The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
In a startling revelation, a new study has found significant increase in rates of obesity and overweight in both adults (28 per cent increase) and children (up by 47 per cent) in the past 33 years, with the number of overweight and obese people rising from 857 million in 1980 …
Almost a third of the world is now overweight, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis. Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese, up from 857 million 33 years ago. …
Efforts to put a value on greenhouse-gas emissions to contain global warming are being hurt as countries from Australia to Russia and Japan pull back from carbon-reduction commitments, according to the World Bank. “While some nations are taking concrete steps forward on carbon pricing, recent developments in others are a …
A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck the coast of southern Mexico on Thursday about 60 miles northwest of Acapulco, the second big quake in the region in a month, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake rocked downtown Mexico City, located about 170 miles northeast of the epicenter, in Guerrero state. …
Report reveals rising number of environment and land rights activists being killed worldwide What now happens twice a week to “ordinary people” around the world trying to protect the environment and rights to land? They get killed. That’s the conclusion of a report released last week by UK-based NGO Global …
Narco-Deforestation, a newly coined term for the destruction of sensitive forest ecologies in Central and South America has been identified as a greater threat to the South and Central American forests than other previously identified concerns such as legal logging and development. The drug traffickers are creating new autoroutes and …
The private sector strongly feels India is a difficult place to do business due to too many regulations, World Bank president Jim Young Kim said Thursday, calling for necessary reforms to create a better environment and spur growth. "The private sector has the strong sense that India is a difficult …
Inspectors ventured into an underground nuclear waste disposal vault in New Mexico on Wednesday to begin an on-site investigation of a radiation leak nearly seven weeks ago that exposed 21 workers and forced a shutdown of the facility. The mission by experts from the company that manages the site marked …
Study shows 64 out of 66 countries had put in place or were establishing significant climate or energy legislation in 2013 Almost 500 laws to tackle climate change have been passed in countries which account for nine-tenths of global emissions, a study has found. Much of the action in the …
Nations have passed almost 500 laws to tackle climate change, with emerging economies led by Mexico and China making the most progress last year, a study by Globe International found. A total of 62 out of the 66 countries examined have passed or are working on “significant” climate or energy-related …
US investigators have been taking samples at a New Mexico underground nuclear waste site where airborne radiation was detected, though authorities stressed they had found no contamination. Officials monitoring the possible radiation leak said there was no danger to people or the environment at the the Department of Energy’s Waste …
If you walk into a coffee-house and see more women smoking than was the case years ago – that picture may indeed be true, says a recently released global study on tobacco consumption. While Indian men increasingly show signs of snuffing out the habit, tobacco consumption among women remains virtually …
With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expiring in 2015, the world awaits a new, ambitious framework for improving lives. This framework must pass the vital test of reducing inequalities, especially gender-related ones, as a critical step towards the improvement of women's health. Measurably improving women's health throughout the life course …
After pioneering the cultivation of corn thousands of years ago, Mexico must overcome the weight of history to give the go-ahead to allow genetically modified strains into its fields. Religion, culture and science are competing for primacy in the debate on how acceptable corn produced by genetically modified organisms (GMO) …
There is much uncertainty about the future impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases. Such uncertainty reflects the difficulties in modelling the complex interactions between disease, climatic and socioeconomic determinants. We used a comprehensive panel dataset from Mexico covering 23 years of province-specific dengue reports across nine climatic regions to …
Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is ready to support an opposition proposal to increase a planned tax on junk food included in the government's fiscal reform, the PRI's leader in the Senate said on Wednesday. Last week, the lower house of Congress approved President Enrique Pena Nieto's fiscal reform, …
A powerful earthquake struck in the Sea of Cortez on Saturday between the western Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California Sur, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit 74 km (46 miles) southwest of Etchoropo in Sonora, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its …
The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and is being officially classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization's cancer agency said on Thursday. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air …
New research suggests that extreme weather events will keep people poor in many parts of the world. The authors argue that where disasters like drought are prevalent, they can be the most important cause of poverty. They say that up to 325 million people will be living in countries highly …
The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and should now be classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) cancer agency said on Thursday. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from …
