Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Ranching Is the Leading Cause of Amazon Destruction

In Ulianópolis, one of the Brazilian Amazon's most deforested municipalities, 76 percent of the land that was forested is now pasture, according to data from the government's Amazon Protection System.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Fisherfolk Protect Marine Resources

Fishing communities from the southern Honduran Gulf of Fonseca, on the Pacific coast, began construction in December of the first center for production and management of marine resources, in waters that Honduras shares with Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Unstoppable Logging in Monarch Butterfly Reserve

Logging has not stopped in the monarch butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico, report local residents. The butterflies make annual migrations between Mexico and the United States and Canada.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Protests Against Rally Dakar

Environmental and citizen groups, academics and lawmakers in Argentina are protesting the Rally Dakar 2009, the race that will be held for the first time in South America, in January, passing through 10 of the country's provinces.

Peruvian Coffee Growers Cultivate Education

At the epicenter of Peru's coffee boom, small producers are fighting poverty and the lack of public schooling.

LABOUR-PHILIPPINES: Bleak New Year For Migrant Workers

Diovie Arcilla is happy to be home for Christmas. This Singapore-based computer programmer values being with her family and friends in the holiday season. But news that some of her colleagues have been retrenched is making Arcilla anxious.

BANGLADESH: Corrupt Politicians, Cleaner Polls

Bangladesh goes to polls on Monday after a military-backed interim government spent two years trying to cleanse the country's electoral system of fraud and get rid of rampant corruption in public life.

ZIMBABWE: Holy Water Is Serious Business

"I am making much more profit selling seawater than I used to get from selling groceries and small household goods," Carlos Marufu, a holy water dealer based in Harare told IPS.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'

The eight rows of pews at St. Fatima’s church in Colombo were mostly empty despite the festive look from Christmas decorations.

MEXICO: Gays Defend Their Right to Be Catholic

Social activists and members of "unusual couples," as the Catholic Church calls gay, lesbian and transsexual unions, are discussing possible actions to be taken on Jan. 13-18, 2009 when Mexico hosts the Sixth World Meeting of Families organised by the Vatican.

MEXICO: Manganese Mines Harm Children’s Mental Development

The Mexican mining company Autlán maintains that there is no evidence that manganese causes any harm to human health. But in the central state of Hidalgo, where the metal is mined, adults shake as if they suffered from Parkinson's disease and children's mental development lags behind normal.

ZIMBABWE: Cholera Drowns Christmas Spirit

On Christmas Day, Robson Nzuza and his family usually drive to their village in Silobela, in the Midlands Province, to spend a week with members of the extended family and throw a big party.

KENYA: Press Freedom: Going, Going, Gone

Dark clouds are forming against freedom of expression in Kenya, following the recent passing of a controversial Bill by parliament. The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, awaiting presidential assent to become law, gives the state powers to invade media houses, seize broadcast equipment, control broadcast content, even taking a station off air.

ENVIRONMENT: U.S. Back in the Fold?

After nearly a decade of defiance by Washington toward international efforts to protect the environment, notably its disengagement from the Kyoto treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions, there are high hopes that the United States will soon play a leading role in addressing what U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has described as "the defining challenge of our era".

MIDEAST: Overcoming the Zero-Sum Hurdle

It seems as if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been dissected from every possible angle.

LABOUR-US: Demand Dries Up For On-Demand Workers

Outside a Home Depot store, it's a typical December morning in Seattle: cool and gray with a light sprinkle falling. At 7:30, about 50 men wait at the entrances to the parking lot. Most wear jackets, jeans and work shoes, and some carry day packs with tools, water and lunch. They stand silently with hands in pockets, alone or in knots of three or four, baseball caps or sweatshirt hoods deployed against the chilly mist.

ENVIRONMENT-PHILIPPINES: Aerial Spraying Case – Profits Vs Public Health

Cecilia Moran never thought that she would one day have to give up farming owing to poor health. She grew up helping her father tend a family-owned plot in Davao province. The sale of such produce as rice, corn, coconut and durian in the local market took care of family needs.

EUROPE: ‘Double Standards on Trade’

Double standards are being applied in the way that the European Union awards trade preferences to poor countries, an African exporters grouping has alleged.

RIGHTS: “Sodomy Laws” Rooted in British Colonialism

Although 66 countries signed a statement at the United Nations on Dec. 19 affirming that human rights protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity, activists note that dozens of nations still criminalise homosexuality and seven impose the death penalty.

FINANCE: Crisis Pits Vatican Against Offshore Bankers

The financial crisis has the U.S. swirling with charges about the immoral greed of some corporate executives who recklessly bet their companies' futures to line their own pockets. The popular fix for this international calamity stops at the nation's borders: decouple top-line salaries and bonuses from stock prices and institute more transparency and regulation.

POLITICS-US: Scientists Hail Return to Fact-Based Policies

Key appointments announced by President-elect Barack Obama suggest that science will soon make a major comeback in the U.S. government.