CUBA: Children Reach Out Through the Screen to Peers in Post-Quake Haiti

Five girls and five boys are taking time to remember the hurricane that devastated their home town of Gibara in eastern Cuba two years ago, mingling their memories with their dreams, and filming images to make a video message for children in Haiti.

Will Polio Go the Way of Smallpox?

Only one disease has ever been totally eradicated by human beings: smallpox, the last natural instance of which was reported in 1975. Two doctors are now making the case for adding a second disease to the list.

MIDEAST: Adding Torture to Injury

It was bad enough that Ahmad Asfour was severely maimed by an Israeli drone strike outside his house on Jan. 9, 2009. But, his search for advanced treatment landed the journalism student, now 19, in Israeli prison where he remains.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Displaced Children Getting Traumatised – Report

"Our village was attacked many times. (The Burmese military) would come and take whatever they wanted from the village. Anything they don't want, they'd burn," said 19-year-old K K, recalling his experiences six years ago in the country’s southern Karen state.

MEXICO: Soundtrack to Violence

"What a sad childhood Juanito had/ when shooting started in his barrio/ he was left lying on the ground/ so young/ he went to his grave".

RELIGION-LATIN AMERICA: Scarred for Life

As Catholic Church authorities in Latin America close ranks around the Vatican, whose credibility has been undermined by countless cases of child sex abuse committed by priests, other sectors are calling for major structural reforms in the institution.

KENYA: Primary Education Under the Gun

The children are afraid. There are armed bandits hiding with stolen animals in the thickets behind Nawoyaregae Primary School in Kaputir Location.

RIGHTS: Two-Thirds of Boys in Afghan Jails Are Brutalised, Study Finds

Nearly two of every three male juveniles arrested in Afghanistan are physically abused, according to a study based on interviews with 40 percent of all those now incarcerated in the country's juvenile justice system.

URUGUAY: Improving Conditions for Waste Pickers

"The time will come when 80 percent of the raw material used by industry in Uruguay will be recycled waste products," Marcelo Conde, a 40-year-old garbage sorter who has been digging through trash for recyclables "for as long as I can remember," says with some pride.

SOUTH AFRICA: Ready To Tackle Human Trafficking?

The expected arrival of 350,000 football fans in South Africa for the World Cup in June has provoked fears of increased levels of human trafficking. A new study suggests that one major obstacle to preventing this is the lack of accurate information about the extent of the problem.

BRAZIL: Bringing the Multicoloured Soul of the Favela to Life

The "favelas" or shanty towns of Brazil are a uniform red ochre, the colour of unplastered brick walls. But two visual artists from the Netherlands want to paint them every colour under the sun, a facelift intended to showcase the colourful soul of these poverty-stricken neighbourhoods.

ZAMBIA: School Policy for Teen Mothers a Partial Success

Naomi Mulenga is determined to beat the odds by finishing her school education and becoming a nurse – despite being a teenage mother.

WEST AFRICA: Stopping the Polio Virus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners hope to eliminate the circulation of the polio virus in West Africa as soon as June by launching the first round of national synchronised immunisation days against the debilitating disease.

MIDEAST: Israeli Raids Target Children

Three thousand heavily armed Israeli security service forces locked down large parts of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday, as battalions of police fired rounds of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian protesters in the occupied eastern part of the city. Nearly 40 Palestinians were wounded and treated at nearby hospitals, as 25 were arrested during intense clashes.

MALAWI: Rural Communities Jointly Care for Orphans

At the age of 66, village headman Kamwala of Dedza district in central Malawi is starting to feel the effects of ageing. He gets tired easily and needs frequent naps but says he cannot afford this luxury. He and his wife are caregivers to a one-year-old orphan.

MEXICO: Music and Dance Classes Foster Tolerance, Self-Esteem

Ten-year-old Jessica Algoneda leaps in the air, raising her arms and spinning around at her primary school in the Mexican capital, as if in honour of Terpsichore, the Greek muse of dance and poetry.

SOUTH AFRICA: Gender Loses Out in Basic Education Crisis

With the 15th-year review of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women taking place at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women in New York, South African teachers and education experts say they fear that a special focus on the advancement of girls is getting lost amidst the growing levels of poverty in the country.

EDUCATION-URUGUAY: Gardens of Knowledge

"Nature is wise, and if we take the time to observe it, we can learn so much" is the underlying philosophy of a number of innovative programmes being carried out in Uruguayan schools that are using gardens as a teaching resource, explained Edith Moraes, director of the national Primary Education Board.

RELIGION-MEXICO: Legion of Christ Scandal Escalates

A new scandal has increased the pressure on the conservative religious order Legion of Christ, one of the most influential in the Catholic Church, to compensate the victims of alleged sexual abuse by its founder, Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, and carry out internal reforms.

BOLIVIA: Cash for Checkups to Slash Maternal Deaths

A social programme in Bolivia that prevents the deaths of two mothers a day from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth is making headway despite administrative difficulties, and has the potential to cut the alarmingly high maternal mortality rate in this country by up to 80 percent in just five years.

JORDAN: Where Iraqi Women Are Also Fathers

Back in Najaf, Iraq, Khayzaran and her family lived in a well-kept house. They had two cars and a small orchard. Her children, two girls and three boys, attended school and came home to modest feasts.