a government spokesman said on 3 January.
AFGHANISTAN: Gul Bigum: "I can't feed my children because drought killed our animals"
Gul Bigum, 48, is the sole breadwinner for her three children in the northern province of Sar-i-Pul. She lost her cattle and had to leave her village because of the drought. She is one of thousands of female heads of household across the country stuck in chronic poverty. Gul Bigum told IRIN of her daily struggle to feed her children.
MIDDLE EAST: IRIN-ME Weekly round up 210 for 27 December 2008 - 2 January 2009
IRIN-ME Weekly round up 210 for 27 December 2008 - 2 January 2009
ASIA: IRIN-ASIA Weekly Round-up 209 for 29 December 2008 - 4 January 2009
IRIN-ASIA Weekly Round-up 209 for 29 December 2008 - 4 January 2009
WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 460 for 27 December 2008 - 2 January 2009
IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 460 for 27 December 2008 - 2 January 2009
HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 448 for 27 December 2008- 2 January 2009
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 448 for 27 December 2008- 2 January 2009
MAURITANIA: Water treks grow longer, rougher
As water captured in village wells during the 2008 rainy season runs out or dries up, residents in southern Mauritania are spending more time and travelling farther in their hunt for water. Water gatherers in Boura village, 400km southeast of the capital Nouakchott, told IRIN January means the start of longer water treks.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: A helping hand for people living with HIV
In a small commune on a patch of wasteland next to the waterworks in Mount Hagen, the capital of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Western Highlands Province, Paul Ari provides shelter to people living with HIV and AIDS who fear rejection by their families.
ZIMBABWE: Political deal will not stem cholera deaths - MDC
Nelson Chamisa, national spokesman of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has played down the ability of his party to quickly stem the number of cholera deaths, if it were to join the government immediately.
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