This week, Spain leads the way in advancing the Millennium Development Goals, U.S. scientists express concern over the health of female wildlife, and Mariela Castro sets a new path for Cuba. You'll also read about the rewards and struggles of leadership from Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder-CEO of Biocon, and Melinda Kramer, co-founder and co-director of Women's Global Green Action Network.

Happy New Year from World Pulse! We look forward to growing in partnership with you in 2007.

News

Photo: Environment News Service

Global: Spain Donates $700 Million to Advance Millennium Goals (Environment News Service)

"The biggest reason for optimism is that we are a world that is rich in knowledge, science and technology and proven approaches to fighting poverty, hunger and disease and I think the world's going to get the job done."— Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

Photo: Claudia Daut/Reuters

Cuba: As Castro Fades, a Crop of New Leaders (Christian Science Monitor)

"Mariela Castro is a more than competent member of the Castro clan — she will have an important role in social affairs."
— Richard Gott, Latin American analyst and former foreign correspondent for The Guardian

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

USA: Female Troubles for Wildlife Raise Human Worries (Women's e-News)

"These animals serve as canaries in the coal mine for human females, teaching us how synthetic chemicals might affect our nervous system development, immune function, fertility and other health outcomes."— Sarah Janssen, science fellow at the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council

Malawi: Malawi on Track to Meet Child Mortality MDG (IPS)

Malawi, together with Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda, is regarded as having made significant progress in reducing infant deaths over the last 10 years, thanks to increased government spending on basic health care.

Belgium: Global Radio Marathon Spotlights Immigrants' Issues (OneWorld)

"It's been a smashing success. We've had material coming in from places as different as Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, and the UK."— Myriam Horngren, project coordinator

Commentary

Global: The 2006 You Didn't Hear About, by Rebecca Solnit (AlterNet)

Activists won dozens of small and not-so-small victories for human rights and the environment in 2006. The fabric of the world is woven out of small gestures; the large ones mostly just rend it and leave more to mend. And the small gestures continue.

Photo: PaGalGuy

India: How India's Richest Woman Manages her Workplace, by Sonam Vij (PaGalGuy)

Vision is an evolving process and not something that has to be rigidly adhered to. In my mind there is a clear-cut difference between a manager and a leader — the sense of ownership. The challenge for any leader is to build a team of professionals that feel the same sense of ownership in every task undertaken.— Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder-CEO of Biocon

Photo: Big Vision

USA: An Interview with Melinda Kramer, by Britt Bravo (Big Vision)

"I am humbled by watching, just by providing a space, how much people will do with that space, and what can emerge from connection."

Photo: Lucire Fashion

Australia: Caravana: Over the Mountain, by Jessica Harrington (Lucire Fashion)

Faced with cancelled orders, which meant no work for the women, Braid telephoned Ainsworth to tell her she had made the decision to illegally cross the border into Afghanistan, travel around the mountain and re-enter Pakistan through an area of no man's land.

Image: Christie's Images/Corbis

U.K./ Mexico: Leonora and Me, by Joanna Moorhead (The Guardian)

"You don't decide to paint. It's like getting hungry and going to the kitchen to eat. It's a need, not a choice."
— Leonora Carrington