IPS Inter Press Service

HANOI, Dec 19 (IPS) - As Internet usage grows in communist Vietnam, fostering a vibrant community of bloggers, the government is looking at ways to regulate blogs, particularly those that tend to be political rather than personal.

WINDHOEK, Dec 18 (IPS) - As southern Africa braces for the negative effects of climate change, calls for integrated water resources management become more strident.

KHARTOUM, Dec 18 (IPS) - Sudan is hoping to use foreign cash to reinvigorate its under-performing agricultural sector, but there is growing disagreement over the extent to which outsiders, rather than local farmers, should be taking control of the industry.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 (IPS) - Developing countries will be able to share best practices for development more efficiently via the newly created South-South Human Development Stock Exchange (SS-HDSX), as social entrepreneurs meet up with potential social investors on this online platform.

EL ALTO, Bolivia, Dec 18 (IPS) - Quietly and inconspicuously, Aymara indigenous traders are combining pre-Columbian traditions and modern-day survival skills to find unique ways of creating wealth and sustenance beyond the confines of textbook economic theory.

HIKKADUWA, Dec 18 (IPS) - With the sun glistening on waves that gently lap its clean sandy beaches and coral reefs, Hikkaduwa is the perfect tourist paradise. But there is one thing missing --tourists.

MELBOURNE, Dec 18 (IPS) - As the Rudd government continues to speak of the need to balance concerns for civil liberties with maintaining intrusive counter-terror legislation to protect Australia, rights groups are stepping up their campaign against the laws.

SAN JOSÉ, Dec 17 (Tierramérica) - Costa Rica is hoping for a big jump in its Clean Trips (Viajes Limpios) programme, which allows air passengers to offset the climate-changing gas emissions from their airplane flights by paying for activities that preserve the country's forests.

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (IPS) - With the Six Party Talks to denuclearise North Korea once again on the ropes and the world reeling from a deepening financial crisis, the United States is looking to China for help.

PENANG, Dec 17 (IPS) - Dozens of cyclists promoting workers' rights are on an extraordinary odyssey across the country, scheduled to climax with the handing over of memorandums in Parliament on Thursday.

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil, Dec 16 (IPS) - Concern over the social impact of the global economic crisis dominated the discussions at the Mercosur Summit on Tuesday, but economic proposals by some presidents underscored their ideological differences.

LISBON, Dec 16 (IPS) - "Portugal does not own the European Union’s strategy for Africa, but we do feel a special affection for that continent and recognise that our relationship with them is unlike that with any other region in the world."

COTONOU, Dec 16 (IPS) - One of Africa's main challenges is ensuring that constitutions reflect a consensus amongst all sectors of the population, including vulnerable groups such as women, are rarely taken into account in constitutional strengthening initiatives.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (IPS) - By tabling two of three reform bills, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has shown his hand and, not surprisingly, both have run into strong opposition within and outside parliament.

MANILA, Dec 16 (IPS) - Three years after Marlene Esperat was shot dead in her living room, she continues to symbolise the plight of journalists in the Philippines who are increasingly being victimised or murdered in a country which prides itself on having a free press.