POLITICS-US: West Coast City Formally Rejects Iran Attack

The eight-member city council of Oakland, home to nearly half a million people, unanimously passed a symbolic resolution opposing any U.S. attack against Iran Tuesday, in a bid to pressure lawmakers in Congress to reestablish their constitutional authority over U.S foreign policy and war policy and funding.

CUBA: Churches Tackle Divisions by Discussing Ethics, Not Doctrine

A group of Christian denominations and ecumenical organisations in Cuba have launched an ethical dialogue aimed at smoothing over their historical differences and fomenting mutual understanding, knowledge, and openness to debate.

ASIA: Water Services – Fee or Free?

Access to safe water may be touted as a human right, but inadequate supplies, crumbling water systems and the galloping needs of growing populations are forcing experts, government utilities and funding agencies to ponder over devising sustainable water service networks in Asia’s teeming cities.

GUATEMALA: Journalists Face Threats Over Report on Candidate

"Where are you? Hurry up, we’re waiting for you!" barked the voice on the telephone. Guatemalan journalist Enrique Castañeda had just finished writing an investigative article on rightwing presidential candidate Otto Pérez’s alleged links with organised crime, and this was the first phonecall he received.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Toxins Threaten to Uproot Entire Town

The quiet village of Tallevast in Florida's Manatee County traces its roots back to the 1890s, when a community of shacks was built there for African-American labourers who worked tapping sap from the local pine forests to make turpentine and grew sugarcane, celery and strawberries in the fields.

Q&A: "My Work Reflects These Dark Times We Live In"

Stan Douglas is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker and multimedia installation artist who has been called "one of the most accomplished Canadian artists of the younger generation".

SPAIN: Court Confirms ETA Not Involved in Madrid Train Blasts

A court in Madrid Wednesday sentenced three men to up to 42,000 years in prison for the Mar. 11, 2004 train bombings that killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000 in the Spanish capital, although it failed to identify the masterminds behind the attacks.

DEVELOPMENT-CAMBODIA: Getting Water to the Poor – And Making Profits Too

A Cambodian public official has weathered assassination threats and a slow-moving bureaucracy in this post-conflict country to create one of the most trusted and safest water supply systems in Asia.

HEALTH-ASIA: Dengue No Longer Paediatric Says WHO

As public health experts in South-east Asia come to grips with one of the worst outbreaks of dengue fever in years, they discern a disturbing pattern about the profile of patients who have died from the virus vectored by the aedes aegypti mosquito.

Q&A: "Wetlands Have Had a Pretty Raw Deal, Historically"

Environmental organisations can work with developers to manage wetlands in urban areas, says John Dini: programme manager at Working for Wetlands, a state organisation that tries to ensure the long term viability of wetlands in South Africa.

CUBA: A Church Embraces Those Who Have Lost Their Way

In the heart of Balcón Arimao, a poor barrio on the fringes of the Cuban capital, a small evangelical church combines spirituality and community work, combating alcoholism, prostitution, crime and family breakdown.

COLOMBIA: A Painful Pilgrimage

"Father Antún! Father Antún is back!" were the happy, surprised shouts heard by the IPS news team accompanying Catholic priest Antún Ramos as he returned to his former parish in the village of Bellavista in northwestern Colombia.

RIGHTS-EL SALVADOR: Twenty Years of Deja Vu

Rosa Anaya was leaving her home early on her way to school that morning of Oct. 26, 1987 in El Salvador, when she saw her father, a few steps ahead of her, crumple beside his car, hit by six bullets.

ELECTIONS-COLOMBIA: Unexpected Paramilitary Defeat in Cesar

Night falls and some 200 honking motorcycles and mopeds make their way along a tree-lined central avenue of the capital of the northeastern Colombian department of Cesar, celebrating the victory of governor-elect Cristian Moreno, "the candidate of the poor," in one of the birthplaces of the far-right paramilitary militias.

CHILE: Breath of Fresh Air for Community Radio Stations?

After a seven year wait, community radio stations in Chile are celebrating a draft law that would regulate and promote their activities, which the government of President Michelle Bachelet has sent to Congress. But they remain aware of the hurdles that still lie ahead.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Green Housing Not Just for the Rich

Mary Jane Jagodzinzki nervously anticipated the arrival of a busload of building professionals. As it turned out, she needn't have been too concerned.

CUBA: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff – Studying the Soviet Legacy

Although Cuba survived the demise of its communist allies in the early 1990s, the legacy of its close relationship with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe may still have a bearing on the future of socialism on this Caribbean island nation.

SOUTH AFRICA: Flush Still Considered Flash When it Comes to Toilets

Waterless or composting toilets are being touted as a promising solution to many of South Africa's sanitation woes.

Q&A: "If You Are Poor, You Are Out"

Miloon Kothari, the U.N. special rapporteur for housing, recently visited Canada on a fact-finding mission to look at homelessness, aboriginal and women's housing issues, and the impact of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

ELECTIONS-ARGENTINA: Cristina’s Low-Income Voter Support Base

Although Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernández is a well-heeled lawyer with an impressive track record as a politician, the front-runner for Sunday’s presidential elections is not favoured by her peers. Instead, her main support comes from lower income sectors, analysts say.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Tortured Labour, Stolen Newborns

"Torture with the electric prod when she was close to term induced accelerated labour," says the report "Maternidades Clandestinas" (Motherhood in Clandestine Prisons), which tells the stories of dozens of women illegally imprisoned during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship.