WHO : Pandemic flu framework a "success story" with challenges (PRIV)
(Sangeeta Shashikant, London)
The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIP Framework) adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2011 is a "bold and innovative tool" and a "success story".

Agriculture : New, aggressive rust imperils wheat crops in Europe, Africa, Asia (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 per cent in untreated susceptible wheat, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with the United Nations.

Europe : Urged to address 'tragic' loss of lives in Mediterranean (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
European leaders should take decisive action to address the tragic loss of life on the Central Mediterranean route and the deplorable conditions for migrants and refugees in Libya, urged two major United Nations agencies dealing with migrants and refugees.

Mexico : Families of the "disappeared" search for clandestine graves (PRIV)
(IPS, Navolato)
Juan de Dios is eight years old and is looking for his younger sister, Zoe Zuleica Torres Gomez, who went missing in December 2015, when she was only five years old, in the northeastern state of San Luis Potosi. He is the youngest searcher for clandestine graves in Mexico.

Brazil : Native seeds sustain semi-arid Northeast region (PRIV)
(IPS, Apodi)
In his 76 years of life, Raimundo Pinheiro de Melo has endured a number of droughts in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast region. And he remembers every one of them since 1958.