News headlines in October 2010, page 6

Proponents of renewable energy say that a planned large-scale solar power plant in Australia's northern Victoria state, which will produce enough output to provide electricity to 60,000 homes, is just a fraction of what could be achieved if federal and state governments were fully committed to harnessing solar energy.

As two Democratic senators introduced yet another version of immigration reform legislation - and two Republican senators immediately condemned it - more than 500 not-for-profit organisations called on President Barack Obama to end what they called 'the merger of immigration enforcement with criminal justice.'

Environmental organisations in Argentina are celebrating the passage of a law restricting the extraction of minerals, oil and gas near glaciers, in order to protect these vast freshwater reserves.

As efforts to control malaria intensify in the region, the significance of a busy health clinic in Mae Sot, a Thai town close to the Burmese border, stands out even more. It is the Mae Tao clinic that an increasing stream of Burmese migrants heads for in order to get treatment for malaria, after they cross Thailand's porous western border.

Beyond Copenhagen and Cancún, a different climate debate has been brewing. The outcome of this debate, however, will affect far more than the climate, and that is precisely why it is so contentious.

With the backing of large crowds of supporters in the streets and of statements from presidents throughout Latin America, the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa is attempting to quell a riot by hundreds of police protesting a cut in their benefits which has thrown the country into chaos.

Despite the tough global economy, malaria deaths can be halted by the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline thanks to new commitments made by governments during last MDGs Summit (Sept 20-22), said Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning Robert Orr. Before the Summit there was real doubt that MDGs could gain any additional traction. The announcements of budget increases made by a number of countries ahead of the Global Fund Replenishment Conference are very good signs the replenishment will do quit well, Orr said.

Mexico has suffered a setback in terms of government transparency and access to public information, according to Thomas Blanton and Kate Doyle, experts with the Washington-based National Security Archive (NSA).

As concern grows for the health and lives of 38 Mapuche prisoners on a hunger strike in different prisons in southern Chile, IPS consulted academics about the problems underlying the conflict. None of the attempts by the government of right-wing President Sebastián Piñera to persuade the fasters to call off their protest, launched by the original group of hunger strikers 80 days ago, have been successful.

With a recent study warning that the Caribbean could lose six percent of its Gross Domestic Product annually to the ravages of climate change, some experts say that a combination of adaptation funding and risk pooling is the region's best hope for the future.