CARTAGENA, 18 November 2008 (PlusNews) - On the surface, the historic northern city of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast is an up-market tourist destination, with cruise boat passengers strolling through the old, walled city's maze of narrow streets as sight-seers duck into air-conditioned boutiques and cafés to escape the tropical heat.

But there is a seedier side to this travel-brochure charm. The backpacker hostels that line a picturesque street just outside the old city are in a n more...

'Three years after it was mandated, Maharashtra notifies special courts to try cases in which children are the victims, thus speeding up trials and offering children better protection.'

By Matthew Cardinale. IPS. The credit crunch is limiting college access for some students in the United States by making it more difficult for them or their parents to obtain student loans to finance the steep cost of a four-year education.
Sophomore Armando Huipe, 19, found himself with a 4,500-dollar bill to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), after he and his father were both declined for private student loans to help pay for Huipe's fall 2008 semester.

Huipe cannot register more...

By Joyce Mulama. GARISSA, Kenya, Oct 29 (IPS) - Five years after the introduction of free primary education (FPE) in Kenya, the enrolment of girls in schools continues to lag behind in Garissa, in Kenya's North Eastern region. Most communities living in the North Eastern region are nomadic and semi-nomadic, and depend on livestock for their livelihood.

'The nomadic life favours only boys to be in school. Parents force boys to go to school and the girls are required to look after the animals. more...

By Mario Osava. RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 12 (IPS) - Staying illiterate even after going to school is the plight of thousands of boys and girls in Brazil and is proof of the shortfalls of the country’s educational system, in particular in poverty-ridden areas. But the tide is beginning to turn, as can be observed among the country’s youngest children. Social indicators from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), based on 2007 data, show that schools are failing to teach 2.1 mi more...

By Bankole Thompson. DETROIT, Michigan, Nov 10 (IPS) - Last Tuesday's ascension of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States -- the first African American in history to command the White House -- sent a shock wave around the world that a political change of such magnitude could happen in a nation often traumatised by racism. But observers and civil rights deputies see Obama as simply the product of a dream made public on Aug. 28, 1963, before the March on Washington whe more...

By Milagros Salazar. IPS News. Legislative decree 1090, which modifies Peru's forest policy, is worrying U.S. trade authorities because it contravenes environmental clauses of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is to enter force between the two countries in January 2009.
The decree, which in June amended the Forestry and Wildlife Act, leaves 45 million hectares -- or 60 percent of Peru’s jungles -- out of the Forestry Heritage protection system -- a step that runs counter to the FTA forestry more...

By Danstan Kaunda. LUSAKA, Nov 15 (IPS) - In an attempt to drastically reduce child mortality rates and boost maternal health, the Zambian government last year allocated a substantial budget to the public health sector. This move has resulted in a notable drop in child deaths, researchers say. However, most progress has taken place in Zambia’s cities, while in rural areas health service provision has improved little.

In its 2007/2008 national budget, the Zambian health department received t more...

November 15, 2008. TORONTO - Ontario will consider collecting race-based data, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday following the release of a report recommending the statistics be gathered in the education and justice systems as part of a comprehensive effort to address the roots of youth violence. Former chief justice Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling, a former speaker of the Ontario legislature, said poverty, racism, poor housing and a culturally insensitive education system are leaving some y more...

7 November 2008 – Using sportswear to transmit anti-racist messages and imposing penalties for teams whose players are involved in racist incidents are just some of the ideas proposed by young people as part of a United Nations project to counter prejudice in and through sports.

A total of 10 ideas were presented to the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday by representatives of “Youth Voices against Racism,” an initiative of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization more...