WESTERN SAHARA: After POW Release, It Is the International Community’s Turn to Act

The Polisario Front released Thursday the last Moroccan prisoners of war that it was holding, which means it is now time for the United Nations, the European Union and the United States to press for a definitive solution to the situation in the Western Sahara, a representative of the independence movement told IPS in Spain.

BRAZIL: Awakening the Dreams of Young Slum Dwellers

Left blind in one eye by a bullet wound, 18-year-old Rosinaldo Inaldo admits that he used to be violent, but says he now dreams of becoming a singer of traditional songs from northeastern Brazil like the "axé" and "frevo".

CHILE: Working With the Enemy

Psychological harassment in the workplace is a growing problem in Chile owing partly to the limited availability of decent work, a global phenomenon that has been highlighted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

INDONESIA: Private Management, New Threat to Biodiversity

To say that the babi rusa (pig deer) is ugly is to state the obvious. But the health of this repulsive species of wild boar is an indicator of Sulawesi island's rich and unique bio-diversity threatened by loggers, bush meat hunters, settlers, tourists and lately private administration.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Declaration of Rights Still a Distant Goal

The adoption of resolutions on indigenous peoples' rights in both the U.N. and the OAS remains bogged down after over a decade by deep discrepancies between negotiators, according to experts meeting in the Mexican capital.

VENEZUELA: World Youth Fest – Activism and Celebration

A lengthy statement against "U.S. imperialism" was adopted at the close of the 16th World Youth and Students Festival, which drew thousands of young people from more than 100 countries to Venezuela over the past week.

RIGHTS-RWANDA: A Life Spanning Continents, Genocide – And an Orphanage

Petite, soft-spoken and all of 93 years old, Rosamond Carr might not - at first glance - appear a likely candidate for heading up an orphanage in an especially poor and strife-torn corner of Africa.

POLITICS: No Return to Arms Despite Sri Lankan Minister’s Slaying

Although the dramatic assassination on Friday of Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has sorely tested relations, the three-year-old truce between the separatist, militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government will likely hold.

LABOUR-BRAZIL: Night-time Brings Relief for Street Vendors

At night on the streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Alberto is finally able to let down his guard when he spreads his toys on a piece of canvas alongside dozens of other street vendors hawking their goods on a 200-metre stretch of sidewalk.

DRUGS-BOLIVIA: From Producer to Consumer Nation

A slackening of prevention efforts has helped bring about an up to 430 percent increase in drug use in Bolivia in the last 13 years, while the government is engaged in a dispute with United Nations representatives over the quantity of coca leaves destined for the cocaine trade currently being grown in this South American nation.

PORTUGAL: Poorest Fire Prevention Record in Southern Europe

When fires break out in southern Europe in the hot summer months, the highest price is paid by Portugal, where the total forest area that has gone up in flames is 24 times greater than that of France, four times that of Spain and three times that of Greece and Italy.

AIDS-VENEZUELA: An Ounce of Prevention, Aimed at Women and Youth

The Venezuelan government has launched an AIDS prevention campaign that specifically targets women and youth, sectors in which the incidence of the disease is growing worldwide.

GERMANY: The Blind Lead the Way to a Unique Food Experience

"It's like entering a completely different world, suddenly everything in your own world just disappears," says Ralf Mechlinski, manager of the world's first restaurant staffed entirely by the blind and visually impaired, where patrons are invited to experience what it is like to live without sight.

HEALTH: Vietnam Stops Chinese Chickens Crossing the Border

As part of efforts to check avian bird-flu, Vietnamese border guards have tightened a vigil for clandestine movement of chicken and eggs across the Vietnam-China border.

ARGENTINA: Chronic Lack of Labour Protection

Although Elba Gómez has worked as a domestic for nine years, she is not enrolled in the social security system. "I can't complain," she says nevertheless, noting that she has a stable job, unlike the thousands and thousands of Argentines who are unemployed, and have been out of work for years in many cases.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY: Riches Out from Under India’s Orissa Tribals

While corporate India eagerly counts foreign direct investment in mining projects, tribal peoples sitting on some of the world's richest deposits of iron ore, bauxite and copper in eastern Orissa state are watching, with trepidation, the sudden burst of alien activity on their ancient lands.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY: New Universities for a Multicultural Mexico

Seven intercultural universities in Mexico are going a long way towards preserving the historical and cultural roots of the country's indigenous community, which comprises more than 10 percent of the country's 106 million people.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Truck Drivers More Sinned Against Than Sinning

It took a photo exhibition on the lives and work of India's truck drivers for many to realise that they are more than just another high-risk group for HIV/AIDS in a list drawn by voluntary agencies working against the disease.

BANGLADESH: Bleak Future Awaits Sex Workers’ Children

When asked his mother's name, four-year-old, bright-eyed Jowel ventures softly, ''Ma''.

BURMA: Top UN Official Reports Gross Malnutrition, Poverty

A journey from the Burmese capital of Rangoon to the country's borders reveals a picture of hungry, malnourished children that is ''serious'' and ''getting worse,'' a top United Nations official reported Friday.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Comfort Women May Forgive but Not Forget

For a decade now , Song Shin Do, 84, the only Korean former comfort woman who lives in Japan, has refused monetary compensation but fought bitterly for an apology from the Japanese government, taking every defeat handed down at the courts with a poignant stoicism that has won her grudging admiration.