EL SALVADOR: More than Charity-Based Strategies Needed to Uproot Violence

The strategies followed by the Salvadoran government to prevent violence and crime have serious shortcomings, say experts and youngsters considered "high risk," who are the main beneficiaries of these initiatives.

ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: Banking on Wind Power

China plans to triple its wind power capacity over the next two years in line with the central government’s goal of promoting clean energy and more sustainable economic development, says a senior policy development official.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Environmentalists Join Forest Authority

Groups united in the Olancho Environmentalist Movement (MAO), led by Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, won inclusion in a temporary commission that will design the policies of the recently created Forest Conservation Institute of Honduras.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Saharan Dust Inhibits Hurricanes

Dust from the Sahara Desert that reaches the tropics of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea could attenuate the formation and intensity of hurricanes, especially in July and August.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Two More Birds on Verge of Extinction

The tiny Carrizal seedeater (Amaurospiza carrizalensis) and the chululú tachirense (Grallaria chthonia) have been added to the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List as birds in critical danger of extinction in Venezuela.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Dengue Vaccine by 2010?

A vaccine that could be effective against four strains of dengue will be available in Brazil in 2010, announced the Butantan Institute, a government research center in Sao Paulo state.

Ecobreves – WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY: Fighting Climate Changing Emissions

World Environment Day was accompanied June 5 by a call to "kick the habit" of producing carbon dioxide, the principal gas associated with climate change.

MIDEAST: Israeli Attack Looking More Likely

The likelihood of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has crept closer as more rockets continue to land in southern Israel and another Israeli was killed by a mortar shell, further hardening attitudes amongst senior ministers against a proposed truce with Hamas.

JAPAN: Good Neighbours Needed on Way to UN

Japan will not succeed in its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council unless it achieves reconciliation with its neighbours, says former Japanese prime minister Toshiki Kaifu.

G8 SUMMIT: Japan To Champion Africa's Cause

The state of the world economy will as usual top the agenda of the G8 summit of major western industrial nations. But Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who will chair the high-level gathering, is keen to devote equal attention to climate change and the development of Africa.

POLITICS: Japan Supports Ban on Cluster Bombs

A dramatic decision to join a ban on most types of inhumane weapons was announced by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at an international conference attended by 110 nations in Dublin at the end of May. On the last day of the conference, the Japanese government, which had wavered, said it would support the ban.

POLITICS-US: McCain’s Judicial Plans in Lockstep with Bush

While it isn't as eye-catching as the latest reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, or as headline-grabbing as rapidly escalating gas prices and the growing number of housing foreclosures, and few voters cast their ballot based on it, the judicial appointments of whomever wins the U.S. presidency in November will have long-lasting ramifications for the country.

BOLIVIA-PERU: Titicaca Truths Revealed

Nobody doubts that Lake Titicaca, a watershed and resource shared by Bolivia and Peru, is polluted. But a half-century after the two governments realised there was a problem there are still no detailed studies of the state of its waters.

MEDIA-SINGAPORE: Restrictions Follow Critics to Cyberspace

When Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore’s prime minister after his father, Lee Kuan Yew, four years ago, he encouraged citizens to "feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas, or simply be different". Today, these hopes for a city-state that can be more relaxed about criticism and more open to frank debate appear to have been too high.

TRADE: “Developed Countries Should Contribute the Most”

Tension in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on industrial goods reached such an extreme that the diplomat leading the talks on cutting tariffs, Canadian ambassador Don Stephenson, decided this week to suspend the discussions.

CANADA: Safe Injection Site Mired in Political Squabble

The Canadian government has decided to appeal a British Columbia Supreme Court decision allowing North America's first supervised injection site, the facility known as Insite in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, to remain open without a federal government exemption.

RIGHTS-US: Mixed Appeals Verdict for "Cuban Five"

Activists plan to protest a federal appeals court ruling Wednesday to uphold the convictions of five Cuban intelligence agents accused of spying in the United States.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Children in the Path of the Pandemic

There is barely a path leading down the steep incline and through the dense bush to the Mabuyakhulu homestead. It would be easy to pass by without finding 13 year old Zanele* and her eight year old sister Andiswa who stay there on their own.

EUROPE: No Asylum, Now Go To Jail

Asylum-seekers whose bid to live in the European Union has been rejected could be detained for up to 18 months under a new law approved by the bloc's 27 governments.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Rivals Step Towards Reducing Rift

In the early hours of Friday morning, Israeli warplanes targeted a Hamas-run security post in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, injuring 29 Palestinian civilians, according to Gaza medical sources. In the Eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of al-Shuja'iya, a 27-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli special forces during another invasion.

EUROPE: No Tearful Farewell for Bush

It is a safe bet that there will be no mass shedding of tears when U.S. President George W. Bush visits Slovenia to attend the final summit of his presidency between the European Union and the United States Jun. 10.