News headlines in July 2011, page 23

Going to school and receiving an education are opportunities most people usually take for granted. But for 67 million children around the world, such possibilities do not exist.

A 1993 forest act gave back Nepal its green hills, many believe. Activists say the law was also a catalyst for positive change in an area not readily linked with it — women’s rights in rural Nepal.

Fatal outbreaks of food poisoning in the United States, Mexico and Europe expose the failure of regional and global initiatives to ensure that fruits and vegetables are safe and healthy.

Even though government health services are free, Grace Nafungo Kutosi doesn’t mind paying the two thousand shillings (about one dollar) when she visits the non-governmental Beatrice Tierney Clinic in Bumwalukani village. In fact, paying the fee at the clinic, which is a 20-minute walk from her home, is cheaper than her having to travel to the nearest government clinic almost seven kilometres away.

Lady Gaga and Alice Walker don't have much in common. One dresses in red meat; the other doesn't even eat the stuff. One writes lyrics like 'I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it's free.' The other writes 'The Color Purple'.

Domestically abused women who are financially dependent on their abusers can now report the crime with the assurance that they will be able to get financial and medical support from the state, thanks to the country’s new law on domestic violence.

'One hundred percent renewable energy by 2020... It is ambitious but it is not impossible,' Henry Puna, prime minister of the Cook Islands, told IPS in a recent interview.

During an open debate on Children and Armed Conflict, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1998, that includes a new provision: attacks on schools and hospitals as criteria for listing parties to conflict in the Secretary- General's annual report.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Tuesday appealed to the 192 member states to respond to a growing humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Prime property in the Georgian architectural gem town of Bath? Check. Luxury brand shopping on London’s Bond Street? Check. A seat on the fine art auctions? Check. The wish list of Chinese visitors to the UK is endless, and their aspirations and wealth are reshaping the property, retail and art treasures market here in ways unforeseen a few years ago.