The wind was ripping the tiles off the roof of her house, her father-in-law felt his body trembling to the bone, and her husband tried to protect her with a table propped up by mattresses, but as she lived through the worst moment of her entire life, Cuban teacher Gladis San Jorges could think of only one thing: 'Oh God, the school! The school!' she cried.

The man dubbed 'Canada's Hugo Chavez' is in the hot seat again.

The war on Gaza is widening. Not so much on the battleground inside Gaza as inside Israeli society. The Israeli army continues the battering of Hamas, but on another front Israelis are firing on their own democracy -- and from within the very halls of democracy itself.

As tensions between Pakistan and India continue to see-saw, citizens in both countries are stepping up efforts for peace through initiatives ranging from a cross-border signature campaign to seminars and personal efforts.

While in a farewell press conference Monday George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency, particularly his foreign-policy record, will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good.

Impoverished Nepal has dramatically reduced maternal mortality cases from 540 per 100,000 live births in 2001 to the present 280 -- a feat experts attribute chiefly to the legalisation of abortion.

The Bolivian government of Evo Morales enjoyed a third consecutive year of strong economic growth in 2008, but business leaders warn that the drop in commodity prices will hurt export revenues and lead to a rise in unemployment in the months to come.

Declassified U.S. documents show that the CIA and former U.S. ambassadors were fully aware, as far back as 1990, that the military in Colombia -- the third largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel and Egypt -- were committing extrajudicial killings as part of 'death squad tactics.'

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who admits he is 'very frustrated and deeply anguished' about the grave military and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is leaving on a grim peace mission to the Middle East, including visits to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait.

Peruvian prosecutors and police have busted a ring of active and retired Peruvian navy intelligence agents who moonlighted as telephone tapping experts allegedly engaged in spying.