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HAVANA, Apr 30 (IPS) – Workers are facing thorny questions related to productivity, wages, participation in decision-making or unemployment at a time when the government is discreetly adopting measures aimed at finally pulling the country out of an economic crisis that has dragged on for more than 15 years.

A homeless man has found confidential blueprints for New York’s new Freedom Tower dumped in a city rubbish bin.

BOGOTA, Apr    (IPS)  – “If their slogan was land, dignity and peace, this time it will be terror, murder and hell,” said a threat sent to human rights defenders and trade unionists who took part in a Mar. 6 march in homage to the victims of Colombia’s far-right paramilitary […]

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has accused President Robert Mugabe of preparing to go to war against the country’s people.

  Zimbabwe’s opposition party says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won the presidential election, releasing its own results to back up the claim.  MDC Party Secretary General Tendai Biti said Mr Tsvangirai had won 50.3% of the vote to President Robert Mugabe’s 43.8%, so avoiding a run-off.

There is “not a shred of evidence” that the Duke of Edinburgh ordered Princess Diana’s death or that it was organised by MI6, the inquest has heard. Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker said jurors could find that Diana and Dodi Al Fayed died accidentally, or because of negligence.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar (IPS)  – After taking a number of emergency measures to combat the current dengue epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, health officials in Brazil have committed themselves to investing in education and awareness-raising in the future, as the only effective means of preventing further outbreaks of the […]

MEXICO CITY, Mar (IPS)  – Billions of barrels of crude are lying under the deep seabed in the Gulf of Mexico, an area divided between Cuba, the United States and Mexico. But while the first two countries are approaching full commercial exploitation, the third is still trying to come up […]

North Korea has test-fired short-range missiles off its western coast, the South Korean government has confirmed. The tests came as Pyongyang warned that US demands over its nuclear programme could further delay its disabling of nuclear facilities as agreed last year.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — To thunderous applause from fellow lawmakers and a packed visitors gallery, the newly chosen prime minister of Pakistan on Monday immediately released the judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule last year.

Ecuador President Rafael Correa has warned of diplomatic tension if an Ecuadorean is found among the victims of a Colombian raid inside Ecuador.   Mr Correa said Ecuador would not forgive the murder of Franklin Aisalia, if he had indeed died during the raid on Farc rebels inside Ecuador.

Taiwan’s newly-elected president has pledged to establish better economic and political ties with China. Ma Ying-jeou said he would like to work towards a peace treaty with Beijing, but would only do so if China removed missiles pointed at Taiwan.

A North Canterbury man who tried to have sex with a goat told his counsel “animals could not talk” and he thought that if he used them for sexual gratification he would not get caught. The 68-year-old man, who lives on a small lifestyle block in a rural township and […]

WASHINGTON, Mar (IPS)  – U.S. President George W. Bush has made the passing of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia one of his administration’s top priorities, arguing that a failure to do so would harm U.S. national security and hurt relations with one of Washington’s few remaining allies in […]

BUENOS AIRES, Feb (IPS)  – Famed as one of the world’s leading beef producers, Argentina holds the unfortunate record for the highest incidence of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), an infectious disease caused by bacteria present in incompletely cooked foods, such as hamburgers.