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"Factsheet Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative September 22, 2009 The Joint IMF-World Bank's comprehensive approach to debt reduction is designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. To date, debt reduction packages under the HIPC Initiative have been approved for 35 countries, 29 of them in Africa, providing US$51 billion in debt-service relief over time. Five additional countries are potentially eligible for HIPC Initiative assistance. Debt relief key to poverty reduction The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank, with the aim of ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Since then, the international financial community, including multilateral organizations and governments have worked together to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries. In 1999, a comprehensive review of the Initiative allowed the Fund to provide faster, deeper, and broader debt relief and strengthened the links between debt relief, poverty reduction, and social policies. In 2005, to help accelerate progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , the HIPC Initiative was supplemented by the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) . The MDRI allows for 100 percent relief on eligible debts by three multilateral institutions-the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Fund (AfDF)-for countries completing the HIPC Initiative process. In 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB) also decided to provide additional ("beyond HIPC") debt relief to the five HIPCs in the Western Hemisphere. Two step process Countries must meet certain criteria, commit to poverty reduction through policy changes and demonstrate a good track-record over time. The Fund and Bank provide interim debt relief in the initial st

'Brown Clouds' Are World's Newest Environmental Threat By TINI TRAN AND JOHN HEILPRIN / AP WRITER Friday, November 14, 2008 BEIJING - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns and threatening health and food supplies, the UN reported. The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds." Cars drive through thick smog on a street in Beijing in September 2008. Enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia are killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops, the United Nations said. (Photo: AFP) When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the UN Environment Program and released Thursday. "All of these points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States. Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known. Perhaps most widely recognized as the haze this past summer over Beijing's Olympics, the clouds have been found to be more than a mile (kilometer) thick around glaciers in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges. They hide the sun and absorb radiation, leading to new worries not only about global climate change but also about extreme weather conditions. "All t

In summary- the Japanese have developed the ability to extract a new (well actually it is old, but new type of gas to us) from deep within the ocean seabed.  This not unlike the recent developments with Shale Gas in the United States.  The process is far from perfect yet (and still in its infancy), but given the recent developments, it is likely that the Japanese will invest more into this project in order to fully realize the potential of this energy source.   a couple of points-  This new gas (methane hydrate) would still be considered a fossil fuel, but would burn cleaner than many of Japan's current energy suppliers (coal). Japan's largest supply of energy (nuclear) is under heavy scrutiny lately after the Fukishima disaster- which could be argued as the largest, most far reaching enviornmental disaster in History.  They are trying to move away from relience on nuclear energy which has resulted in a heavy increase on imported fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)- which has had the consequence of driving up energy prices for its citizens and hurting the economy. If this energy source were to work out/pay out- this would bring much needed relief to Japan's "energy crisis" and relience on imported fossil fuels. This extraction of this new type of energy, like Shale Oil and Gas, is likely very very risky and could have calamatious effects on the surrounding enviornment, if in the event a spill/leak where to happen (this gas is deep deep within the ocean seabed.. A leak would be very very hard to stop). Recent developments could mean movement away from Japan's current trend of investing in (and development of) green energies such as wind, solar, and geothermal. The exact properties of undersea hydrates and how they might affect the environment are still poorly understood, given that methane is a greenhouse gas.   So my questions are: Should Japan pursue this course of action (developing this new type of energy)? What happens if

Guangzhou, China - African migrants have been arriving in Guangzhou, China's third largest city ever since the Chinese economic boom began in the late 1990s.  Current estimates put their numbers anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000. The latter figure would place their population at almost two percent of Guangzhou's 13 million residents. In any event, Guangzhou's Africans constitute Asia's largest African community. The majority of them reside in a 10 square kilometre area in the central districts of Yuexiu and Baiyun locally known as "Chocolate City".

An estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants live in the US, including 120,000 in Alabama, most of whom work in backbreaking agricultural jobs under the hot southern sun. In two months, the harsh new immigration law takes effect in the state, aimed in part at making life so difficult for illegal immigrants they will quit the state.

BBCs Series "Develop or Die" looks at Developing Countries around Asia, and the different challenges each face to continue their development amindst Global Concerns about Climate Change, CO2 Emissions, increasing Pollution, and public demand for increased sustainable development both in developed Countries but also the rapidly developing regions of the Planet. In this Episode Malaysia (Part 1 of 2) highlights the challenges faced as transport and construction boom, while in Part 2 Vietnam sets an example with regard to the increasing Tourist Industry in Asia.

Film about women's rights in Morocco relating to the 475 rape laws which allowed rapists to marry their victims, In reality deals with equality issues in general.

Amazing case study for the effects of internal migration in China. 

A new, less restrictive policy in Hainan Province, coupled with advocacy and incentives, is expected to result in a more balanced sex ratio among newborns in China. UNFPA.

A good started video.

This movie has only just come out but should be on DVD later in the year.  Explores Kenya's move to free education and would measure against the MDG's in Education.  Also an interesting look at how age and disparity and access to opportunity would look.  Showing now in cinemas (the small independents). [Submitted by Chris Stephenson]

Mexico: 500 migrants found in trucks in Chiapas

"China: a decade of change - interactive timeline As the communist party prepares for a changing of the guard, we look at the key events in the last 10 years that have shaped the world's most populous country. A next generation of politicians will be facing entirely new challenges across all sectors, from the economy to civil unrest. Scroll through the timeline to explore the defining moments of the first decade of the 21st century"

"Shell spending millions of dollars on security in Nigeria, leaked data shows Internal documents reveal oil company spent $383m over three years protecting staff and installations in Niger delta region"

Rise in older people living in villages predicted

Excellent Article about Malthusian Theory and it's changing role in the today's world.  Excellent for patterns in resource consumption [Submitted by Chris Stephenson]

Unintended Pregnancies in the US (a very quick article to stimulate a discussion about fertility rates in MEDCs)

UN aid agencies are suggesting wealthy industrialised nations should perhaps rethink their policies on immigration and asylum in the wake of the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean, writes the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.

The success of London's congestion charge, in three maps