CLIMATE CHANGE: Leaders Sound the Alarm on Island Peoples, Economies

The effects of global warming could devastate local economies and force the migration of tens of thousands of people, warn the leaders of small island nations as they fight to put the issue in the global spotlight.

MEDIA-NICARAGUA: Government’s Press Policy Comes Under Fire

The communication strategy of the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega, which consists of getting information out "directly and uncontaminated" through friendly media outlets, has drawn fire and complaints about possible threats to freedom of speech.

DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Expressway to Concrete Paradise

City mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal believes that the answer to this port city's many woes lies in constructing a 24 km elevated expressway at a cost of 225 million US dollars.

LEBANON: Political Loyalties Being Rebuilt

People in this southern Lebanese village are rebuilding their destroyed houses with renewed vigour. And, with renewed loyalties to a combination of Hezbollah, Qatar and Iran.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Homeless Join Month of Protests

The Homeless Workers Movement (MTST) blocked three access roads into Sao Paulo on Wednesday, continuing a month-long struggle during which they have invaded a large number of buildings and unoccupied urban sites in several state capitals.

POLITICS-MALI: A Presidential Election That Breaks With Tradition

When Malians queue to cast ballots in presidential elections Sunday, they will be participating in a poll with a difference: for the first time ever, a woman will be amongst the candidates voters have to choose between.

ARGENTINA: Civil Society Keeps Eye on First Lady’s Tours

A non-governmental organisation in Argentina is monitoring the trips made by Senator Cristina Fernández, President Néstor Kirchner's wife, who travels with a large entourage and an appointments schedule worthy of a head of state.

BIODIVERSITY: Cities Eating Up Resources and Habitat

Disproportionate growth of the world's urban population could result in further loss of many forms of life on Earth, warn experts in the sciences of climate change and biodiversity.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Neighbours Remain Mute Amid Flood of Refugees

The rattling sound of galvanized tins has become characteristic of Patience's* daily routine which starts at 4 am every day. Patience (43), a single mother, is one of the many who rush in the early morning to the Zimbabwean capital's Mbare Musika market to buy fruit and vegetables to hawk.

LEBANON: Tempers Rise Over Reconstruction

Eight months after Israeli attacks left devastation across many villages in southern Lebanon, reconstruction comes with mounting anger towards both Israel and the central Lebanese government.

EAST AFRICA: Tackling the Digital Divide From a Regional Perspective

The digital divide between urban and rural areas in East Africa - and between rich and poor - continues to loom large, highlighting the need for initiatives that will enable all to benefit from information and communication technologies (ICTs).

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Girls Living with HIV Break the Silence

"I feel happy when I'm with my friends; at those times, I don't even remember that I have the infection," Keren, an 11-year-old Honduran girl living with HIV, told IPS.

HEALTH-PARAGUAY: Hello Rome, Goodbye Dengue!

The corridors in Paraguay's Hospital de Clínicas are crammed with dozens of patients with symptoms of dengue waiting for treatment, but in the nurses' station they are having a party. Mirian López, a registered nurse with several years' experience in intensive care, has just found out that she has a job waiting for her in Italy.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: The Arrival of ”Homo Urbanus”

The year 2007 marks the birth of a new ''species'': Homo Urbanus. For the first time in history there will be as many city dwellers as rural inhabitants in the world.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: UN Habitat Fund to Finance Slum Housing

Some relief for the pressing housing needs of slum dwellers may be in sight. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) is planning a revolving fund to assist poor people with credit to build houses in slum areas.

SYRIA: A Lot of Uninvited Guests

The massive influx of Iraqi refugees into Syria has brought rising prices and overcrowding, but most Syrians seem to have accepted more than a million of the refugees happily enough.

POLAND: Socialist Model City Fights for a Future

From communist showcase to bastion of anti-communism, the Stalin-era model city of Nowa Huta is now being stigmatised by Poles who depict it as Krakow's criminal hub and a place without a future.

ARGENTINA-URUGUAY: Another Stab at Resolving Pulp Mill Conflict

The governments of Argentina and Uruguay are tight-lipped ahead of a meeting Wednesday in Madrid, brokered by Spain with a view to paving the way to a solution for the ongoing conflict between the two South American countries over the installation of a paper pulp mill on a border river.

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Hybrid Electric Vehicles – Better Than Ethanol

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are the best way to achieve a drastic reduction in greenhouse gases produced by vehicle exhaust fumes, until hydrogen-powered models become viable. They are even more environmentally-friendly than the use of biofuels.

COLOMBIA: Half of EU Aid to Go Directly to Victims

Half of Europe's aid for Colombia over the next seven years will go directly to victims of the civil war and civil society organisations that provide them with assistance.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Rallies Nationwide Take Aim at U.S. Congress

Environmentalists say they are running out of patience with what they see as the snail's pace of climate change legislation moving through the U.S. Congress.