DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: DR-CAFTA Launches, as Free Zones Founder

On Thursday, the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) finally entered into force in this country, after years of tough negotiations and repeated delays, the Trade and Industry Ministry confirmed.

POLITICS: U.S. to Send Top Refugee Official to Damascus

The State Department plans to send its top refugee official to Damascus in the coming weeks to discuss how best to deal with the estimated 500,000 to one million Iraqis who have sought safe haven in Syria, a Department spokesman confirmed here Thursday.

LABOUR-CHINA: Lure of Cities Often Ends in Despair

China's rapid development and modernisation has come at a terrible human cost for the country's millions of domestic migrant labourers, who are living in cities in appalling overcrowded conditions and are exposed to dangerous working environments, says a report released Thursday by Amnesty International.

ARGENTINA: Rolling Back Privatisation of Pensions

The Argentine Congress approved reforms of the pension system that will strengthen the role of the state, after the partial privatisation of the system that was carried out in the 1990s. Chile is also planning similar reforms.

ENVIRONMENT-CHAD: Rats, Where There Once Were Elephants

Leaving the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, isn't what it used to be.

BOLIVIA: Floodwaters Besiege Amazonian Town

Seen from the air, the capital of the Bolivian department of Beni is surrounded by an enormous stretch of water. Local residents are hoping that the polluted floodwaters, only 40 centimetres below the level of the ring road which is acting as a dike, do not overwhelm it.

BRAZIL: Epidemic of Fake Kidnappings

When the voice on the telephone threatened to kill her daughter, the 83-year-old Brazilian did not hesitate. "Ok, kill her, but kill her good and dead, because then you'll go to hell, which is where those who do this to a mother belong," she shouted.

TRADE-MEXICO: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Market

When the Mexican government negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in force since 1994, it estimated that 14 years of safeguards for its maize and beans would be enough time for local production of these crops to become competitive. But things did not work out that way.

LABOUR-JAPAN: Old Is Gold as Workforce Shrinks

With Japan’s aging population expected to cause a severe drop in the national workforce starting this year the government plans to keep more seniors in employment and stave off having to accept immigrant workers as a solution.

CORRUPTION-HONDURAS: A Murky Transparency Law

The "law on transparency and access to public information" in force in Honduras since January is in violation of international conventions on freedom of expression and against corruption, and creates loopholes for preventing the declassification of "reserved" or restricted information.

CULTURE-ARGENTINA: Recuperating Indigenous Languages

With the aim of strengthening linguistic diversity in Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires language school has launched a successful programme providing instruction in the country’s most widely-spoken indigenous languages.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Flour, Sugar – Vehicles of Food Fortification Plan

Lack of vitamin A is associated with the deaths of 350 people a year in the Dominican Republic, where some 400 babies are born annually with brain and spinal cord defects caused by folic acid deficiency, according to official statistics. In addition, many women are at risk of serious complications during childbirth due to iron deficiency anaemia.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Porous Afghan Border Thwarts Anti-Polio Drive

Pakistan has intensified efforts to eradicate the polio virus with a new vaccination drive that targets 12 high-risk districts in southern Sindh province where three new cases were reported recently, bringing the total number of polio incidents countrywide to four since the start of the year.

MEXICO/CENTRAL AMERICA: Understanding the Maras

Understanding the world of youth gangs in Central America and Mexico is difficult. Some studies assert that their power is exaggerated and that they are closely related to poverty, others say poverty is not a determining factor, and there are also those who say the gangs are dangerous organisations that cut across national borders.

IRAQ: Now It Is Lack of Food Security

The lack of security in Iraq is leading now to a collapse in food supplies.

HEALTH-ANGOLA: War, Plague, Pestilence and Death

Nearly five years after the advent of peace in Angola, following four decades of war which cost a million lives, the new killers in this Southern African country are cholera, malaria and AIDS.

GUATEMALA: The Dark Side of Five-Star Adoptions

Luxury hotels in the Guatemalan capital reserve entire floors for foreign couples visiting the country to adopt children - a reflection of the demand that is growing steadily without oversight by any specific government authority.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Lesbians Want Real Marriage

The Argentine Civil Registry Office's refusal to register a lesbian couple for a civil marriage prompted a legal claim for homosexuals to enjoy the same rights as heterosexuals.

ENVIRONMENT-CAMEROON: Women Face to Face with Desertification

The village of Ngouma has a population of 538 people, 406 of which are women. Most of the men, especially those who can still work the fields, have left in the face of land degradation and even desertification.

ENVIRONMENT: Desertification Gains a Foothold in Rwanda

As recently as 2002, 41-year-old Marie Mutezinka was still able to meet the needs of her four children by farming in Gako, in the Bugesera region of south-east Rwanda.

TRANSPORT-EL SALVADOR: Your Money or Your Life

Bus drivers and conductors are being targeted by extortionists and murderers in El Salvador. Lack of security, which also afflicts other trades, has become a profitable business opportunity for criminals and police alike.