CUBA: Fullest Possible Social Inclusion for the Disabled

Arnoldo Ramón Virgilio’s legs are of little use to him, but he has a way with words that more than makes up for any physical limitations. He’s one of the outpatients at the "América Labadí Arce" Medical and Education Centre, which provides health care and rehabilitation for the disabled in this city in eastern Cuba.

MIDEAST: Traumatised Children Struggle to Rise Again

Tens of thousands of children in Gaza are still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Israel's three-week bombing December- January.

PARAGUAY: Dance Helps Disabled Kids Leap Barriers

Nicolás, a 14-year-old disabled boy, was finally able to open up and begin expressing himself thanks to Open Wings, a project in Paraguay that uses modern dance as a tool to help youngsters with disabilities develop on both the physical and psychological level.

MIDEAST: ‘Lay Not Thine Hand Upon the Boy’

"And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God" (Genesis 22:12). Not so much in fear of God as in fear of their own conscience, Israeli leaders have given temporary relief to hundreds of children of foreign workers who were facing deportation with their parents.

PARAGUAY: Indigenous Squatter Communities Organise Self-Help

Indigenous families living in a squatter settlement on the outskirts of the Paraguayan capital are organising themselves, and now have a community soup kitchen and are producing and selling handicrafts. They don't want to return to panhandling on the streets of Asunción, so far from their home villages.

ARGENTINA: Kidnappings, Threats Target Child Rights Campaign

Youngsters involved in a network of social organisations working with street kids and disadvantaged youths, as part of its "Hunger Is a Crime" campaign, have been the targets of eight kidnappings and dozens of death threats in the last 16 months.

AFGHANISTAN: Child Rapist Police Return Behind U.S., UK Troops

The strategy of the major U.S. and British military offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province aimed at wresting it from the Taliban is based on bringing back Afghan army and police to maintain permanent control of the population, so the foreign forces can move on to another insurgent stronghold.

HEALTH: Namibia Makes Strides in Paediatric HIV

While paediatric HIV remains a growing concern throughout Southern Africa, Namibian doctors have managed to put high numbers of babies on the life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment with the help of an early infant diagnosis (EID) programme based on dry blood sampling.

BRAZIL: Agricultural School Cultivates Pride in Family Farming

"Here you get an education for the country and not for the city, which is not where I live, and that’s why I can relate to this school," says Israel Santos, 16, currently enrolled in the second year of secondary school studies at an agricultural school in the municipality of Independencia, in northeastern Brazil.

RIGHTS-NAMIBIA: New Dangers, New Efforts to Protect Children

New channels like sms messages and social-networking application Facebook are just some of the tools government and civil rights groups will be using to encourage input on the Child Care and Protection Bill will soon be tabled in Namibia's parliament.

EDUCATION: Mother Tongue Absent in Thousands of Classrooms

Millions of children across the world fail to receive a basic education not only because they are born into poverty, but because local authorities do not allow them to read and write in their native language at school.

DEVELOPMENT: Social Enterprise in the Swazi Highveld

In 2006, faith-based charity organisation Bulembu Ministries Swaziland took over management of an all-but abandoned mining town, situated on a 1,700 hectares in northwestern Swaziland.

SWAZILAND: Resurrecting Bulembu

In 2005, Bulembu was a ghost town. The once-prosperous mining town's population had fallen from 10,000 to just 100. The beautiful houses that used to accommodate company staff and their families, schools that had been among the best performers in the Kingdom, shops, clinics - all fell quickly into disrepair when the asbestos mine closed.

CUBA: What Schools Can and Cannot Do for Equality

They are sisters, just two years apart, and had the same upbringing and education, but they have completely different aspirations. While Ana, the younger, dreams of going to university and following a professional career, Marlén is only interested in boyfriends, getting married and living happily and quietly at home.

EUROPE: Bringing Up a ‘Lost Generation’

A "lost generation" of children vulnerable to crime and exploitation is growing up in Eastern Europe as their parents migrate abroad for work and leave them behind, migration watchdogs warn.

RIGHTS: No Safe Haven for Ugandan Girls

A year ago, a mother in Kashari County took the law into her own hands and castrated a man she caught raping her seven-year-old daughter.

DR-CONGO: U.N.-Backed Troops Abusing Civilians, HRW Says

United Nations-backed Congolese armed forces conducting intensified military operations in eastern and northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have failed to protect civilians from brutal rebel retaliatory attacks and instead are themselves attacking and raping Congolese civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

ENVIRONMENT-URUGUAY: Invasion of the Sand Dunes

"A road used to run through here, the sidewalk was over there, and this was the neighbour’s yard. That was an esplanade where people parked their cars, and that area over there was a plaza," says Jackeline, pointing to enormous sand dunes that have swallowed up everything, even entire trees.

HEALTH-BRAZIL: Birth Centres vs. Hospitals

The recent closure of a birth centre, which offered a more "human" touch with its focus on natural childbirth, in this Brazilian city revived the controversy over such practices, which have the backing of the Health Ministry but are opposed by the medical associations.

URUGUAY: Rural Schools Threatened by Emptying Countryside

Cono Perdigón rides a bus that bounces its way down a dusty, pitted road to reach the rural schoolhouse where he teaches.

DEVELOPMENT: Global Campaign to Salvage U.N.’s Health Goals

The global economic crisis, which has pushed millions more into extreme poverty, is threatening to have a devastating impact on the health of women and children.