DEVELOPMENT-URUGUAY: Not Just Another Slum

Beat the odds: that was what the residents of El Monarca decided to do, in order to turn their informal settlement on the outskirts of the Uruguayan capital into a real neighbourhood, with all the necessary infrastructure and services.

BRAZIL: Mixed Reviews for ‘Community Policing’ in Slums

The police, who used to shoot first and ask questions later in Santa Marta, a Rio de Janeiro shantytown, are now getting on well with the local community – the result of a state government plan that nevertheless has drawn criticism.

PERU: Microbusiness Helps Women Weather Crisis

Microenterprise is an escape valve for social tension at times of crisis, and microbusinesses do a better job of weathering the storm than bigger companies because they are used to overcoming difficulties – a positive effect that is further multiplied when it involves women.

VENEZUELA: “Express” Kidnappings All the Rage

Rosa M. was about to blow out the candles on her cake when the phone rang. Instead of another birthday greeting, she heard her coworker Gladys sobbing and asking her for financial help, because on her way to the party in the Venezuelan capital she had fallen prey to an "express kidnapping."

DISARMAMENT: Mayors Gather at U.N. to Lobby Against Nukes

The issue of nuclear disarmament being discussed with new vigour in the halls of the U.N. as the third and final preparatory committee leading up to the 2010 review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) meets over the next two weeks.

BRAZIL: Eco-Friendly (and Bullet-Proof) Homes

Plans to build low-cost housing in shantytowns in this Brazilian city using thermally and acoustically-insulating material, as part of a national plan to bridge the housing deficit, raised unexpected controversy when it came out that the houses would also be bullet-proof.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Major Blow to Child Porn Ring

Seven Mexicans who allegedly created and ran a child porn ring that sent on-line images to Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Chile, Spain, the United States and Venezuela were arrested in Mexico.

BRAZIL: Pilot Project Helps Men Abandon Violence

Some men interpret an overly long glance from another man as "a gay thing," others as "a provocation" to fight - ideas that are part of the "machista" mindset that a government initiative in Brazil is trying to break down.

U.S.: Arizona Feels the Heat of Immigration Debate

Thousands of people poured into the streets of Phoenix this past Sunday in one of several nationwide marches scheduled through May to pressure President Barack Obama to act on immigration reform.

PERU: Water Isn’t for Everyone

The melting of glaciers resulting from climate change and the lack of adequate water management policies seem to be the main causes behind the water shortages that are fuelling conflicts in Peru.

CHINA: Macau Gaming Boom at a Cost

Beijing’s decade-old flirt with lucrative gambling in the booming casino town of Macau has gone decidedly sour.

ENVIRONMENT-AFGHANISTAN: Smog Adds to Kabul’s Hazards

On any given day, a pall of smog and dust hangs over Kabul's streets. It clings to the face, burns the eyes, and stains the hands. It bathes the cars, often stuck bumper-to-bumper in traffic, and occludes the view of the distant mountains.

MUSIC-VENEZUELA: “The System” Continues to Collect Accolades

"Another prize...let’s go get ice cream to celebrate," said their mother, and the boys jumped up to get their shoes on and head out for their reward, as the TV set in their tiny living room broadcast the news about the tribute paid at OAS headquarters to the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

CHILE: Portrait of Community Leaders in Slums

Over 70 percent of community leaders in Chilean shanty towns are women. Their average age is 42, and most of them do not identify with any political party. Forty-five percent believe that the prevailing economic system makes the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

ARGENTINA: Bartering – Here to Stay?

In May, the bartering system will celebrate 14 years of new life in Argentina. After a peak in this form of trade following the country's late 2001 economic collapse, today it has a lower profile, though it involves tens of thousands of people around the country. But despite its survival, economists question its long-term viability.

PERU: Where the Poor Pay More for Water

In Lomas de Manchay, an area of slum-covered hills outside of the Peruvian capital that is home to 50,000 people, mainly poor indigenous migrants from the highlands, clean water is worth gold – almost literally.

PERU: Bailout of Mining Co. Eclipses Environmental Disaster

The Peruvian government refused to bail out the U.S. mining and metallurgical company Doe Run, which has caused severe pollution in the highlands city of La Oroya, from its severe financial troubles.

PARAGUAY: Women Growing in Politics – at Pace Set by Men

The global tendency towards greater participation by women in politics has reached Paraguay, but the pace continues to be set by men, and there are still tough barriers to equal access to elected posts.

BRAZIL: Walling Off the Slums…or ‘Eco-Barrier’?

While the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro insists that a wall being built around a poor neighbourhood is designed to protect what remains of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest from further encroachment by the slum, human rights groups say it is designed to further separate the rich and poor.

ENVIRONMENT: Where Farm Meets City, Hello Sty-Scrapers!

One of the displays at an exhibition here imagines a Netherlands pig grower who, in some not-distant future, has given up his farm and now commutes to work downtown at a high-rise "Pig City."

HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever Is Here

While the authorities squabble over what or whom to blame, Argentina is suffering its worst epidemic of dengue fever since 1998 in terms of the number of people and the size of the area affected. And on top of that, the most dangerous form of the illness, never recorded here before, has made its appearance.