BRAZIL: Youth Still in Trouble, Despite Plethora of Social Programmes

The Brazilian government has a total of 45 different programmes targeting young people, according to the National Secretariat of Youth. Nevertheless, young people face high unemployment and are sucked into a spiral of violence in which they are both victims and actors.

PORTUGAL: Salazar ‘Greatest Portuguese Ever’, TV Viewers Say

News media and academic circles in Portugal are vying with each other to explain why the public chose former dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1932-1968) in a poll on state television channel RTP as "The Greatest Portuguese Who Ever Lived."

DEVELOPMENT-MOZAMBIQUE: Explosions End But Trauma Continues

Six hours of terrifying explosions and projectiles flying everywhere, killing people indiscriminately, are over but the fear and the trauma live on.

DEVELOPMENT: Campaigners Counter Privatisation Source

Anti-poverty campaigners are calling on the European Union's developing aid chief not to renew the contract of an industrialist advising him on the role of the private sector in Africa.

HEALTH: Living in Portugal, Giving Birth in Spain

Drastic public health budget cuts in Portugal have led to the closure of emergency and maternity services and prompted protests against the government of socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates.

VENEZUELA: Colombian Refugees Flee to Lawless Border Region

"The ELN (guerrillas) tried to recruit my 19-year-old son last year. When he refused, they killed him. A neighbour told me where they buried him, and out of vengeance, they killed my neighbour's son," says the peasant farmer under the hot sun on the Venezuelan plains, squeezing his eyes together to keep the tears back.

VENEZUELA: Colombian Conflict Spills Across Border

A four-year-old girl was killed in a shootout between members of Colombia's two biggest insurgent groups in El Amparo, a border town in Venezuela's southwestern plains region.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Coastal Mega-Cities in for a Bumpy Ride

About 643 million people, or one-tenth of the world's population, who live in low lying coastal areas are at great risk of oceans-related impacts of climate change, according to a global research study to be released next month.

ECONOMY-VENEZUELA: Oil Bonds Slake the Thirst for Dollars

Thousands of Venezuelans have been registering at their bank branches since Monday in order to buy some of the five billion dollars' worth of bonds put on the market by the state oil monopoly PDVSA.

ENVIRONMENT-MALAYSIA: Costly Incinerators or Efficient Waste Disposal?

Malaysia has announced that it may set up more incinerators to deal with mounting piles of waste in landfills - just six months after a mega-incinerator project was scrapped following an outcry from residents.

POLITICS-US: Congressman Trades Iraq Vote for Spinach

A liberal Congressman who represents California's picturesque central coast region is under fire for trading his vote on the Iraq war for spinach.

WORLD WATER DAY-KENYA: Holes in the Legal System, Leaks in the Pipes

Kenya's capital, Nairobi, takes its name from a Maasai word meaning "place of cool waters". In parts of the city, however, this term is less descriptive than ironic - as demand for water is outstripping supply.

ECUADOR: Pressure to Make Water a Public Good

World Water Day will be marked Thursday in Ecuador by protests against the privatisation of water, the construction of dams, and the mining industry, and by demands for the new constitution to recognise access to water as a basic human right.

MALAYSIA: Racial Melting Pot on the Boil

Asia's melting pot, Malaysia, is celebrating 50 years of independence from British rule but against a backdrop of mounting racial disquiet fuelled by race-based politics, redundant policies that divide and discriminate and affirmative action that favours native Malays over minority Chinese and Indians.

IRAQ: Environmental Nightmare Drags On

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and despite 22 billion dollars spent on recovery and reconstruction, Iraq's environment remains in disastrous shape.

BOLIVIA: The Complex Process of Designing a New State

A unified but decentralised state that recognises Bolivia's cultural and ethnic diversity is the vision that is gradually gaining broad support in the constituent assembly currently rewriting the country's constitution.

POLITICS-US: Key Democrat Pressured to Cut War Funding

Peace activists entered their 10th day camped outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home Wednesday, the latest in an almost daily barrage of demonstrations, vigils and local government votes designed to convince Pelosi to refuse President George W. Bush's 100-billion-dollar war funding request.

CUBA: Growing Old Without a Staff to Lean On

Josefa Martínez, a Cuban woman in her forties, looked after her mother until she died, but she herself will not be so fortunate. "It was my decision not to have children and to dedicate myself entirely to my profession. Now I wonder, who will take care of me when I'm over 70 and no longer strong?"

SOUTH AMERICA: Climate Change Fuels Spread of Dengue Fever

Climate change, which has resulted, for example, in heavier and more persistent rains in South America, is forcing countries to take more proactive measures to prevent the spread of diseases like dengue fever.

RELIGION-US: Who Says Halal and Kosher Don’t Mix?

If you happen to visit Fredericksburg, Maryland soon or other U.S. towns, you may find yourself invited to a local mosque for dinner - especially if you are Christian or Jewish.

POLITICS-US: Frustration Marks Another War Anniversary

The growing anti-war movement in the United States has sent another strong signal to the George W. Bush administration and the Congressional leadership that it is unwilling to accept mere cosmetic changes in the current U.S. policy on Iraq.