News feeds

MEXICO CITY, Jun 17 (IPS) - The number of Cuban migrants intercepted in Mexico climbed from 254 in 2002 to 1,359 in 2007. And nearly 1,000 were detained in the first four months of this year alone -- the visible face of a people smuggling business that apparently operates in collusion with the police and other corrupt authorities.

SAN SALVADOR, Jun 16 (IPS) - The Salvadoran parliament has given its support to a "Libro de la vida" (Book of Life), which calls abortion "an abominable crime," precipitating a storm of criticism from women’s organisations that consider this blanket endorsement an evasion of serious debate on the issue.

TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 16 (IPS) - Drug trafficking, migration, high crime rates and even a supposed Iranian presence was the cocktail of concerns raised by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on his recent tour of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

MANAGUA, Jun 16 (IPS) - Civil society groups are facing smear campaigns and threats in Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, according to human rights activists and information gathered by IPS.

BARINAS, Venezuela, Jun 14 (Tierramérica) - "As far as you can see, there was not one litre of milk produced, not even an ear of corn," says José Tapia Coirán, turning with his arms outstretched, pointing to the horizon of the Venezuelan savannah dotted by trees. "Now we produce 500 litres of milk per day and we harvested one million kilos of maize."

HAVANA, Jun 13 (IPS) - The Cuban government deported a U.S. citizen accused of sexually abusing a young girl in Costa Rica, less than two weeks after Washington included the Caribbean island on a list of countries that it says are not doing enough to combat child trafficking.

GENEVA, Jun 13 (IPS) - Cases of violence against trade unionists and violations of labour standards committed in Colombia were presented to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) panel of legal experts, which will instruct the Colombian state to modify its policies and will hold the government accountable, said labour representatives from that country.

ASUNCIÓN, Jun 13 (IPS) - After nearly two decades of apathy, the university student movement in Paraguay has made a comeback, demanding a law to grant them rebates on public transport fares and opposing a draft law on higher education reform.

HELSINKI, Jun 13 (IPS) - Displaced Finnish factory workers and landless peasants in Brazil have become unlikely allies in a struggle for livelihoods. They are both fighting the Finnish-Swedish forestry giant Stora Enso.

LA PAZ, Jun 12 (IPS) - Domestic workers in Bolivia, most of whom are young indigenous women from the highlands region, are about to gain access to healthcare coverage.

SAN DIEGO, California, Jun 12 (IPS) - A sinuous coil of murky water winds through the Tijuana River Valley. On each side of the U.S.-Mexican border, residents eye each other warily, caught in the cross-currents of political intrigue and economic polices that make the floodplain seem almost orderly by comparison.

LA PLATA, Argentina, Jun 12 (IPS) - Soledad Acevedo was an 18-year-old mother of two eking out a living by means of menial casual work in 2002 when she was sent to prison in the Argentina province of Buenos Aires, accused of armed robbery and attempted homicide. Now she is 24, and is excited as she meets with IPS in her cell.

MEXICO CITY, Jun 11 (IPS) - No one has been brought to justice for the murders of two young indigenous reporters in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in April, a case that has mobilised social activists and drawn condemnation from UNESCO.

OSLO, Jun 11 (IPS) - A new microfinance initiative has been launched in Norway.

SANTIAGO, Jun 11 (IPS) - There is growing international alarm over the arrest of Chilean filmmaker Elena Varela, who was taken into custody by police a month ago while working on an investigative documentary on the conflicts between lumber companies and the Mapuche indigenous people in southern Chile.

BARINAS, Venezuela, Jun 14 (Tierramérica) - "As far as you can see, there was not one litre of milk produced, not even an ear of corn," says José Tapia Coirán, turning with his arms outstretched, pointing to the horizon of the Venezuelan savannah dotted by trees. "Now we produce 500 litres of milk per day and we harvested one million kilos of maize."

HAVANA, Jun 13 (IPS) - The Cuban government deported a U.S. citizen accused of sexually abusing a young girl in Costa Rica, less than two weeks after Washington included the Caribbean island on a list of countries that it says are not doing enough to combat child trafficking.

GENEVA, Jun 13 (IPS) - Cases of violence against trade unionists and violations of labour standards committed in Colombia were presented to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) panel of legal experts, which will instruct the Colombian state to modify its policies and will hold the government accountable, said labour representatives from that country.

ASUNCIÓN, Jun 13 (IPS) - After nearly two decades of apathy, the university student movement in Paraguay has made a comeback, demanding a law to grant them rebates on public transport fares and opposing a draft law on higher education reform.

HELSINKI, Jun 13 (IPS) - Displaced Finnish factory workers and landless peasants in Brazil have become unlikely allies in a struggle for livelihoods. They are both fighting the Finnish-Swedish forestry giant Stora Enso.