Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 2008 (IPS) – The devastating impact of rising food prices is expected to hit most of the world s 2.2 billion children the hardest particularly in developing nations.
They are likely to be its main victims, says Kul Gautam, a former deputy executive director of the U.N. children s agency UNICEF. Remember, 80 percent of the human brain is formed in the first 18 months of a child s life.
And whether a child will grow to live up to his or her full human potential, or the child will be condemned to be a slow learner and poor achiever in life, is largely determined in the first few years of a child s pre-school life.
The damage caused by malnutrition, infection and poor child care in early childhood often lasts for the whole lif…
BELGRADE, Sep 27 2012 (IPS) – A popular Serbian proverb quips that when it comes to politics there are as many opinions as there are people in this central European country of seven million.
But the adage was turned on its head last week when the masses sent a strong collective message to the government: no nickel exploitation in the country.
The controversy began when mining minister Milan Bacevic announced earlier this month that Mokra Gora – a 10,813-square-kilometre state-protected national park – and other areas in central Serbia contain more than four million tonnes of nickel deposits.
Bacevic went on to inform the public that several international companies were interested in exploiting the metal, bringing into the country investments totalling 1.44 bi…
A packet of 1,000 colourful, empty capsules costs roughly 2.25 dollars and is freely available at major medicine markets in Karachi. Credit: Adil Siddiqi/IPS
KARACHI, Dec 14 2012 (IPS) – When 26-year-old Muhammad Qasim, a rickshaw driver from Lahore’s low-income Shahadra settlement, died last month, his family was shocked to learn that the cause of death was an overdose – of cough syrup.
On Nov. 23, shortly before going to bed, Qasim drank a whole bottle of , which he was in the habit of doing on a somewhat regular basis.
A little while later, his mother heard strangled noises coming from his bedroom and ran in to see him foaming at the mouth. He was rushed…