BUENOS AIRES, Mar 16 (IPS) - Argentine archbishop Jorge Bergoglio was selected as pope at a time when the Roman Catholic Church in this South American country is facing a rebellion by priests and laypersons who reject the role of the church leadership during the 1976-1983 dictatorship and the lack of reparations for past omissions and complicities.

SAN JOSE, Mar 15 (IPS) - Although there is plenty of speculation about what will happen now President Hugo Chávez is gone, the likelihood of change in Venezuelan politics and society is low.

WASHINGTON, Mar 15 (IPS) - President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled a broad new proposal to step up U.S. research into renewable energy technologies, particularly in transportation, which is responsible for around 70 percent of the United States' oil use.

BOGOTA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez played a key role in the current attempt to negotiate peace in Colombia. Along with Cuban President Raúl Castro, he confidentially urged the FARC guerrillas to agree to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos's secret proposal for peace talks.

KAMPOT, Cambodia, Mar 15 (IPS) - Dotted with rice fields flanked by palm trees, Cambodia's southeastern province of Kampong Speu is nothing short of picturesque.

But behind the idyllic exterior is an on-going struggle to turn this region's natural beauty into a global attraction and improve the lot of poor local farmers, as the neighbouring beachside Kampot province did just three years ago.

GENEVA, Mar 15 (IPS) - Scientists gathered in Geneva for the first High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy (HMNDP) in over 30 years have identified data collection and sharing as some of the main challenges to effective prevention of drought. Clear goals and strong political will are vital to building policies at the national level, they say.

MOUNT DARWIN, Zimbabwe, Mar 15 (IPS) - "Ten reasons why women must vote ‘Yes' for the draft constitution…" says the Constitution Select Committee's campaign radio jingle that plays over the airwaves in a grocer's store at Mukumbura border post business centre on Zimbabwe's northeastern border with Mozambique.

GOMA, Mar 15 (IPS) - On the way to his fields, Denise Mambo, a resident of Kitshanga, North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, stops at a rope laid across his path.

ROME, Mar 15 (IPS) - No one would expect a Pope elected by an extremely conservative conclave to implement revolutionary reforms within the Catholic Church. Still, many see in the newly elected Pope Francis some signs of change.

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 14 (IPS) - The selection of a Latin American pope, who is known for his austere lifestyle and his work with the poor, has created a stir among Catholics in the region, who are confident that Pope Francis will help bolster the Vatican's tarnished reputation.