WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Analysts Question Its Limits

Prominent Mexico-based German political analyst Heinz Dieterich said he believes the World Social Forum, which is meeting this week in the northern Brazilian Amazon jungle city of Belem, falls short in the innovation department and fails to generate real change.

CARIBBEAN: High-Tech Systems Trace Influx of Illegal Arms

The figures are staggering. About half a billion small arms are in use around the world and nearly half a million people are killed by them annually.

RIGHTS-US: Immigrants Scapegoated as Economy Teeters

Things in Suffolk County on Long Island have gotten so bad lately that the U.S. Justice Department is launching an investigation into attacks on Latino residents, and may also examine whether local police agencies improperly handled several widely publicised incidents.

POLITICS: Muslim World Hails End of a Despised Symbol

While the decision of President Barack Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and end the practice of interrogation techniques that violate international law, made front page news throughout the United States, press reaction in the Middle East was far less extensive - but generally favourable.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: 'Plight of Tamils Similar to Gaza Civilians'

While the Sri Lankan army has announced the capture of Mullaitivu, the last bastion of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the plight of more than 250,000 civilians caught in the fighting continues to be as grim as that of civilians in Gaza, say those involved in humanitarian work.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Communities Help Nature to Heal

Seventeen communities in the southern Honduran department of El Paraíso will begin efforts in the next two months to preserve the area flora and fauna as part of a sustainability and poverty-fighting project promoted by the European Union.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Andean Community Tourism

The Tropical Andes Program foundation launched its Southern Pathways project, aimed at building a community tourism network among the mountain dwellers in the southern Venezuelan state of Mérida, coordinator Yves Lesenfants told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sisal Fiber Replaces Plastic in Cars

In addition to being used for rugs and rope, sisal fiber (Agave sisalana) is being used to produce car parts, like bumpers, mirror holders and panels, according to Brazil's National Industrial Education Service.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Lawmakers to Investigate Energy Projects

Chile's Chamber of Deputies agreed unanimously to create an investigative committee for energy projects under way in the country and for those recently approved by the government. The committee has 60 days to carry out its investigation.

MIDEAST: U.S. Engagement May Not Bring Change

The new U.S. President was as good as his word. Within 48 hours of taking the helm, Barack Obama declared it "will be the policy of my Administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians as well as Israel and its Arab neighbours."

MIDEAST: Unexploded Bombs Hold More Deaths

At first the 44 children that live in the Zani family home in Beit Hanoun were wary of the unexploded F-16 rocket whose tail has protruded menacingly from their garden since it landed in the first week of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Now, they have grown used to it - playing excitedly near it and even building fires next to it, a relative says.

ZIMBABWE: ‘‘Dollarisation’’ of Economy Hitting Poor Hard

The collapse of the Zimbabwean economy has led to the ‘‘dollarisation’’ of the economy – and even to what some, who have still maintained some sense of tragicomedy, call the ‘‘petrolisation’’ of the economy because of the re-emergence of barter trade.

PAKISTAN/INDIA: Women Beat Unorthodox Paths to Peace

As high-profile delegations from Pakistan visit India after the launch of a month-long cross-border signature campaign to press for resumption of dialogue between the two countries and call for peace, IPS interviewed three Pakistani women who are pushing this agenda in their own unorthodox ways.

EUROPE: Tempting the Irish to Say Yes

Ireland's rejection of the European Union's Lisbon treaty has led Brussels officials to plan a major publicity campaign aimed at convincing voters that they should respond favourably to the bloc's economic, social and foreign policies.

LATIN AMERICA: Blacks See Ray of Hope in Obama

Members of the black community in Latin America and the Caribbean hope the rise to power of Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent, will help raise awareness about the discrimination and other problems they face.

MEXICO: Vigilante Group Threatens to Kill ‘One Criminal a Day’

A supposed new paramilitary group’s threat to kill a criminal every 24 hours in Ciudad Juárez has further fanned the flames of the violence in that border city, which gained notoriety over the past decade and a half for the hundreds of unsolved murders of young women and has more recently seen an increase in drug-related murders.

CHINA: Melamine Milk – Penalties Disappoint Victims’ Parents

Days before families across China sit down for the Chinese New Year’s feast, the country’s leaders have moved to restore public confidence in the safety of their repast. A Chinese court has sentenced two men to death and awarded stiff sentences to others implicated in the country’s worst food-tampering scam.

ZIMBABWE: So How Does One Budget in a Collapsed Currency?

In November 2007, Zimbabwe's then Minister of Finance, Samuel Mumbengegwi struggled through the reading of the 2008 budget, his tongue tripping over figures in the trillions and quadrillions of Zimbabwean. So embarrassed was Mumbengegwi that he even shied away from announcing the total budget figure of 7.84 quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars, then a record amount.

POLITICS: Few Govts Seen to Take the Foreign Policy High Road

Nationalism, both as an internal and an external consideration, has been a major factor in geo-political wrangling in the 21st century. But strangely, the populations of most countries don't necessarily see their governments as carrying out estimably moral foreign policies, according to a new poll.

LABOUR: ‘Meltdown Leaves Migrant Workers Prone to Abuse’

The global recession is causing a heightened sense of job insecurity among millions of migrant workers making them more vulnerable to abuse, say migrant rights advocates.

ECUADOR: Indigenous Groups Protest Government Policies

Since the start of his term in January 2007, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has had touchy relations with the indigenous peoples' movement, in spite of the fact that it backed his election. But passage of a mining law has deepened the rift between them and triggered protests.