EU EXPANDS: Refugees Pushed to New Frontiers

Slovakia's asylum system could be pushed to collapse and leave refugees at the mercy of people smugglers following the country's entry into the EU, UN officials in Slovakia warn.

SOCIETY-CHINA: Old Fears Return about ‘Quality’ of Race

The liberalisation of China's marriage law is reviving old fears about the 'quality' of China's race, as eugenics experts sound the alarm about the growing number of babies in the world's most populous country that are born with birth defects or diseases.

MALAYSIA: Gov’t Agencies Find It Tough to Keep up with Traffickers

Government agencies are often no match - in organisation, money and coercive power to international syndicates that traffic in people, especially women and young girls, for Malaysia's sex industry.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Women in Limelight at U.N. Forum

Indigenous women claimed the spotlight at a U.N. meeting Monday, first asking hundreds of delegates and observers to join hands with their neighbours while they sang a blessing, and later urging representatives of governments, civil society and development agencies to work harder to ensure that their ways of living survive.

HEALTH-URUGUAY: US Lawmakers Meddle in Abortion Law Debate

A letter that six U.S. legislators recently faxed to Uruguay's senators, urging them to vote against a bill that would have legalised abortion in this South American country, amounted to undue pressure and meddling, according to legislators and activists.

VENEZUELA: Soup Kitchens Expand Social Safety Nets

At noon every day, five volunteers overseen by community activist María Machado hand out 150 free lunches to children and the elderly - just one example of a new programme aimed at strengthening Venezuela's social safety nets, launched by the government of President Hugo Chávez.

REFUGEES-HAITI: Warm Jamaican Welcome Contrasts With U.S. Blockade

Nearly 500 Haitians fleeing violence and turmoil in their country have made the precarious journey in small, often over-crowded boats across the 160 kms of ocean separating Haiti from Jamaica since a political crisis erupted there in February.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Bush Push for Patriot Act Provokes Unease

Muslim rights groups in the state of California are watching nervously as President George W Bush increasingly talks of renewing the Patriot Act, a mainstay of his "war on terrorism", as he campaigns for the November presidential election.

RELIGION-IRAN: Ruling Shiites’ Influence Eroded by Other Faiths

''Be aware young men, safeguard your beloved Shiite Islam.''

RIGHTS-HONDURAS: Impunity Reigns as Wave of Youth Murders Continues

The killing of young Hondurans is a daily occurrence: 2,230 people under age 23 have been murdered since 1998 - half of them in the past two years. And impunity continues its reign, say human rights activists.

SOCIETY-JAPAN: Calls Rise to Open Doors Closed to Foreign Labour

While officially Tokyo refuses to budge from its stance of staying closed to foreigners seeking jobs here, record statistics and programmes launched by the private sector to promote better access to employment are already pointing to the contrary.

HEALTH: Most At-Risk Mothers? Girls Having Children

More than one million infants - and an estimated 70,000 adolescent mothers - die each year in developing countries because young girls are marrying and having children before they are ready for parenthood, according to the fifth annual 'State of the World's Mothers' report, issued Tuesday.

SOCIETY-INDIA: Some Old Colonial Habits Just Hard to Break

The Indian Navy's restoration of the red-on-white cross of St George to its ensign, three years after abandoning the emblem of Britain's patron saint for its ''demeaning'' colonial associations, has rekindled debates about old colonial habits that remain a part of daily life today.

BRAZIL: Violence in Schools – ‘Most Fights Are Between Girls’

Marcela, an 18-year-old high school student in this Brazilian city, told IPS that most of the fistfights and shouting matches these days in her school are between girls.

POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Putting the Region Into Clearer Perspective

When compared with other parts of the continent, Southern Africa can seem relatively wealthy and peaceful - the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and ongoing conflict in certain areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo notwithstanding.

EU EXPANDS: Britain Eyes the Bus Station In a New Dawn

Britain was looking south to the English Channel Saturday morning as it has at many turning points in history.

SOUTH AMERICA: Aymara Rage Explodes

Local residents of an Andean highland village in Peru were holding the members of their town council hostage Friday, threatening to kill them, just a few days after the mayor of a nearby town was publicly lynched.

URUGUAY: More and More Children Help Support Their Families

Christian, 14, and his 13-year-old brother Jorge spend their afternoons hawking little calendar cards on buses in the Uruguayan capital.

LATIN AMERICA: Ad Agencies Slowly Turning Away from Sexist Commercials

Ordinary women and men who do not fit the stereotype of the beautiful thin, young, blond model are slowly making it into ads in Latin America.

IRAQ: After the Headlines Comes the Tent City

New families seem to arrive every hour at the Iraqi Red Crescent refugee camp in West Baghdad. The camp, the first tent city erected as a result of the U.S. assault on Fallujah first drew about 50 families, a small fraction of the tens of thousands of civilians forced to flee their homes.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Cricket Match Scores for Peace

The cricket match between two rival teams in the lush green field located at the foothills of the Margallah Hills here in the Pakistani capital was not just another game, but one that brought the children from India and Pakistan together to play 'Cricket for Peace'.