FRANCE: Home Is Where You Migrate To

"My home is in Tunis," metal worker Chedli who migrated to France in the 1970s used to say until recently. Now he is not so sure. "They do not want me down there."

RIGHTS: U.N. Probes Abuse of Migrant Workers Worldwide

Responding to a flood of complaints from migrant workers worldwide, the United Nations is investigating a rash of human rights violations, including abusive working conditions, non-payment of wages, arbitrary detentions and collective illegal deportations.

COLOMBIA: Uribe’s Explosion

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's furious response to a car-bomb that blew up in a military installation in the capital was, for many, a spontaneous outburst against the FARC guerrillas, who he blamed for the attack. But perhaps it was a coldly calculated response, merely part of his overall strategy.

ELECTIONS-BRAZIL: Black Voters Crucial for Lula

Brazilians of African descent, who make up 47 percent of a total population of 187 million, did not increase their representation in parliament in the last elections, but are proving to be a decisive force in the likely reelection of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

MEXICO: Politics Stand in the Way of Solution to Oaxaca Crisis

Out of incapacity or due to political commitments, the government of Vicente Fox and the Senate have failed to put an end to the five-month crisis in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, where 10 people - mainly protesters - have been killed and hundreds of demonstrators are still camped out on the streets and squares of the state capital.

COLOMBIA: Rebels, Gov’t Urged to Tackle Plight of the Displaced

A draft agreement on forced displacement proposed by civil society groups to the Colombian government and the leftwing National Liberation Army (ELN) may open up possible solutions to one of the most serious problems generated by the armed conflict in Colombia.

VENEZUELA: Play Keeps Indigenous Cultures Alive

A new study found that play is an essential vehicle of socialisation and transmission of traditions and customs among indigenous groups in Venezuela, who often live in an uneasy coexistence with mainstream society while the survival of their cultures and languages is threatened.

PORTUGAL: Voters to Decide on Legal Abortion in Referendum

With Thursday's approval of a motion by the governing Socialist Party to hold a referendum on the decriminalisation of abortion, the Portuguese parliament gave a green light to the battle to remove the country from the list of European nations with the strictest laws against abortion.

GUATEMALA: Devoured by Malnutrition

The ambulance pulls off the road, just where a steep rocky track leads up to the remote Guatemalan village of Shumpá. The health professionals' mission is to save the life of a malnourished two-year-old girl.

ARGENTINA: Stamping Out Mistreatment of Women in Hospitals

Cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of women in sexual and reproductive health services in Argentina, often accepted as normal by doctors, nurses and even patients, is being closely examined by a network of organisations determined to stamp out these practices.

HEALTH-PANAMA: Industrial Solvent Identified as Cause of 22 Deaths

A tainted generic cough syrup has been identified as the culprit in a rash of mysterious deaths in Panama. The toxic ingredient, diethylene glycol, is well known for its harmful effects. Was this an error? Was it deliberate? No one knows yet.

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Due to Injustice, Not Lack of Food

Millions of people die of hunger-related causes every year. However, that is not because of actual shortages of food, but is a result of social injustice and political, social and economic exclusion, argue non-governmental organisations that launched a campaign in Spain on World Food Day Monday.

COLOMBIA: Poverty – the Old, the New and the Newest

The fight against poverty is currently a focus of controversy in Colombia, with the government and its critics arguing now not about the percentages, but about how they are calculated.

LATIN AMERICA: Standing Up Against Poverty in Streets and Stadiums

Fans in football stadiums, parks and city squares in Latin American countries will stand up this weekend in support of a global campaign against poverty.

EDUCATION-ARGENTINA: Sex in the Classrooms – By Law

For the first time in Argentina, sex education will be on the curriculum at public and private schools all over the country. Women's organisations are celebrating the passage by Congress of a key law which complements the programme on "sexual health and responsible procreation" instituted in 2003.

DEVELOPMENT: Homelessness Lingers After Pakistan Quake

The snows have already started falling in the high mountains of Pakistan, two weeks earlier than normal. Another winter, with sub-zero temperatures, will soon engulf the valleys and peaks of the Himalayas and thrust itself upon the thousands of people still homeless following the devastating earthquake that shook northwest Pakistan a year ago Sunday.

REFUGEES: Tibetans Survive Border Guards, Reach Nepal Capital

A group of 43 Tibetans shot at by a Chinese border patrol while trying to cross into Nepal, was to arrive in the capital late Monday, according to the United Nations.

MIGRATION-LATIN AMERICA: Remittances Do Not Fill Gap for Children Left Behind

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean should adopt policies providing special protection for children affected by the negative impact of emigration, a phenomenon that increases their vulnerability, UNICEF warned this week in the Uruguayan capital.

MIGRATION-EUROPE: Young Foreign Workers Shore Up Pension Systems

The contributions of young immigrants from the developing South hold out a solution for pension systems in the European Union, where rapid population ageing is placing heavy pressure on social security.

MEXICO: Oaxaca Protesters on Red Alert

In the heart of this southern Mexican city, protesters grouped in more than 350 different social organisations, who have been camping out in the parks and on the streets for over four months, are governing through people's assemblies and running radio stations that they have taken over, while their own security guards keep watch.

COLOMBIA: International Mission Hears Indigenous Cry for Help

Indigenous people's organisations in Colombia presented an international mission with a document protesting human rights violations and urging that they be supported as an especially vulnerable group in the armed conflict that has been going on for over four decades.