ECUADOR: Correa, Another Bolivarian Socialist

At his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Ecuador's new president, Rafael Correa, defined his government as Bolivarian, called for "21st century socialism", emphasised the need for South American integration and urged the region's governments to join forces in order to restructure public debt.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Poverty in Botswana Persists Despite Growth

Despite Botswana’s high rate of economic growth over the past two decades, it is unlikely that the country will halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015. However, significant progress has been made towards halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: The Importance of Giving the WSF an African Flavour

This year will mark the first occasion on which an African country, Kenya, is serving as sole host of the World Social Forum (WSF) - a gathering which had its beginnings in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre seven years ago.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Urges Bush to Close Guantanamo

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Thursday for the United States to shut down its widely condemned prison complex in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military has locked up hundreds of foreign citizens on suspicion of links to terrorism.

ECONOMY: Global Downturn Linked to Faltering Dollar

The world economy is expected to slow this year after three consecutive years of historically high growth, according to a new United Nations report issued Wednesday.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: The Struggle Continues for Mozambican Women

The contradictions in Maria’s life are typical of many women in Mozambique.

JAPAN: Cutting Aid According to Clout

Japan, bent on becoming a significant regional player in Asia, is shaping its overseas development aid (ODA) budget to improve the country’s global visibility and meet strategic interests in the new fiscal year that begins April 2007, according to foreign ministry officials.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: From the Burkinabe Countryside to Italian Tomato Fields

For Mady Daboné, Europe beckons. "Staying here...is misery," the 30-year-old from the village of Begdo in eastern Burkina Faso told IPS, adding that several of his friends were already abroad. "I have about twenty of them in Italy and Spain. They have all done well, even though they suffered at the beginning."

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Argentina’s (Economic) Growing Pains

Just five years ago, Argentina collapsed. But it was able to curb the slide into the abyss and soon became one of the leaders of economic growth in Latin America, with major improvements in employment and income distribution and a decline in poverty levels.

HEALTH-BURKINA FASO: Wells and Toilets Make Bad Neighbours

Alexis Kaboré, a resident of the suburb of Pissy in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, is not connected to the potable water network of the National Office of Water and Sanitation (Office national de l'eau et de l'assainissement, ONEA): he simply can't afford to do so on his salary, even though the costs of the link have come down.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM-EL SALVADOR: Multinational Capital on the Offensive

International financial consortia have already squeezed local shareholders out of banks in El Salvador, and now they are expected to sideline the state, all of which will contribute to widening the gap between rich and poor.

LATIN AMERICA: The Challenge of Gauging Progress Towards MDGs

Almost halfway to the deadline for meeting the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), some of the targets are still out of reach of many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. And there is another challenge: strengthening statistical capacity to measure progress.

WEST AFRICA: From Desertification, to Migration, to Conflict

It has been three years since Brahima Ouédraogo, a small-scale farmer from Burkina Faso, arrived in a little village in the Tabou region of south-western Côte d'Ivoire with his family, in search of arable land.

COMMUNICATIONS: Developing Countries Set the Standards

Developing countries led by India, China, Brazil are now taking the lead in setting global standards in the rapidly transforming telecommunications sector due to convergence of hitherto separate communications and entertainment services, says Hamadoun Toure, the new secretary general of the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Recovery Skewed by Sectarian Strife

Mohideen Ajeemal is determined to put the dark days of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami, which claimed two of his children, behind him.

ENVIRONMENT: Indoor Air Pollution – Silent Killer of Women

Women and young girls coughing and choking as they cook food over traditional stoves that burn wood, leaves or dung is a common a sight in poor homes across Asia, Africa and Latin America. But no one notices the deleterious effects.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Rural Women in Need of a Helping Hand

From morning, Thérèse Allangba starts checking on members of the Cooperative of Women Farmers of Marahoué (Coopérative des femmes exploitantes agricoles de la Marahoué, COOFEEAMA), based in Bouaflé, capital of the Ivorian region of Marahoué. These women work in teams of five to supply leading markets with food.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Growth and Redistribution, Lula’s Big Tasks

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began his second term in office on Monday, postponing the final answer as to whether he will successfully live up to the challenge of going down in history not merely as the former steelworker who won the presidency in 2002 and was reelected in October by a wide margin.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Island Populations Thinning Out From Migration

''Hi all; just to let you know that I will be leaving end of this week and migrating to Australia in early February. This is just a small farewell note to you all.''

BENIN: Cotton at the Heart of the Economy – and of Desertification

Cotton production forms a key part of the Beninese economy. However, Armande Zanou-Aivodji - point person for desertification in the Ministry of the Environment - says this production is also leading to soil degradation in the West African country. IPS talked to her about this concern, and the dangers posed by desertification in general.

ENVIRONMENT-WEST AFRICA: The Arteries of the Niger River Clogged

The Niger river snakes through nine countries in West Africa before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. It is an epic 4,200 kilometres in length, provides sustenance to millions of people - and has trouble brewing at its source.