AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Rival Rallies Disagree On More Than Taxes

Two major rallies took place in the Argentine capital, one for supporters of the government’s decision to increase the export tax on oilseeds, and the other for those in favour of farming associations, which have been opposing the tax measure for four months.

ASIA: Shoring Up Against Climate Change

Three years after a devastating tsunami flattened Banda Aceh, the mayor of that coastal town on Indonesia’s northern tip reckons that restoration work is far from over. He now needs to adapt to threats posed by climate change.

CHINA: Olympics Party Disrupts Life for Beijingers

With less than a month to go before fireworks herald the beginning of China’s Olympics party on Aug. 8, the security overdrive and image concerns of Beijing authorities have resulted in so many restrictions that local residents are beginning to wish that the games were already over.

Q&A: "A Silent Housing Crisis Is Unfolding"

With a billion people living in slums, and thousands more joining them every day, the world faces yet another looming challenge - the rise of an impoverished urban underclass, says Anna Tibaijuka of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (U.N. Habitat).

MEXICO: Police in the Dock Over Disco Deaths

Seventeen days after a police raid on a discothèque here that left nine young people and three police officers dead, Mexico City’s leftwing mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, announced sweeping changes in the discredited police force - including the dismissal of his chief of police.

POPULATION-MIDEAST: Time Bomb Ticking Away in Gaza

Crowded into a tiny strip of territory of 360 square kilometres, plagued by poverty, malnutrition and unemployment, Gaza's 1.5 million people face a demographic time bomb as the fragile infrastructure struggles to cope with a soaring birth rate.

COLOMBIA: Betancourt Freed in Military Intelligence Operation

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. military contractors and 11 Colombian police officers and soldiers held hostage by the guerrillas were rescued Wednesday in a military intelligence operation.

LEBANON: Civil Wars Find New Fronts

An eerie calm reigns over the new demarcation lines drawn in northern Tripoli, the second largest city in Lebanon, which gets its name from the Greek 'tri-polis', or 'three cities'. One week after violent combat erupted between the Alawite minority from the Jabal Mohsen area and the Sunni community of Bab el-Tebbaneh - separated by the wide Syria Street - tensions still run high.

MIDEAST: Sewage in Water Threatens Gazans

Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tonnes of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water.

CHINA: ‘Within a Generation Beijing Will Cease to Exist’

Few in the Chinese capital are aware of the price their city would pay for staging the world’s first ‘green Olympics’ in August. The fabulous capital of Chinese emperors and the epitome of modern China’s ambitions is being driven to extinction by its chronic lack of water. And the Olympic games are expediting the city’s slow demise, according to experts.

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: Mobile Phones Change Birds’ Tune

Many wild birds are able to imitate the simple ringtones of mobile telephones, German ornithologists report, underscoring the influence of humans on the evolution of birds.

HEALTH-PARAGUAY: Hospitals on the Critical List

Paraguay’s public hospitals are on the verge of collapse, due to a lack of resources for responding to the wave of southern hemisphere winter illnesses. The first measure to be adopted by the new government that will take over in August will be to declare a "social emergency" in healthcare, the future health minister told IPS.

DEVELOPMENT-GHANA: No Place to Lay Their Heads

Agbogbloshie Market is a vibrant market in the heart of Accra, Ghana's capital, where one can buy almost anything. But the market is also the stage for a sad tale of many who gain nothing from the commercial bustle: hundreds of young girls from the northern part of the country who work as porters in Accra's markets.

DEVELOPMENT: Water Flowing Back Into Public Hands

The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of ending privatisation of such services.

BRAZIL: African Rhythms Open Prospects for High-Risk Youngsters

"Axé" is a word that means "positive energy or life force" in the Yoruba language of West Africa, an important concept in the Afro-Brazilian "candomblé" religion. For hundreds of children and young people involved in the Axé Project, it is indeed a force for life.

BRAZIL: Delivery Boy Newshounds Show Life in Sao Paulo

Cleyton Perroni’s motorbike has been a part of his life since he was 12. But 19 years later, its role changed from recreation to an essential working tool as, equipped with a cell phone, he became a reporter of daily life in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

ENVIRONMENT-US: "Water Is Alive, It Hears Our Words"

Native Americans and others completed a 10-day "Walk for the Water" this week along the Chattahoochee River, which some estimates say will dry up completely by 2025 due to pressure from the rapidly growing city of Atlanta.

CUBA: A City Drinks in Change

Afflicted for far too long by severe drought, which concentrated all minds on how to get water to entire communities of people, this eastern Cuban city seems at long last to be drinking its fill, and its appearance is completely different from what it looked like two or three years ago.

CULTURE-CHINA: Nuder Than Nude

In a society that dictates how a woman should look - hourglass figure and shiny, long hair - Chinese artist Xiang Jing dares to turn stereotypes on their head and disturb those who view her fibreglass sculptures.

EL SALVADOR: Violence Imposes Huge Economic Burden

Medical care for victims, protection of property and restoring material damages caused by the high level of crime in El Salvador take up a large proportion of state resources, while the authorities are failing to come up with a solution for the rising tide of violence.

LEBANON: In Beirut, the Party Has Begun

The 'party capital' of the Middle East seems to be awakening after an 18-month slumber. As news of a political agreement between feuding Lebanese factions and an imminent presidential election circulated on Wednesday May 21, Lebanese almost immediately began to gather in the Beirut Central District while the tent city erected by the opposition was still being dismantled.