WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (IPS) - When U.S lawmakers departed Washington for a month-long recess, they left behind a simmering debate over what to do about the tens of thousands of Central American children and adults that continue to cross the U.S. southern border.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 14 (IPS) - Davi Kopenawa, the leader of the Yanomami people in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, who is internationally renowned for his struggle against encroachment on indigenous land by landowners and illegal miners, is now fighting a new battle - this time against death threats received by him and his family.

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (IPS) - Civil society groups are split over a decision by the U.S. government to waive sanctions on Myanmar's timber sector for one year.

SONOMA, California, Aug 14 (IPS) - Argentina has now taken the U.S. to The Hague for blocking the country's 2005 settlement with the bulk of its creditors. The issue underscores the need for an international mechanism for nations to go bankrupt.

u, Aug 14 (IPS) - A veteran women's rights activist, Patricia Brownell was still taken aback by the prevalence of abuse against older women she discovered during dozens of conversations she and her colleagues had with victims.

NAIROBI, Aug 14 (IPS) - Beatrice Njeri had just come home from her job as a janitor at a primary school in Nairobi. It was August 2009.

JUBA, South Sudan , Aug 14 (IPS) - Another deadline has passed. But instead of bringing about peace, the leaders of South Sudan's warring parties have allowed the country to continue its slide toward famine.

YAOUNDE, Aug 14 (IPS) - In Cameroon's Northwest Region, Judith Muma walks 9km from her home to her 300-square-metre farm. The vegetables she grows here are flourishing thanks to the money she has borrowed from her njangi (thrift group) and a local credit union to finance a small artisanal irrigation scheme.

LIMA, Aug 14 (IPS) - The leading mining companies in Peru have brought a rash of lawsuits to fight an increase in the tax they pay to cover the costs of inspections and oversight of their potentially environmentally damaging activities.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 13 (IPS) - As the dust - and the gunpowder - settles after the month-long devastating conflict in Gaza, there were apparently no victors or vanquished.