| LEBANON: Solar power helps schools, hospitals |
 AKKAR, 29 October 2009 (IRIN) - In Lebanon’s remote northeastern district of Akkar, teachers and pupils at the Rajam Issa public school are hoping this winter will be the first when the lights stay on. “Electricity is the lifeline of the school,” said head teacher Ibrahim Salame, complaining of frequent and prolonged power cuts.
full report
|
| In Brief: When health facilities become casualties |
 DAKAR, 14 October 2009 (IRIN) - Designed to be safe havens in times of disaster, health facilities are vulnerable to upheaval when catastrophe strikes, according to the UN, which is focusing on hospital safety for International Day for Disaster Reduction.
full report
|
| In Brief: Voices of landmine survivors |
 DAKAR, 8 October 2009 (IRIN) - A landmine survivor in Senegal’s Casamance region on 6 October used the recent report, ‘Voices from the Ground’, based on a survey of mine victims worldwide, to remind aid agencies, Senegal’s anti-mine agency and the media of victims’ needs and governments’ responsibilities.
full report
|
| How To: Rescue people trapped in a collapsed building |
 NAIROBI, 8 October 2009 (IRIN) - When an earthquake strikes a town, or a building is levelled by an explosion, news footage invariably shows search and rescue teams trawling through the rubble looking for survivors. But what does it take to rescue people trapped under tons of concrete?
full report
|
| In Brief: Migration myths dispelled in UNDP report |
 BANGKOK, 5 October 2009 (IRIN) - Most migrants do not move from developing to developed countries, and when they do, rather than hurting host economies, they benefit them, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
full report
|
| In Brief: Twenty cities most vulnerable to storm surges, sea level rises |
 DAKAR, 1 October 2009 (IRIN) - According to (yet another) new climate change report, this time from development think-tank CGD, these are the 20 cities where the most people will be at the greatest risk from sea level rise and storm surges in the developing world.
full report
|
| LEBANON: Plight of the trafficked domestic worker |
 BEIRUT, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Abbey was a nurse at a French hospital in Madagascar when a recruitment agency suggested to her boss that she travel to Lebanon for three years to work and learn Arabic so she could better care for the Arab sailors whose ships docked at the Indian Ocean island.
full report
|
| In Brief: Climate-related disasters force 20 million out of homes in 2008 |
 JOHANNESBURG, 23 September 2009 (IRIN) - Climate related natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes and floods forced 20 million people - slightly less than the population of Australia - out of their homes in 2008 alone said a new study, making a strong case for regularly monitoring displacement in the context of climate change.
full report
|
| LEBANON: Move to take domestic violence cases out of religious courts |
 BEIRUT, 23 September 2009 (IRIN) - As lawmakers struggle to form a government three months after Lebanon's parliamentary elections, women's rights activists await the opening of parliament to debate a new bill on domestic violence.
full report
|
| Analysis: Shebaa Farms key to Levant hydro-diplomacy |
 BEIRUT, 10 September 2009 (IRIN) - The politics of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, a rugged sliver of mountainside wedged between Lebanon, Israel and Syria, have long overshadowed what some Lebanese environmentalists call “the real issue” of the disputed area: its water resources.
full report
|