BRAZIL: Modelling Change in the Favelas

When police in Brazil discovered an enormous detailed scale model of the Pereirão favela, they were going to destroy it because they thought it was part of a drug trafficking gang’s plan to invade a nearby neighbourhood. Ten years later, portions of the miniature reproduction built by children have travelled around the world to art exhibits and festivals.

GUATEMALA: Teaching With Two Voices

In the Xepanil village school in Santa Apolonia, to the west of the Guatemalan capital, 20 children are learning both Spanish and the Mayan indigenous language Kaqchikel. Their teacher, Marta Lidia Rodríguez, one of thousands of bilingual education teachers in this country today, walks an hour a day to get to the school.

AGRICULTURE-ARGENTINA: Using Internet and Bicycles to Search Out Markets

Just 45 kilometres outside of Buenos Aires, a group of 20 families have set up a farming operation where they work in harmony with nature and without bosses, selling their products through a small network of consumers who appreciate the benefits of organic food and cooperative labour.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Cooperation for Peace, Not War

"A state becomes a violator of human rights when it fails to guarantee, promote or defend them," said Argentine ambassador to Colombia Martín Balza during the Third International Conference on Colombia.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Community Action Is Key to Prevention

The United Nations presented the call for nominations for the Red Ribbon Award 2008 to honour community leadership and action against HIV/AIDS in the Mexican capital Friday.

ENVIRONMENT-ANTARCTICA: Accidents Will Happen – So Be Prepared

The second accident this year involving a cruiseliner in the Antarctic is alarming the countries that protect and conserve the frozen continent, which are persisting in their demands for penalties in cases of disasters that cause pollution.

KYRGYZSTAN: Okays Ukraine Entry to WTO

With an eye on admission into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ukraine has repaid 27.3 million dollars owed to Kyrgyzstan as outstanding ‘state debt’ incurred in the years up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Australia Unchallenged by Chequebook Diplomacy

Despite the expanded involvement of a number of different powers in the South Pacific - exemplified by the European Union’s recently increased aid commitment - observers say that Australia remains the region’s dominant player.

MEXICO-US: Anti-Drug Plan Shrouded in Suspicion

Doubt, mistrust and political friction have arisen over the so-called Merida Initiative, negotiated virtually in secret by the governments of Mexico and the United States. Although it is being touted as an anti-drug assistance programme, it also includes measures for tighter border security and action against terrorism.

LABOUR-SOUTH PACIFIC: ‘Australia Short-Changing Neighbours’

A leading economist has urged Australia to reconsider its opposition to a migrant worker scheme that could act as a safety valve for social and political pressures in neighbouring countries caused by bourgeoning youth populations.

INDIA/US: Risking Survival Govt to Honour Nuke Deal

Caving in to intense pressure from Washington and from domestic business and strategic lobbies, India’s Congress party-led coalition government is planning to push through the civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in the teeth of strong political opposition.

DEVELOPMENT: IBSA Summit a “Political Endorsement” for Future Plans

A slew of co-operation agreements emerged from the second IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) summit in Pretoria, South Africa, this week.

DEVELOPMENT: Donors Lack “Political Courage”

Diplomats here are warning of possible setbacks to U.N.-led development initiatives in Africa if the rich donor countries do not change their ways on international aid and trade.

EGYPT: An Environmental Make-Over for an Ancient Industry

Air pollution is so bad in Cairo that living in the sprawling city of 18 million residents is said to be akin to smoking 20 cigarettes a day. According to the World Health Organisation, the average Cairene ingests more than 20 times the acceptable level of air pollution a day.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Hero’s Welcome for Bainimarama at Regional Do

Fiji’s interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama will return from the 38th Pacific Island Leaders meeting in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, pleased, if not surprised by the hero’s reception he got - to the consternation of the leaders of Australia and New Zealand.

CUBA-VENEZUELA: Strategic Alliance Cemented

Signing a string of economic agreements with Cuba Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez further tightened his close alliance with this Caribbean island nation’s ailing leader, Fidel Castro, who he considers a mentor and the "father of all revolutionaries."

LATIN AMERICA: Historic Chance to Get Rid of Hunger

High economic growth rates, political will and laws aimed at ensuring the right to food will not be enough to eradicate hunger in Latin America by 2025, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which calls for ongoing investment, improved coordination of programmes and support for family farming.

SOUTH AMERICA: Call Against Poverty Takes Aim at Inequality

More than two years after the launch of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), social movements in South America are putting the accent on the fight against social inequality and criticism of the neoliberal economic model, which they see as hindering development.

INDIA/US: Nuke Deal on Pause

Stiff opposition from coalition partners in the ruling United Progressive Alliance, as well as hesitation within its own ranks, has compelled India’s Congress party to put on hold negotiations for completing the controversial nuclear cooperation deal with the United States.

CHILE: International Campaign for a Dam-Free Patagonia

"Patagonia is THE symbol of nature in the world," says U.S. lawyer Aaron Sanger, who is leading an international campaign against Hidroaysén, a joint venture that is planning to build five huge hydroelectric stations in the south of Chile.

JAPAN: Planned Aid Cuts Won’t Trouble Burma’s Junta

While the video footage of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai dying on the streets of Rangoon, as soldiers fired on demonstrating monks and civilians on Oct. 27, may trigger drastic cuts in aid to Burma from its biggest donor Japan, the ruling junta is unlikely to be moved.