South Asia

World Bank | — “Bangladesh has become the world’s fastest growing market for solar home systems, thanks in part to IDA – the World Bank’s fund for the poorest. Solar energy is not only replacing expensive fuels, it also has become a tool of social change, empowering girls and women.” World Bank from 18 months […]

Barack Obama

Obama, Modi and India’s Solar Future

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) In his visit to India, Barack Obama pressed unsuccessfully for India to set specific carbon limits. Nevertheless, he did get agreement from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the USA and India would pursue vigorously non-carbon energy sources, including nuclear and renewables such as solar. That was a better […]

Energy

Turns out Rightwing Hindu PM more reasonable on Climate Change than US Congress (Obama visits Modi)

contributors

NDTV | — “Six years after we signed a bilateral agreement we are moving towards commercial viability,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announcing an agreement on the nuclear liability issue after talks with US president Barack Obama.” Further quotes from Bloomberg: Modi: “When we think about the future generations and what kind of a world […]

Education

Pakistan: Fighting Extremism with Schools, Not Guns

contributors

By Zofeen Ebrahim | — KARACHI (IPS) – As a wave of outrage, crossing Pakistan’s national borders, continues a month after the Dec. 16 attack on a school in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, some citizens are turning away from collective expressions of anger, and beginning the hard work of building grassroots alternatives to terrorism […]

Climate Change

Dual Use: Solar Panels conserve Canal Water In India

contributors

By Malini Shankar | (IPS) Sunlight pours over a break in canal-top solar panels recently installed over the Vadodara branch of the Sardar Sarovar canal project in Gujarat. Credit: Malini Shankar/IPS BARODA, India (IPS) – It began with an experiment to install photovoltaic cells over an irrigation canal that forms part of the Sardar Sarovar […]

al-Qaeda

Yes, they’re Condemning the Paris Attacks: The Muslims’ War on Terror

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East. The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the […]

Drones

After 500 Strikes: Is America’s Drone War Crashing And Burning?

contributors

AJ+ | — “Drone strikes are the weapon of choice in America’s so-called War on Terror. They’ve been used nearly 500 times in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia since 2002. But while U.S. officials praise their “surgical precision,” the reality on the ground tells a different tale. Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. […]

Epidemics

Another Terror: Do Taliban stand in the Way of Eradication of Polio Scourge?

contributors

By Inter Press Service Correspondents | KATHMANDU/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – The goal is an ambitious one – to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that “every last child” is immunised against the crippling disease. […]

Nawaz Sharif

Pakistan: Judge orders arrest of cleric accused of refusing to condemn Taliban Massacre at School

contributors

Reuters | — “A judge orders the arrest of a senior Pakistan cleric accused of refusing to condemn the school massacre in Peshawar. Paul Chapman reports.” Reuters: “Arrest call for Pakistan cleric”