DISARMAMENT-ARGENTINA: Gun Swap Takes Aim at Violence

With strong support from peace and disarmament groups and the families of shooting victims, the Argentine government launched a programme Friday that encourages people to voluntarily swap their legal or illegal firearms for cash.

PARAGUAY: Shooting Ranges, Munitions Depots Within City Limits

The humble dwellings of the Varadero neighbourhood in the Paraguayan capital still show signs of the devastating explosion that occurred three years ago in a navy arsenal located within a residential area.

ENERGY-CUBA: A Light at the End of the Tunnel

The government announcement that electricity supplies in Cuba now exceed demand during the hours of peak consumption was received with a collective sigh of relief by Cubans, who have not forgotten the frequent and lengthy blackouts that occurred, especially during the summertime, two or three years ago.

CULTURE-FINLAND: ‘Living Books’ Help Fight Prejudice

Books cannot talk back to a reader and answer all of their questions. So if one is seeking concrete information on, say, a gay person, the library is perhaps the wrong place to visit.

BRAZIL: Water Sources Threatened by Lack of Low-Cost Housing, Sanitation

José Carlos Bezerra knows that the sewage from his house flows directly into the Guarapiranga reservoir, the source of water for millions of people in Brazil's largest city. But what can he do, he asks, if he can't afford to live anywhere but in this slum?

RELIGION-MALAYSIA: Mired in Holy Quandary

After a landmark superior court decision downgraded secular law and constitutional guarantees against Islamic rules, a storm of protest has been building up as government and civil society rush to find a solution to the religious impasse.

RIGHTS: Millions Displaced by Olympic Games

Governments may fiercely compete for the honour of hosting the world's premier sporting event. But for minority groups and the poor, the Olympic Games have been anything but a windfall.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Shanghai Under Siege

Few people in this city ever imagine that their future would be defined by the ocean's rising tides. Dire climate change predictions have failed to stir public imagination into conjuring up images of China's most forward -looking city being engulfed by seawaters.

MEDIA: Young Journalists Explore What It Means to Be Muslim in Italy

With the help of a new monthly magazine, 'Yalla Italia' (Come On, Italy), some young second-generation Egyptian, Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants are attempting to explore and address the stereotypes considered an obstacle to their full integration in this predominantly Catholic European country.

GUATEMALA: Whitewash for ‘Adoption Paradise’

Guatemala may begin to shed its reputation as a paradise for international adoption now that its parliament has ratified a global adoption treaty and is preparing to pass a law that would regulate the phenomenon in a country where the trafficking and sale of babies have become widespread.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: ‘You Can’t Stop Thinking About Their Agony’

"The people who go up there to talk are really brave," B., a poor 39-year-old black woman, told IPS. She was only able to identify the body of her 20-year-old son, a victim of one of the countless massacres of young men in this Colombian port city, from surgical scars on one of his limbs.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: From One Conflict to the Next

In what was hailed as a landmark ruling, the Chilean Supreme Court ordered the state to pay compensation to 356 residents affected by pollution with toxic metals in the northern city of Arica.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Don’t Cross that Invisible Line

"We can't go from one barrio to another. Whoever does that is at risk of losing their life," a community organiser in this Pacific port city in Colombia told IPS.

ENVIRONMENT-BURUNDI: Urban Waste Becomes Urban Fuel

Several months ago, residents of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, were struggling with disposal of household waste. The Municipal Technical Services (Services techniques municipaux, SETEMU) weren't able to deal with all the refuse - and health conditions in the city were deteriorating.

HEALTH-CHINA: Olympic Planners Kick the Butt

Chinese leaders have promised to make the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing non-smoking - ambitious for this country of 360 million smokers. Never have the Games that celebrate physical fitness been held in a country more hooked on tobacco and more afflicted by smoking-related diseases.

ENVIRONMENT-KENYA: Will Good Fences Make for Good Neighbours?

To fence, or not to fence: this debate has been underway for a decade as concerns Kenya's oldest national park, located just 20 minutes from the centre of the capital - Nairobi. With urban development edging closer to the park, however, a decision one way or the other has become a matter of urgency.

BRAZIL: Homeless Take Fate into Their Own Hands

The occupation of the huge empty lot was carried out at night, by some 300 families. Just a few days later, there were nearly 5,000 families living in a sea of black tents in Valo Velho, a poor, sparsely populated neighbourhood in Itapecerica da Serra, on the outskirts of this Brazilian city.

SERBIA: Quiet Welcome of Foreigners Belies Insular Image

Serbia may be viewed by some as intolerant and somewhat nationalistic due to its role in the wars of disintegration of former Yugoslavia, but many of the people arriving from distant foreign lands are finding a hospitable home here.

RELIGION-MALAYSIA: No Freedom of Worship for Muslims Says Court

The stunning decision by Malaysia's highest secular court this week that freedom of worship, a constitutional guarantee, does not apply to Malay Muslims is a major blow to freedom and constitutional democracy, lawyers and human rights activists say.

MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: Easy to See the Speck in the Other’s Eye

People have been collectively tearing their hair out all over Latin America because of the Venezuelan government's decision not to renew the broadcasting licence of that country's most popular television station, RCTV.

EL SALVADOR: Water Pipes Don’t Mean Water in the Tap

"We have been facing this problem for 36 years; sometimes we have a little, but we actually spend a lot more time without water," says Ana Hortensia Cabrera, who is in fact among the lucky Salvadorans who have piped water in their home.