Global/International

The BBC has relegated the seventh and final episode of the Frozen Planet series presented by Sir David Attenborough to an optional extra. The seventh episode - On Thin Ice - deals with how climate change and global warming is impacting the polar regions and how it affects us all. The final episode is heavily narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Sometimes life presents a person with a situation that has no time tested script or traditional path to follow. At times a person is presented with a situation requiring them to be their own boss, the creator of their own plan and the person in charge of writing their own script dictating what decisions they will undertake themselves. There are times when among the many that person's most important job isn't to follow this or that person, but to maintain vigilance over oneself within a specific place and what it means to them to be there.

Paola Ziritti is unthinkably brave to speak publicly about the “clinic.” She endured physical assault, sexual abuse, and a constant battery of insults. Guards would even throw buckets of cold water and urine on her. For two years, this was Paola’s waking nightmare... because she’s a lesbian. The “doctors” and guards at the clinic were trying to “cure” her.

By Walden Bello

The world’s population surpassed 7 billion on October 31. But except for perhaps the anti-family planning lobby, this was a milestone that few were in a mood to celebrate.

Concerns about overpopulation were present when the world hit the 6 billion mark in 1999, but they were subdued in that era of growth and — at least in the North — optimism. There was a sense then that although there would be major hurdles along the way, the world’s future could only get brighter.