EL SALVADOR: Gangs Are ‘Perfect Scapegoats’, Say Experts

El Salvador, a Central American country of 21,000 square kilometres bathed by the Pacific ocean, is the battleground of a shadowy war between mafias, street gangs and death squads, in spite of having formally achieved peace 16 years ago.

HEALTH-TANZANIA: A Hazardous Route to the Cradle

Tatu Shabani Tumbo's first born was diagnosed with strength-sapping anaemia, and died a toddler. Doctors had no medical explanation for the sudden death of her second child at age one. She then tried to get pregnant a third time, initially without success.

POLITICS-US: Courts May Get More Latitude on “State Secrets”

The U.S. Congress moved a step closer Thursday to reining in the legal practice that the government has used to block lawsuits by whistleblowers and victims of "extraordinary rendition", as well as actions that would embarrass the George W. Bush administration.

ECONOMY-MEXICO: Sunny Today, Cloudy Tomorrow

So far, the Mexican economy has not fallen prey to the ills affecting its principal trading partner, the United States, and is surviving internal political tensions arising from government initiatives to reform the state-owned oil company. But conditions could deteriorate in the second half of the year.

AFGHANISTAN: Global Emergency Triggers Food Riots

In the teeming, dense flour bazaars of Kabul, it's hard not to miss the anger.

PAKISTAN: Bulldozers Poised to Raze Afghan Refugee Camp

"We are shifting to a rented house in nearby Cherat village after being here for 20 years. We have to leave because my shop has been demolished," said an agitated Afghan refugee, Gul Wali, in the sprawling Jalozai refugee camp, 35 km east of this border city in Pakistan.

Q&A: Land Reform Agents Try to Free Indians from Servitude in Bolivia

Alto Parapetí, a rural area in the eastern Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, is caught up in a dispute between large landowners and the government, which is trying to free more than 2,700 Guaraní Indians from a state of servitude.

ENVIRONMENT: Alien Species Plague the Land That Time Forgot

Juicy, wild-growing blackberries, guava and passion fruit plants may be savoured by humans and animals alike, but in this particular part of the world - sometimes called the Land That Time Forgot for its largely pristine biodiversity - they are three problematic invasive species.

Q&A: “Transgenic Seed Companies Lie and Bribe”

Biotech corporations that developed genetically modified seeds are bribing authorities and carrying out costly advertising campaigns "plagued with lies in order to create monsters that attack life," says Jesús León Santos, an indigenous man who is one of this year's winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Q&A: Is a Global News Agency of the South Viable?

When the tart-tongued prime minister of a Southeast Asian nation was once asked what the leading newspapers were in his country, he remarked rather cynically: "We don't have any leading newspapers because all our newspapers are misleading."

DEVELOPMENT: Farmers, Consumers Squeezed by Middlemen

With global grain stocks at record lows and soaring prices for agricultural products, new attention is being paid to which farming methods are best poised to meet global food needs.

HEALTH-DR CONGO: Water Everywhere, But Is It Safe To Drink?

The rain falls in battering sheets, rolling eastward along the Congo River through Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is midday, but the sky turns black and soon the potholed streets of this decrepit yet vibrant metropolis are filled with pond-sized puddles, many of them larger than the cars that traverse them.

CHINA: High on Ethanol Despite Rising Food Prices

Studies debunking the environmental benefits of ethanol have made little impression in this country, which is betting on bio-fuels as the green answer to coal and oil to help clear its increasingly smog-filled skies.

JAPAN: Law Against Possession of Child Porn Soon

When a visiting U.S. justice department official urged the Japanese government to not delay banning the individual possession of child pornographic material, it was a sign of the enormity of the problem stemming from this country.

EUROPE: Sanctions on Burma To Be Extended

Sanctions imposed by the European Union on Burma look set to be extended for an extra year because of the lack of progress on human rights in the military-ruled country.

BANGLADESH: Hopes Pinned on Bumper Harvest

Maddened by poverty and hunger, Bablu, a day labourer in the northern Rajshahi district, killed his two infant daughters and then tried to commit suicide by taking poison, last week, according to police.

POLITICS-US: Primary Win Keeps Clinton Alive

The six weeks since the last actual vote was cast in the battle for the Democratic nomination have been filled with speculation, but Tuesday's primary in Pennsylvania finally settled something: this election is far from over.

RIGHTS: Norwegian Hand in Arms Ship

An internationally condemned Chinese cargo ship attempting to transport arms to Zimbabwe is partially insured by a Norwegian company. This may be illegal, according to Norwegian law.

THEATRE-US: The Houswife’s Lament

Since the 1950s, views in the United States have changed a lot about whether marriage is good for women - or at least about the nature of its serious disadvantages.

PARAGUAY: An Injection of Hope

"This is an injection of hope," said Ricardo Cáceres, a resident of Asunción, celebrating the victory of former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, who was elected president of Paraguay in elections that put an end to six decades of rule by the conservative Colorado Party.

MIDEAST: Israel Sees Iran Threat Recede

In the clearest indication yet that Israel now believes Iran's nuclear aspirations will be curbed, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that efforts being undertaken by the international community will ensure that Tehran does not acquire nuclear capability.