ELECTION-WATCH: Stakes High in What Might be Africa’s 55th State

South Sudan is memorable for unbearably high heat, persistent noise from the generators that help cool the temperatures and glaring poor infrastructure.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Mauritian Sex Workers Demand Rights

"Sex workers rights are human rights", close to a hundred people shouted during a recent march in Rose-Hill, a major town in Mauritius. Their aim was to sensitise the population, particularly the parliamentarians, to the state of sex workers on the island.

BRAZIL: ‘Green’ Schools Flourish in Porto Alegre

Living sustainably can be learned. That is the idea championed by two schools in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, where students are learning to become environmental citizens of the new millennium.

POLITICS: Human Suffering Escalates in Cote d’Ivoire

For three days, 25-year-old Ousmane Traoré attended the private clinic in the populous district of Abobo, north of Abidjan. Suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen as a result of the Ivorian opposition demonstrations, he was forced to leave the main hospital in Treichville, south of Abidjan, due to a lack of assistance.

Street Vendors Defend Right to Make a Living in San Salvador

Juan Antonio Gallegos sells Mexican tortillas in Cuscatlán Park in the capital of El Salvador. Like other street vendors who work in the area, he has one thing on his mind these days: how to resist the imminent eviction that forms part of the city's government's urban renewal plan.

ECUADOR: Voters to Go to Ballot Box on Anti-Crime Measures

A referendum on reforms to the new constitution and criminal law is to be held in Ecuador in response to the mounting public security crisis, giving left-wing President Rafael Correa an opportunity to canvass public opinion on these thorny issues.

CUBA: Urban Tribes Prowl Havana Nights

A different city emerges on the weekends in Havana. Young people, whose faces are as strange as they are common, take possession of the city and reinvent it. They are the "urban tribes," a global phenomenon that has made its mark on Cuba.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Recyclers Tout Benefits of Their Trade at Cancun Summit

Ezequiel Estay began collecting glass bottles in 1991 after losing his job with the Chilean media conglomerate Copesa. Now, years later, he heads Chile's National Movement of Recyclers and is a leader of the Latin American Recyclers' Network, which is questioning the climate benefits of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

ARGENTINA: Click Here to Escape Gender Violence

"Men are drunks and batterers," Lorena Maurin tells IPS before heading in to her computer class, an oasis for women in the 22 de Enero neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Recycling for Hope and Dignity on Paraguay’s Streets

"I go out with my cart and collect plastic bottles, cardboard, paper, plastic bags; that is my work," said Laura Cardozo, proud member of a recycling group that works the Paraguayan capital's streets.

Q&A: Imagining Urban Life Without Catcalls or Rape

The U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) launched an ambitious new initiative to improve the safety and wellbeing of women in five major cities Monday - New Delhi, India; Cairo, Egypt; Quito, Ecuador; Kigali, Rwanda; and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

MEXICO: Summit Host Cancun No Model for Climate Change

The beauty of the Mexican Caribbean resort city of Cancún may have been one reason for choosing it to host the upcoming global summit on climate change. But Cancún has little to recommend it as a model for adapting to the challenges posed by climate change.

PERU: New Leftwing Mayor of Lima to Face Uphill Task

When Susana Villarán is sworn in as mayor of the Peruvian capital on Jan. 1, she will face tough challenges, such as a meagre budget for public works, 1.5 million city residents without clean water and a mismanaged nutritional supplement programme.

MEXICO: Juarez Residents Fight for Safe Public Spaces

The setting sun creates long shadows on the pavement in the crowded Del Safari neighbourhood in the southwest of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Casting the shadows are young people playing percussion instruments or children breakdancing or performing daring skateboard jumps.

GUATEMALA: Spreading Expertise on Integrated Waste Management

Guatemala has more than 700,000 clandestine garbage dumps. But a growing network of public and private sector employees are receiving training in integrated waste management that they in turn pass on to others, as part of a unique cooperation initiative with Mexico and Germany.

Cuba Maps Its Rock Music History

Cuban rock 'n' roll, once an underground movement, is being mapped for inclusion in an exhaustive compendium of Latin American rock -- from the music itself to its transformation into a lifestyle.

Paraguayan ‘Jewel’ Lake Loses Its Lustre

Just two months before the austral summer season begins, Lake Ypacaraí, centrepiece of Paraguay's campaign to promote tourism, has become the centre of attention for its polluted waters.

Tamaulipas, Mexico’s Black Hole

Tamaulipas state has become the black hole of organised crime in Mexico. But there are few accounts of the rapid social breakdown that the northeastern border state has experienced since the start of the year, because the local press is silenced.

BRAZIL: Inequality Declines in Rio as Rich Get Poorer

The huge gap between the poorest and richest neighbourhoods of Brazil's most famous city shrank between 1996 and 2008. But the news is not as good as it sounds, because the decline in inequality was due to lower incomes in the richer zones, rather than to an increase in wealth in the "favelas" or shantytowns.

MEXICO: Capital Badly in Need of Urban Regeneration

Is urban regeneration feasible in Mexico's capital city? This is a question asked by planning experts and by a large proportion of the city's population. Some projects currently underway indicate that the answer could be yes.

MEXICO: Road Construction Runs Counter to Climate Efforts

Every morning, Mexican biologist Luis Zambrano walks with his daughter to her school, less than a kilometre from his house, in the Magdalena Contreras district, located in the southwest of the Mexican capital.