INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Mexican Rape Victims Denied Right to Abortion

A woman or girl is raped every four minutes on average in Mexico. But if they get pregnant, there is no guarantee that their right to an abortion as rape victims will be recognised, due to administrative hurdles and outright obstruction by authorities, says a new report released Tuesday.

WOMEN-CHILE: Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Now!

The first annual report by the Chilean Observatory of Gender Equity in Health calls for legislation on sexual and reproductive rights for women, making therapeutic abortion legal once again, and making emergency contraception available to all women.

VENEZUELA: Land Reform Tripped Up by Red Tape, Lack of Planning

The Venezuelan government has distributed more than two million hectares to 160,000 landless rural families over the last three years in an agrarian reform effort that has been marked by a certain lack of planning, say experts.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Activists in Chile Elated, But Won’t Let Down Their Guard

Although they are pleased that Michelle Bachelet will become Chile's first female president, just three days after International Women's Day (Mar. 8), women's organisations in this South American country will make it clear on Wednesday that they have no plans to let down their guard.

AGRICULTURE: FAO and Brazil Resuscitate Agrarian Reform

The second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), taking place this week in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, will be dusting off long-buried issues. The first edition took place 27 years ago in Rome.

ARGENTINA: Young Women Lured into Trafficking by Job Ads

The ads read: "presentable young ladies", "no qualifications or experience required", "easy work," "good conditions," and "hours by arrangement". They often offer salaries of over 2,000 dollars.

MIGRATION-LATIN AMERICA: Many Women Seek New Life Across Borders

Seven years ago, Melania decided to leave her native Peru to try her luck as a domestic employee in Chile, prompted by the difficult economic situation in her home country. She was followed soon after by her boyfriend and, later, her two sisters.

JAPAN: Wives Stash Cash to Freedom

Masami, 57, is waiting for the day when she can divorce her husband, a respected professor of medicine she married 32 years ago.

AFRICA: Warming Threatens Key Water Sources

Declines in rainfall caused by global warming threaten rivers and other local sources of fresh water in densely populated areas of Africa, according to a new study published here by Science magazine Friday.

MEXICO: Miners Strike in Support of Union Leader

The recent deaths of 65 miners in Mexico gave rise to a spate of allegations of corruption and complaints of exploitative working conditions in the mining industry, whose national union has gone on strike.

PERU: Rights of Isolated Indigenous Communities Violated by Amazon Pipeline

A report by the Office of the People's Defender in Peru states that the basic rights of indigenous communities living near the Camisea gas field have been affected by the foreign companies operating in the country's Amazon jungle region.

DEVELOPMENT-ARGENTINA: The Forgotten North

Poverty and unemployment rates are on the wane in Argentina, and infant mortality is also in retreat. But these ills are holding out in the neglected north, which has been bypassed by development.

EDUCATION-BRAZIL: Bill Would Reserve Quotas for Blacks, Indigenous Students

Universities, which have traditionally reproduced or heightened social inequality in Brazil by consolidating the position of the wealthy élite, are now being called upon to do the opposite, by opening their doors preferentially to the poor, and to blacks and indigenous people.

CHILE: Mapuche Political Party to Pursue Autonomy

The first Mapuche political party will be founded this year, to seek autonomy and self-government for the largest group of indigenous people in Chile. But a rocky road lies ahead.

MIDEAST: Israeli Russians Could Swing the Vote

Although Israeli pollsters peg the Kadima Party as the frontrunner in winning next month's elections, it is still uncertain who will secure the coveted Russian vote that always plays a critical role on polling day.

HEALTH: AIDS Stigma, a Major Hurdle in the Caribbean

The discrimination that people living with HIV face on a day-to-day level in the Caribbean results in frequent violations of their basic rights and is a major hurdle to the implementation of anti-AIDS programmes, say U.N. officials..

COLOMBIA: France Calls for Hostage Swap

At 5:08 AM Thursday, Colombian journalist Herbin Hoyos announced on the Caracol Radio station that he had French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on the line.

RELIGION: Christian Churches Call for Dialogue with Muslims

Dialogue has been one of the most frequently mentioned words at the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which ends Friday in this southern Brazilian city after 10 days of debates marked by the controversy triggered by the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in newspapers in Europe.

MIGRATION-LATIN AMERICA: Unmarked Graves Across the U.S. Border

Sex: male. Age and nationality: unknown. Cause of death: drowning. Place and date: U.S. southern border, October 2005. This is the stark record left behind by a Latin American migrant who now lies in an unmarked grave, like thousands of others who have died without reaching their goal.

POLITICS-ASIA: People Power Fizzling Out?

She was pregnant with her first child, and a woman on the run. She was on a ''wanted list'' for her human rights campaigns. She had little choice but to go ''underground'' to escape the brutal clutches of the dictatorship.

CHILE: Indigenous Children Torn Between Farm Work and Homework

They dream of becoming doctors, lawyers or reporters, but they are more likely to face a future of working as chauffeurs or domestics. Raised in poverty, Aymara and Mapuche indigenous children from the northern and southern regions of Chile tend to drop out of school to go to work.