CORRUPTION: The Poor Take the Brunt

Poor people are the intended beneficiaries of a large proportion of public policies. They are also those who suffer most from the harmful effects of corruption, according to experts gathered in the Venezuelan capital for a symposium hosted by Transparency International (TI) and its national branch in this country.

MEXICO: Law on Violence Against Women – Necessary but Not Sufficient

"This is the last time Patricia will be battered," says a radio spot about the law on violence against women, which entered into force this month. But will this hopeful statement come true?

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: President’s Lavish Birthday Plans Slammed

Someone who’s managed to reach the advanced age of 83 might argue that they’re entitled to a sizeable celebration. But this argument doesn’t hold water if the person is Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, says activist Tapera Kapuya.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Activists Worried About What Calderon Will Do

The lack of any statements in support of human rights, a key minister accused of abuses when he was a governor, and the more active role taken by the armed forces in Mexico have civil society dismayed about the government of Felipe Calderón.

IRAQ: More Troops, And More Violence

Violence and bombings have only increased after the proposed "surge" of 21,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.

BRAZIL: Paramilitary Militias Fuel the Violence

The shooting deaths of nine people Sunday, including a member of the military police, illustrated a change in Rio de Janeiro's chronic violent crime, with the expansion of paramilitary militias that fight the drug gangs for control of the favelas.

POPULATION-NIGERIA: ‘We Want Recount”

Nothing seems to stir up emotions more than census in Nigeria. That's why some Nigerians are still contesting the results of the 2006 census, announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo late last month.

EAST ASIA: Open Borders Expose Mekong’s Disparities

In the town of Bo Ten in Laos, near the border with China, local people are training to be card dealers so they can get jobs at a soon-to-rise casino owned by a Chinese company.

TRANSPORT-CHILE: Transantiago – Ready for Take-Off?

A new public transport system will start operating this Saturday in the Chilean capital, aimed at improving quality of life and curbing air pollution. But its success depends on overcoming infrastructure problems and the difficulty of changing entrenched cultural habits.

RIGHTS-US: Audit Finds Multiple Abuses in Immigration Jails

Suspected illegal immigrants held in detention by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are failing to receive timely medical treatment and adequate food, are subjected to frequent sexual harassment, and have their access to lawyers, relatives and immigration authorities improperly limited.

VENEZUELA:: Shortages, Speculation Amid Rising Consumption

Estela Piñero, a head of household who lives near the government palace in the Venezuelan capital, does not go to the market to buy sugar. Instead, she buys it at three times the official price from informal vendors on a street corner.

PORTUGAL: Graphic Leaflets Backfire on Anti-Abortionists

Just when those in favour of legalising abortion in Portugal were faltering in the polls, a hair-raising campaign against voluntary termination of pregnancy could backfire against the anti-abortion cause, instead of winning over more supporters.

AUSTRALIA: Catholic Church to Give ‘Impartial’ Abortion Advice

A government plan to award 34 million US dollars to ‘Centacare', the health and welfare arm of the Catholic Church, for abortion counselling has triggered stormy debates over impartiality and the growing influence of religion on Australian policy.

HEALTH-BOLIVIA: Tackling Medical Negligence

According to Hammurabi's Code of Laws, created in ancient Babylonia circa 1700 years B.C.E., when a noble was a victim of what today is known as medical negligence, the offending healthcare provider had his fingers or hands cut off.

EL SALVADOR: High Marks for Dollarisation Questioned

Six years after adopting the U.S. dollar as legal tender for all transactions in El Salvador, the government claims that dollarisation has brought economic benefits. But both the facts and perceptions say otherwise.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Thick Smog on the Caribbean Coast

Looking down from the hills of Paraíso de Dios, the smokestacks of more than 100 factories can be seen stretching out in a wide line, near the Dominican Republic's Caribbean coast.

SWAZILAND: Keep School Doors Open to AIDS Orphans, Vulnerable Kids

AIDS orphans aren't the only children suffering in Swaziland. Those who have lost one or both parents to the epidemic have it rough, but so do tens of thousands of other Swazi children vulnerable to food shortages, scant medical care, and unsettled home life.

JAPAN/US: ‘Respect Women Before Setting Up Military Bases’

Japan's plans to boost its defence capability with the support of the United States is being opposed by women's rights activists who say that U.S. military bases in this country are a danger to women who live in their vicinities.

ENVIRONMENT: Floods Teach Malaysia Hard Lessons

Natural disasters are rare in this generally balmy country and so when devastating floods hit the country as the new year began, they caught victims, rescuers and government officials without a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan.

IRAQ: Jordan Becomes a Doubtful Refuge

Hundreds of thousands have fled the violence in Iraq to seek refuge in Jordan, but refugees are now beginning to find its borders closing.

IRAQ: Students, Professors Flee to the Kurdish North

Academic life in Iraq's volatile southern and central regions has become increasingly paralysed, with hundreds of students and professors targeted and many more abandoning their educational institutions in search of a refuge.