EDUCATION-BRAZIL: ‘Inclusive’ Schools – Bar Some

A popular soap opera that portrays a mother in search of a school that will accept her daughter as just another student has sparked a public debate in Brazil on whether or not children with Down's syndrome should be enrolled in standard schools.

COLOMBIA: Keeping the Words – and the Whales – Alive

"They take care of their children and drive their husbands away" sing the "cantaoras". Verse by verse, the traditional black singers describe the mating ritual of the humpback whales that visit their breeding grounds in Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast from June to November.

SOCIAL FORUM-CHILE: Another Araucania Is Possible

The music of the Mapuche people played at the opening of the First Social Forum of Araucania, a southern Chilean region characterised by poverty and many social and environmental conflicts.

RIGHTS-KENYA: The First Land Policy – But Perhaps Not the Best Land Policy

Historical injustices that have resulted in landlessness amongst Kenyans have been the focus of recent public discussions on a land policy - the first to be drawn up in the East African country.

RIGHTS-PERU: The Struggle for Reparations – in Quechua

Isabel Limancca can express herself much better in Quechua. But she speaks Spanish well enough to wage a struggle against the Peruvian state from this remote town in Peru's southern Andean highlands.

ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: Megaport vs Megadiversity

The Colombian government has chosen the pristine Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast, which draws tourists interested in whale-watching, for a new deep sea port.

RIGHTS-EL SALVADOR: Home, Deadly Home

The man attacked his wife, as he had done many times in the past, but this time he went further than ever before: he beat her almost to death, then killed their son, and finally committed suicide. No matter how tragic, it was just another everyday case of domestic violence, which claims the lives of nearly 300 Salvadoran women every year.

POPULATION: Maternal Mortality Goals Hit by Funds Crunch

A scarcity of funds and a failure to translate national laws into action are undermining hopes of the world meeting a key development goal in 2015 that aims to help women, says a ranking U.N. official.

VENEZUELA: Climate as Polarised as Ever as Elections Loom

"They shall not steal a single one of our votes," vowed opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, after claiming that he had beaten incumbent President Hugo Chávez in surveys of voting intentions for Venezuela's Dec. 3 presidential elections.

CULTURE: Creativity Has (Cash) Value

The culture and creativity economy and its contribution to sustainable development will be the central theme at a 10-day meeting of experts, artists and government delegates from more than 70 countries, which kicks off Friday in two Brazilian cities.

MIGRATION: For U.S. Haitians, Home Is Both Near and Far Away

Roman Catholic Bishop Guy Sansaricq presides over his flock at St. Jerome's Church in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Sitting on a busy, heavily Caribbean stretch of Nostrand Avenue, Sansaricq's office in the brick church is adorned with both a portrait of the Virgin Mary and a naïve painting depicting a lyrical scene of village life from his native Haiti.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Children Feared Bound for Maoist ‘Peace’ Camps

Even before Maoist leaders could assign their soldiers to camps as part of the peace deal ending Nepal's 10-year insurgency, United Nations officials appeared on the doorstep Monday warning that children will not be allowed into the cantonments.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Towards the MDGs – at a Snail’s Pace

His short arms and legs are the size of a 9-year-old's, although Antonio is actually 14. Malnutrition is common in El Seibo, the first Dominican Republic province selected for a national diagnosis of what is needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

ARGENTINA: Women Have a New Tool against Discrimination

The Argentine Congress has ratified the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), after a tug-of-war between the forces of feminist organisations and the Catholic Church that has lasted for years.

RIGHTS-PERU: Civil War Erased Even the Victims’ Names

If they are lucky, they have a photograph to remember their dead family members, killed by Maoist guerrillas, soldiers, or members of paramilitary groups during Peru's 1980-2000 civil war. There are also numerous common graves with the unidentified remains of victims.

LATIN AMERICA: Short Lives and Unmarked Graves

The 16 or 17-year-old boy, evidently born into a poor family, was buried Thursday by staff members of Casa Alianza, a child advocacy organisation, in Honduras. His body had been found in the street, stabbed to death, and he was never identified.

BURMA: ILO Gets Tough on Forced Labour

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has hardened its stance towards the use of forced labour in Burma, and decided to turn to the International Court of Justice because of the regime's reluctance to cooperate in eradicating the practice.

ARGENTINA: Flaws in Acclaimed Sexual Health Plan

Three years after it got under way, Argentina's sexual and reproductive health programme has spread from 124,000 beneficiaries to 2.3 million. But monitoring by non-governmental organisations has brought to light some problems in its implementation.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Latin America Failing to Adapt

Latin America and the Caribbean are not prepared to confront the problem of global warming, to which the region is contributing with growing emissions of greenhouses gases, says a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

JAPAN: Exploiting ‘Trainee’ Migrant Workers

The story, this week, of three Chinese women workers fleeing a garments factory in northern Aomori prefecture has dealt another blow to Japan's much touted trainee programme for foreign workers-that activists say is a front for cheap labour.

FILM: Somali Bantu Find Strange New Life in Urban U.S.

After 13 years of frustrating delays and worsening conditions in a Kenyan refugee camp, 13,000 Somali Bantu have finally been allowed to seek asylum in the United States. But their quest for a home has only just begun.