ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Choking in ‘the Clearest Region’

Forty years ago, Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes baptised the capital of his country "the clearest region." But today residents of one of the world's largest cities are choking on the heavy smog and aging prematurely, while blue sky is a rare sight.

ENVIRONMENT: Clinton Urged to do More to Protect Oceans

More than 100 environmental groups, demanded Wednesday that President Bill Clinton increase U.S. efforts to protect ocean waters and wildlife from overfishing, coastal development, and pollution.

ENVIRONMENT-UKRAINE: Kiev Determined To Keep Chernobyl Running

Critics of Ukraine's campaign to keep the Chernobyl plant running at all costs, say the state is trying to put pressure on the West to come up with 1.2 billion dollars to soften the economic blow when the plug is finally pulled.

DEVELOPMENT-JAMAICA: Export Earnings Reduced to a Trickle

With vital foreign exchange earnings from traditional exports, such as sugar and bananas now reduced to almost a trickle, entrepreneurs in this northern Caribbean island are trying to look to new products to pick up the slack.

RIGHTS-UNITED NATIONS: Pairing Human Rights With UN Peacekeeping

Human rights priorities, including a gender perspective, should be integrated into peacekeeping, peacemaking and post-conflict peace building operations run by the United Nations, some 60 experts from around the world urged this week.

POLITICS-SALVADOR: FMLN Racked by Internal Disputes

The former guerilla organisation Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is in turmoil 10 months before El Salvador's presidential election, which has dimmed its hopes of success at the ballot box, according to political observers.

POLITICS-ARGENTINA: Cavallo Links Arms Dealer with Yabran

Domingo Cavallo, the former Argentine economy minister, accused Syrian arms trafficker Monser Al Kassar of being a mafia leader intimately linked to Alfredo Yabran, the ill-fated tycoon who killed himself here last week.

LABOUR: Mexicans File Complaint Against US Applegrowers

A coalition of Mexican trade unions and farmworkers Wednesday filed a broad complaint under a labour side accord of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), charging that the Washington State apple industry failed to protect workers' rights.

POPULATION-JAMAICA: Disabled Hardest Hit in Economic Crunch

These days all that seem to be occupying the minds of Jamaicans is the economic situation in which the country now finds itself.

LABOUR: Global March Against Child Labour Hits Washington

The Global March Against Child Labour capped a month of demonstrations in the United States here Wednesday before setting out for Geneva to press for action from 174 member countries of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

ECONOMY-BRAZIL: Cardoso Seeks to Stem Loss of Confidence

Funds for fighting famine in impoverished northeastern Brazil and further economic reforms are President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's recipe for stemming the loss of confidence in the economy and bolstering his chances for reelection.

RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: Government Accused of Abuses

A leading U.S. human rights group has accused the Uzbekistan government of committing serious human rights abuses in its drive to subdue alleged Islamic extremism.

FINANCE: World Bank Postpones India Loans

The World Bank postponed Tuesday consideration of 865 million dollars in new loans to India as part of a Washington-led protest against India's recent nuclear tests.

MUSIC-SPORTS: Reggae Boyz for the Cup!

Jamaica's hopes for victory at the World Cup soccer tournament in France next month are pinned on the Reggae Boyz - as the national team is known - who have become the toast of the country in song.

MUSIC-POLITICS: Ruben Blades, Panama’s Chameleon Man

Panamanian musician Ruben Blades has taken one of his biggest hits "Chameleon" to heart, changing colour to become one of the most sought-after political allies for elections here next year.

TELEVISION-USA: ‘Seinfeld’ Ends – Much Ado about Nothing

World events in the tumultuous last weeks of May - with India testing nuclear weapons, Indonesia tottering on the verge of collapse and the historic peace vote in Ireland - certainly hit the headlines in the United States. But for millions of Americans, the biggest story of the month was the fate of four popular television characters famous for conducting idle conversation.

CINEMA-ASIA: Cinematic Gold Glistens Amid Asian Gloom

The social, political and economic upheavals in Asia will give the region's creative community plenty to think about in the months to come - for few things are more guaranteed to set an artist to work than a revolution.

CHINA: Patriotism Replacing University’s Liberal Tradition

It is China's most prestigious university, and is known for being the breeding ground for significant movements that have shaped most of this country's turbulent modern history.

JAPAN: Tojo, War Criminal, ‘Rehabilitated’ in New Film

A new Japanese movie is creating a row at home and abroad for glorifying Gen Hideki Tojo, the wartime leader who was hanged by Allied powers as a war criminal 50 years ago.

HEALTH-CIS: Sexually Transmitted Disease Sweeps Ex-Soviet Union

While the rapidly rising incidence of HIV infection and AIDS in the former Soviet Union causes much concern, it is only one of a range of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) which are currently engulfing the region.

RIGHTS-TURKEY: Military Implicated In Attack On Rights Activist

The would-be assassins who gunned down Turkey's top human rights activist got their training, in secret, from a non-commissioned officer with neo-fascist sympathies serving with a top anti-terrorist intelligence unit.