http://www.IRINnews.org Updated every day en-gb Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:27:00 GMT United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks, http://www.IRINnews.org JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's food security has improved but is still "precarious" and "vulnerable to sudden shocks", according to the latest update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88433 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88433 DUBAI, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Floods have killed 34 people in Aksu District, Almaty Province, southeastern Kazakhstan, according to the government-run Kazinform news agency on 15 March. Hundreds have been displaced and a further 926 evacuated to the provincial capital of Taldykorgan, it said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88430 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88430 ADDIS ABABA, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Ethiopia has made some headway towards improving maternal and child health, but more needs to be done to reduce the high number of preventable deaths, says an official. “I know that we have gaps in effectively addressing maternal health, but previous assessments are showing us that if we [make a] concerted effort, we can achieve goal number five of the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals],” Kebede Worku, State Minister for Health, said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88428 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88428 NAIROBI, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Five days of fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have left residents without food, cut off from their homes and unable to bury their dead, civil society leaders in the city said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88427 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88427 DHAKA, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - A new salt-resistant paddy - BRRI Dhan 47 - is offering hope to coastal farmers in southern Bangladesh whose crops are affected by climate change, say experts. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88426 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88426 DAKAR, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - IRIN has asked a range of experts over the past year why malnutrition is recurrent in Niger even after decades of donor support and government programmes. Two of the hardest-hit regions were focused on - Diffa, which has borders Chad, and Zinder, which borders Nigeria. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88425 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88425 AWKA, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Interceptions and convictions of human traffickers and smugglers have risen year-on-year in Nigeria since the government passed legislation to ban the trade in 2005, but the volume of trafficking is still high and progress on convictions needs to speed up, say government officials. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88424 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88424 KABUL, 14 March 2010 (IRIN) - At least 240 schools have reopened mostly in the volatile south and southeast of Afghanistan over the past 18 months, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has reported. The MoE said 18 schools have been reopened in Ghazni Province, central Afghanistan, over the past few months. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88420 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88420 JOHANNESBURG, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - As the level of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, we will probably see fewer but more intense storms, a group of the world's top experts on tropical cyclones and climate change have concluded. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88415 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88415 DAKAR, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - This year there are less than half the reported meningitis infections than in the same period in 2009, but more patients are dying - 13 percent in 2010 versus 8 percent in 2009 - according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Multi-Disease Surveillance Centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which tracks 14 countries prone to meningitis outbreaks between Senegal and Ethiopia. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88414 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88414 JOHANNESBURG, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - The executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Michel Kazatchkine, sat down with IRIN/PlusNews at the launch of the organization's 2010 report, where he answered some hard questions on what may be a turning point in HIV/AIDS funding. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88413 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88413 NAIROBI, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88410 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88410 BOSASSO, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - In an attempt to deal with a growing influx of migrants, authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland are adopting new measures to stop people from undertaking the hazardous journey to Yemen, officials said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88405 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88405 ADDIS ABABA, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - On stage in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Mestihet Temane, 27, enacts the story of how, after the death of her parents, a young woman winds up alone on the streets with no money, no confidence and no support. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88404 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88404 PORT-AU-PRINCE, 12 March 2010 (IRIN) - Elderly people need more attention in the response to January's earthquake in Haiti and more appreciation of the role they can play in the relief effort, say aid workers. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88403 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88403 NIAMEY/ZINDER, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - A severe food and malnutrition crisis is looming in Niger, according to aid agencies. More than 20,000 under-five children are being treated for malnutrition nationwide and at least another 200,000 are at risk of severe malnutrition, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88402 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88402 JOHANNESBURG, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Most food crop cultivation in Africa is rain-fed, but climate change is affecting vital rainfall patterns and pushing up temperatures, diminishing yields that could halve in some countries by 2020. This warning has been widely quoted since it first appeared in a synthesis report for policy-makers in 2007 by the authoritative UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88400 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88400 JOHANNESBURG, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Rivers throughout central and northern Mozambique are swollen above flood alert level and thousands of people have been relocated to higher ground, but national disaster management authorities and aid agencies in Mozambique say "the situation is under control". http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88399 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88399 NEW YORK, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Haiti's economy depends on the estimated US$1.5 billion a year in remittances sent home by its million-strong diaspora. Dilip Ratha, lead economist at the World Bank, said the figure could be even higher, accounting for perhaps half the national income. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88397 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88397 KYAKA II REFUGEE CAMP, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Inadequate healthcare is just one of many challenges facing the 16,200 refugees in this sprawling camp in western Uganda, which is served by a single doctor. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88396 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88396 CIANJUR, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Young unemployed men are finding opportunities in a project that also aims to introduce sustainable farming methods to Indonesia's agricultural sector. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88395 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88395 COLOMBO, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - The spread of Dengue fever has eased in Sri Lanka's conflict-affected north, but health officials warn continued vigilance is necessary. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88394 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88394 LUSAKA, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager's illegal abortion. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88393 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88393 NAIROBI, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - Rwanda's upcoming presidential election has cast a spotlight on its democratic credentials, with observers warning that allegations of intimidation of opposition leaders could mar the process. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88392 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88392 KABUL, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) - The insurgents in Afghanistan have shown interest in negotiating with the UN and aid agencies on humanitarian access and aid distributions, according to a purported Taliban spokesman. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88390 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88390