Biodiversity : Framework aims at reinforcing efforts to save world's ecosystem (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
The UN's highly-touted socioeconomic agenda, which lays out an ambitious global plan for "people, planet and prosperity", has been dominated by "goals, targets and deadlines."

Health : Trump's global gag rule having negative impact on health of Malawians (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
A report released last week has detailed the complex ways in which President Donald Trump's "Global Gag Rule" (GGR), that blocks US global health assistance to foreign non- governmental facilities providing abortion or abortion-related services, is affecting the population in Malawi, a country already hard hit with numerous climate change disasters.

Development : Coming down the Davos mountain with a gender lens (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
A recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows women suffer a "triple whammy" in the workplace. Without drastic action, gender parity will take more than a lifetime to achieve.

Pakistan : Popular singer pushes for corporal punishment to be made a crime (PRIV)
(IPS, Islamabad)
"He struck his head, his side, his stomach and went on hitting him. When Hunain said he could not breathe, the teacher slammed him against the wall, saying, "Being dramatic are we?"