PARAGUAY: Hospitals – Generating Health or Pollution?

A thousand inflated transparent plastic bags labelled "Pathological Garbage" cover the floor of one of the exhibition rooms at the Juan de Salazar Cultural Centre in the Paraguayan capital.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Reforestation Renews a Barrio

Every morning Mario Véliz makes his way through the streets of Pogolotti, a low-income neighbourhood in the Cuban capital, to the milk shop. Those who only know him because he works there are unaware that this thin, wiry man with a face seamed with age is the life and soul of local reforestation.

PARAGUAY: Justice for Supermarket Fire Victims – An Impossible Goal?

Three years after the deadly fire at the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket, the worst civil disaster in the history of Paraguay, relatives of the 364 people killed and more than 500 injured in the blaze say they feel that convictions of those responsible are further away than ever.

JAPAN: A Reawakening of Neglected Island Cultures

After decades of cold neglect, the distinct and intricate cultures of the tiny islands that surround the archipelago of Japan's four main islands have recently begun to gain public attention.

CHILE: Copper Miners’ Strike May Set a Precedent for Labour Rights

The 35-day strike by roughly half the 28,000 subcontracted workers at Chile’s state National Copper Corporation (CODELCO) may set a precedent for labour rights in the country, experts say.

ENVIRONMENT-BALKANS: Much Energy Now Goes to Waste

After years and even decades of neglect, Balkans nations are seeing a new awareness of environmental issues. But across Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia waste management remains a serious problem.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Victims Speak Out and Demand Respect

"One encounter, many paths: united against forgetting," the placards read, as 3,500 victims of the civil war in Colombia demand recognition and respect, from the authorities and society.

MEDIA: Poverty, Development Goals Hard Subjects to Tackle

Water used to be carried home, usually by women, in large jugs, as is still the case in many poor countries. But now that many people around the world have piped water, they go to the supermarket to buy bottled water.

ARGENTINA: Regional Leader in Traffic Deaths

Traffic accidents in Argentina have been claiming an average of 20 lives a day over the past decade, making it the top country in Latin America for these tragedies. They are also the main cause of death among people under 35, but in spite of this there are no official plans to end the slaughter on the roads.

DEVELOPMENT-NAMIBIA: No Water In Babylon

Cardboard and rickety tin structures jostle for space on a barren outcrop in the sprawling suburb of Katutura in Namibia’s capital Windhoek. A putrid smell hangs in the still, afternoon air as flies wing their way over the debris.

ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: Jittery Officials Thwart Green GDP Report

The pollution cost tally is becoming a potentially explosive political issue in China.

SRI LANKA: Not All Tsunami Reconstruction Is Equal

It has been 30 months since the waves struck the coasts of Sri Lanka in the morning hours of Dec. 26, 2004. Since then, in a pattern that has become symbolic of the divided nature of the South Asian island, parts of the country have motored ahead with the reconstruction effort, while others have lagged woefully behind.

BOLIVIA: Indigenous and Mestizo Power Flexes Muscles

An immense tide of people demonstrating to keep the Bolivian seat of government in this city took to the streets last week to show support for the indigenous Aymara and mestizo leadership, in the greatest expression of popular power in the history of the country.

HEALTH-US: Tiny Town Demands Justice in Dioxin Poisoning

A U.S. health agency has made research subjects of people in tiny Mossville, Louisiana by repeatedly monitoring dangerously high levels of dioxin in their blood while doing nothing to get the community out of harm's way, residents say.

ENVIRONMENT-GREECE: Recycling Begins, At Last

Household waste recycling is on the rise in Greece but there is still a long way to go before the cleanup is complete.

IRAQ: Living Becomes Hard in a Dead City

Life in the violence-plagued capital city of Iraq's Diyala province has become a struggle for day-to-day survival.

COLOMBIA: Displaced People Find Relative Calm in Bogota

What do Colombian children displaced by the war like most about this city? The tall buildings, the avenues, the museums and the cars. They love the parks, the sports fields and the rides in the amusement parks, according to a report by the Catholic Church and the main non-governmental source on displaced people.

SECURITY-BRAZIL: Oedipus Caught in the Crossfire

A child mown down by a hail of bullets from a rifle aimed by an unseen gunman is one of the drawings kept on file by psychologist Ricardo Parente, and produced in evidence to support his claim that Freudian theory must be revised when treating cases in the violent shantytowns of Brazil.

LABOUR-MALAYSIA: Forget Investors, Fix Minimum Wages – Unions

Malaysia's umbrella trade union body is pressing ahead with its campaign for a minimum wage despite the government's stand that such a benchmark would put off foreign investors seeking a low-cost environment.

BOLIVIA: La Paz Struggles Against Suffocation

The noise of traffic, dissonant car horns, people marching and shouting slogans, and firework and dynamite explosions is beginning to suffocate the urban centre of La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government, and is forcing consideration of medium term solutions.

ENVIRONMENT-US: The Lessons of the Levees

Despite mounting data that storms coming out of the Gulf of Mexico could bring catastrophic flooding to the U.S. Gulf Coast, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) failed to implement a proposed barrier plan in New Orleans that would have used floodgates to keep storm surge out of Lake Pontchartrain and the canals leading into the city.