BIODIVERSITY-JAPAN: Climate Change Fosters Coral-Eating Starfish

At the Kushimoto marine park, 640 km southwest of the national capital, divers proudly display the coral-eating starfish they pluck away from the famed table coral formations that attract tourists for their sheer beauty.

CUBA: Children Use Art to Learn About Hunger

A Cuban child is drawing a train, heavily loaded with emergency food supplies that are about to be airlifted and dropped into areas where hunger is just a normal part of life. The drawing will be entered in an annual international competition called "WFP in Action," organised by the World Food Programme.

PARAGUAY: Aquifer Wounded and Contaminated

Josefina Samaniego didn't know that water could have taste and colour until she moved to the city of Limpio, about 10 kilometres from the Paraguayan capital. The liquid from the wells in this community of 73,000 people is not odourless, colourless or tasteless as most expect water to be.

RELIGION-BRAZIL: Not Much of a Stir over Pope’s Visit

Pope Benedict XVI's five-day visit to Brazil, which begins Wednesday, has not raised much of a stir, except for among the devout faithful and those who are closely involved with the Catholic Church.

CUBA: Soldiers Accused of Hijacking Could Face Death Penalty

Two Cuban soldiers who attempted to hijack an airplane to fly to the United States are both wounded and awaiting trial, Cuban President Fidel Castro announced Tuesday, while accusing the United States of fomenting illegal emigration.

RELIGION-BRAZIL: Growth of Evangelical Churches Fueled by ‘Personal Touch’

The Assembly of God Family Church is crowded with worshippers. In the dying gloom of the surrounding "favela" (shantytown), this church is a "bright and saving light," says a devotee who is asking that her spirit be freed from the daily problems that plague her.

CHILE: Fine Tuning the Fight Against Domestic Violence

The trial of Alfredo Cabrera, a Chilean man accused of murdering his six-year-old daughter by throwing her from the window of their seventh floor apartment after trying to kill his partner, will open Wednesday, amidst a clamour for him to be handed the maximum sentence.

CLIMATE CHANGE-SRI LANKA: Flash Floods – An Ominous Sign

As Tamil militant planes flew sorties over the national capital last week, the attention of political leaders were diverted from a worse disaster unfolding on the ground - flash floods, attributed by scientists, to climate change.

GUATEMALA: Indigenous Women Last in Line for MDGs

Guatemala is making slow, uneven progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with maternal mortality and illiteracy remaining the most persistent problems, mid-way to the 2015 deadline.

LEBANON: Resistance Being Rebuilt Too

As reconstruction resumes in the heavily bombed southern Beirut district Dahiyeh, the signs are evident of a rebuilding of resistance against Israel and the U.S.-backed government, largely by way of increased support for Hezbollah.

DEVELOPMENT: Global Campaign Calls for Tackling the Roots of Poverty

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) made a commitment in Uruguay Saturday to extend their campaign until 2015, and to emphasise the structural causes that determine that over one billion people in the world are living in extreme poverty.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Neglecting Ancient Reservoirs Carries a Price

The carved granite pagodas that dominate this town in southern Tamil Nadu state have earned it a place on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Less noticeable, though, are the vast reservoirs that once took care of the water requirements of this millennia-old cultural centre.

DEVELOPMENT: Fight Against Poverty – a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Combating poverty is more like a long distance race than a sprint, and in the past two years progress has been made that would have been unthinkable decades ago. But much remains to be done, say activists from all over the world who have gathered together in the Uruguayan capital.

RIGHTS-CENTRAL AMERICA: Turning Back to a Murky Past?

Social inequality is on the rise in Central America, and the region is backsliding with respect to the standards set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights, according to activists and analysts.

Q&A: Colombian Reporters ‘Have Counted So Many Dead That We Lose Count’

"Freedom of the press is merely rhetorical," says veteran Colombian journalist Javier Darío Restrepo. "The only thing that counts are free reporters."

LEBANON: Refugees Learn to Substitute Government

The influx of refugees from Palestinian areas and the inability of the government to do much for them has strengthened a unique NGO providing essential services.

MAY DAY-BOLIVIA: New Style Work Force

The May 1 Labour Day marches in the Bolivian capital were a memorable sight two decades ago, a real celebration of workers' unity, led by thousands of helmeted miners carrying their drills. But today the workers' movement is a shadow of its former self, and the present generation of workers, out of necessity, are dispersed in new kinds of occupations.

CUBA: Twenty Years with God and the Revolution

Close to one of the busiest crossroads in the Cuban capital, but peaceful nonetheless, the non-governmental Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Centre (CMLK) has been active in Cuban society for two decades, working for a more participative social system.

VENEZUELA: Bull Fights – Cultural Tradition or National Disgrace?

The roar of "Olé!" greeting a sweep of the cape and the rapturous applause when the bull meets its death at the matador's sword may soon become a thing of the past in Venezuela if the movement supporting a new animal protection law is successful.

HEALTH-U.S.: City Takes Aim at Hepatitis Among Asian Americans

This west-coast city has earned a reputation as a health trendsetter. Last year, San Francisco unveiled a plan to offer universal health care to all its residents (to take effect Jul. 1). Now it has become the first U.S. city to launch a plan to test and vaccinate all Asian and Pacific Islander American residents for hepatitis B.

TRANSPORT-CUBA: ‘Camels’ Fade into the Sunset

"Camellos" or camels, a form of urban transport that arose at the worst point of Cuba's economic crisis in the 1990s, appear fated to disappear from the centre of Havana, to the relief of residents and the benefit of the environment.