Failure to provide about 4 billion people with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year   BARCELONA, September 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A global failure to provide about 4 billion people - half the world's population - with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year in damage to health, the climate and local economies, new figures show. A report released by the World Bank and

As climate impacts surge, Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future protesters mount more than 3,100 demonstrations around the world BRUSSELS, September 25 (Reuters) - United under Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, young people rallied worldwide on Friday to demand urgent action to halt catastrophic climate change, in their first global protest since the coronavirus crisis began. With wild weather wreaking havoc across the world – from fires ravaging the U.S. West, to abnormal

New Delhi, September 24 (PTI): Indian Americans, particularly in the battleground states, are coming out in support of President Donald Trump in large numbers due to a combination of 12 factors, prominent among which is his friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to an internal research survey. Trump showing respect to Indian Americans, treating India and Modi on an equal footing have made him popular, says the survey, which is now shaping the campaign's outreach

Soccer initiative aims to give child brides new opportunities, and the confidence to stand up for their rights MUMBAI, September 232 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When India began lifting its coronavirus lockdown, Meera, a child bride from northwestern India, was focused on just one thing: when she could start playing football again. In Rajasthan, one of the Indian regions where early marriage persists despite being outlawed more than a decade ago, a girls' soccer initiative

New Delhi, September 22 (IANSlife): Being a female author can come with its own set of challenges, especially when one is trying to juggle a career in the demanding field along with a personal life. From burning the midnight oil to pursue writing, to managing multiple roles, budding authors share how they used writing as a tool for empowerment. 'Four Dances of the Moon' author Shikha Rinchin Tiku explains how every journey is different and so are the challenges. "I got

LONDON, September 22 (Reuters) - Wildfires among ponderosa pines and Douglas firs of the U.S. West have long been part of nature's cycle of renewal, as much as the changing of the seasons. But as climate change makes the region more arid, wildfires have grown more frequent and ferocious. Scientists worry the hottest blazes could end up obliterating swathes of some forests forever. "When you get these large areas burned there are no surviving trees to reseed these areas,&

New Delhi/Srinagar, September 21 (IANS): A year after the central government's assurances that the nullification of Article 370 would lead to transparency and accountability, Jammu & Kashmir's public sector recruitment remains a major source of disillusionment. "We were promised that merit will be a priority, regional disparity will vanish and favouritism, corruption and nepotism will be eliminated from J&K. None of the commitments have been kept," Muneeb,

New Delhi, September 20 (IANS): She captures frames of the greatest migration since Partition, but what strikes is not the movement, but in fact an uncomfortable stillness -- not just of the people but the entire city. A post-war capital -- abandoned, but still standing tall, unable to come to terms with the new reality. In the initial days of the lockdown, which forced lakhs of migrant workers to flee cities towards their homes on foot, Delhi-based photographer Parul Sharma decided

BY BINAY KUMAR SINGH IANS | September 18 Two viruses have taken over the world. One, a minuscule creature called Covid-19, has killed more than 8,00,000 people around the globe, but is slowing down and will most likely be eliminated in the coming months. Vaccines have already been developed against it and once inoculated, citizens of the world can expect to go on with their normal lives. However, it is the second virus, that of Chinese imperialism, which poses a long term and a muc

Munduruku indigenous leaders say their land is being invaded as gold prices rise, and efforts to fight the problem are inadequate   SAO PAULO, September 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An Amazon indigenous group that earlier turned away a planned hydroelectric dam is now battling a surge of illegal gold mining in its territory during the COVID-19 pandemic, a tribal activist said. The Sawré Muybu territory of the Munduruku indigenous people, in Brazil's Par&aacu

The pandemic has highlighted the need to address global inequality in education, pay and health care access, philanthropist Bill Gates said. NEW YORK, September 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out progress on lofty goals such as ending world poverty and hunger in the next decade, but the economic damage of COVID-19 shows how badly such global development is needed, philanthropist Bill Gates said. Across the world, the virus has deepened social

New York, September 15 (IANS): US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden are both gaffe-prone, but are taking radically different strategies to deal with their reigns of error before the November 3 election. Biden keeps a lower profile and shies away from unscripted encounters and his strategists hope it will minimise embarrassing errors while watching Trump shoot himself in the foot with his shoot-from-the-hip style. Trump, on the other hand, seems to revel hi

New Delhi, September 14 (IANSlife): Putting India's common citizens - tailors, kirana shop owners, autorickshaw drivers, teachers and more - at its centre, a new inspirational anthem titled 'Himmat Hai Toh Jeet Hai' launched on Monday, kickstarting with it a two-month-long campaign to celebrate 'himmat' or fortitude Indians are displaying in their fight against Covid-19. This celebration of stories of courage and hope amid Covid-19, has been launched by Populatio

BY SAEED NAQVI IANS | September 13 If the Gandhi trio stirred themselves into action as a serious opposition, is there a possibility that they would end up in jail? If they were spared despite this affront, it would imply that the Modi outfit has come to the conclusion that the Gandhis are now totally harmless. Requirements of the media in this regard are helpful to the Narendra Modi establishment in a peculiar way. It keeps the Gandhis in frequent focus with the express purpose

New Delhi, September 12 (IANS): Percy Bysshe Shelley was a poet of the Romantic era who had inspired Mahatma Gandhi. Now, his 'Ode To The West Wind' written two centuries ago, Covid-19, an Italian director and an Indian producer have come together for "Human O.A.K.", a short film that is "absolutely poetic, something delicate, something that speaks about the pandemic but in a gentle way". The film "could only be thought and realised in the lockdown p

BY SOBDAR BALOCH New Delhi, September 12 (IANS): I am often confronted with a question about how to create global awareness about the Balochistan movement. Common answers would be that India, Afghanistan, United States and friendly countries should initiate a debate and chalk out a long-term policy to work with Balochistan in order to maintain durable peace and prosperity of the region. Recognizing Balochistan as an occupied territory will pave the way for it to become a sovereign s

New Delhi, September 12 (IANSlife): Late identification of learning disabilities could leave some children behind in their academic and mental development - something early screening can solve. Indigenous research studies have estimated the incidence of Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) in India to be between 10-12 percent of school-going children. In remote populations and Tier-II cities where there is negligible awareness or service available for identification, these kids sli

New Delhi, September 11 (IANSlife): Bringing into sharp nation-wide focus the indispensable role nutrition plays in the development of not just a child, but communities and the nation at large, September 2020 has been announced as POSHAN Maah, or National Nutrition Month, as a key milestone for 'Kuposhan-mukt Bharat' (Malnutrition-free India), across the life cycle. A strong Panchayat-level focus forms a major highlight of this month, tracing the under-nutrition problem to Indi

New York, September 11 (IANS): Despite Democratic nominee Joe Biden's nearly 8 point lead against Donald Trump in national polls, US pollsters are red flagging the cracks in the Joe Biden - Kamala Harris ticket's lead among key voting blocs, saying the gap is still not wide enough to put the Democrats safely on the winning side against Trump. If the 2020 race is tight, Trump's Black support is being seen as a game changer. Biden's lead among Blacks is pegged in the r

New Delhi, September 10 (IANS): All the member countries of WHO South-East Asia Region on Thursday resolved to collectively fight Covid-19 and strengthen the region's response with better-equipped health systems to deliver essential health services during the pandemic. "The spread of Covid-19 has impacted almost every community, overwhelmed health systems and disrupted economies and livelihoods with effects reaching far beyond the health sector. It has also disproportionate