by Mandi Smallhorne, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - An absence of fresh, clean water in adequate amounts for drinking and washing, coupled with undernourished people add up to a perfect health storm: water-borne diseases like cholera thrive in such conditions and malnourished people's immune systems are unable to mount a sufficient defence.

by Rafaela von Bredow, Der Spiegel, Germany - A British biotech lab has released huge numbers of genetically modified mosquitoes in an effort to combat dengue fever. But locals, some say, were not adequately informed of the experiment -- and now a debate has erupted over the potential dangers to humans.

by Flavia Dzodan, Tiger Beatdown, USA - Frontex exists to “protect” us. Their motto is “Libertas, Securitas, Justitia” (Freedom, Safety, Justice) And under that pretense, the agency allows deaths like those of Samba M. to happen. For me, for my neighbors, for my friends, for the girl who works at the supermarket check out. For you, if you are reading this from one of the countries that are part of the Schengen agreement.

by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, TED, USA - Women aren’t micro--so why do they only get micro-loans? At TEDxWomen reporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that women running all types of firms-- from home businesses to major factories-- are the overlooked key to economic development.

by Zoë Marriage, OpenDemocracy, UK - Through an account of capoeira, the Brazilian dance-fight-game, we uncover two simultaneous stories of security: first, the gradual monopolisation of violence by the state; second, a somatic, lyrical representation of a history of violence, oppression and liberation.

by Najla Dari, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Perhaps the greatest affront is that the new directive does not come from religious authorities or fundamentalists. Instead, it comes from a commission presided over by Iraq's minister for women's affairs.

by Verena Vradulovic, In Image and In Word, USA - Decades of applied pesticides and fertilizers have delivered high yield, immaculate- looking fruit to many of the supermarkets in the U.S. and to the far corners of the globe, but not without a local cost. Heavy pesticide and fertilizer use in cultivating household staples such as oranges, peaches, nectarines, grapes, olives and walnuts has contaminated local community drinking water.

by Amanda Paul, Today's Zaman, Turkey - The news that France’s new law punishing denial of the Armenian claims of genocide was put on hold on Tuesday after politicians opposed to the legislation demanded that its constitutionality be examined will have come as a big relief to Ankara.

by Maria Malagardis, Libération, France - While negotiations on the write-down of Greek debt remain ongoing, Athens city hall is supplying two meals a day to jobless workers who are now threatened with famine in the wake of austerity measures: a situation that some Greeks readily compare with the occupation of the country during World War 2.

by Marjorie Cohn, Marjorie Cohn, USA - The Bush administration set rules of engagement that resulted in the willful killing and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. In particular, U.S. troops in Iraq operated in "free-fire zones," with orders to shoot everything that moves. Attacks in civilian areas resulted in massive civilian casualties, which the Bush administration casually called "collateral damage."

by Charundi Panagoda, IPS, Italy - Two years ago, 40-year-old Vidya Sri decided to leave the devastating marriage her parents had forced her into nearly two decades ago. Alone for the first time, she began an earnest quest for support groups, women's organisations or service providers who might help her in the healing process.

by Jessica Buchleitner, Women News Network, USA-Bringing rural women’s voices to the decision making table was one of the discussions throughout the recent two week Durban Climate Talks (COP17) which ended on 9 December. One of the conference goals was to bring greater insights for action with solutions for climate change. But are global leaders bringing rural women’s voices to the table?

by Rocío Alorda, Latin America Press, Peru - Use of highly toxic pesticides and other farming chemicals in Chile is rampant, posing serious health risks and damages for the farmers who use them. In response, on Dec. 19, the Agriculture Ministry banned the import, export and sale of several of these substances that could cause cancer among other diseases.

by Claire Provost, The Guardian, UK - Four years ago, soaring food prices and reports of food riots from West Bengal to Mexico made headlines worldwide and fuelled a new demand for global hunger figures. How have people been affected by rising food prices? Has hunger increased? What is the "human cost" of global economic crisis?

by Huma Yusuf, Dawn, Pakistan - Geopolitics — in particular, increased global pressure on Iran — and upcoming general elections in Pakistan are likely to intensify sectarian clashes in the near future. And yet, political interest in coining holistic policies to stem sectarian violence is sorely lacking.

by Elaine Graham-Leigh, Counterfire, UK - Climate change campaigns may not be able to bring down the system on their own, but what we can do is place ourselves at the centre of the movements which are taking on capitalism at the sharp end – campaigns against austerity, against cuts, against unemployment, against the war.

by Mariella Radaelli, European Journalism Centre, Netherlands - Why are spiritual programmes flourishing on local private television channels? The reason seems to be that small channels have established a large amount of contractual agreements with psychics, in order to secure a solid base of paid sponsorship to help them survive.