News stories by Marcela Valente, page 5

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 09 (IPS) - Argentina has better prospects in 2013 after modest growth in 2012, thanks to an excellent grain harvest and the recovery of Brazil, its main market.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 08 (IPS) - Two corruption scandals - one homegrown and the other originating in Spain – are again highlighting the connections in Argentina between irregular investments, the misuse of environmental remediation projects for private gain, and plans that contribute to the degradation of natural resources.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 04 (IPS) - A group of Argentine paediatricians has been combining work on environmental protection and child health for more than 10 years. It appears a basic principle to apply, but the task is turning out to be increasingly challenging and complex.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 30 (IPS) - A programme launched in Buenos Aires three years ago to encourage the use of bicycles has already brought results: the use of this environment-friendly means of transport has increased fivefold in the Argentine capital.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 26 (IPS) - Although it didn't receive much media coverage, this year Argentina's justice system made strides in speeding up human rights cases, and dozens of defendants were convicted, three decades after the end of the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 21 (IPS) - Artists-in-residence, once found only in the industrialised North, can now be found throughout Latin America, which is hosting artists from different parts of the world to produce and exhibit their work. There are also opportunities for visiting artists simply to seek inspiration.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 19 (IPS) - Representatives of the Argentine state and of non- governmental organisations will be visiting prisons without prior warning, beginning next year, to prevent inmates from being tortured and abused – a problem that persists three decades after the end of the dictatorship, often with fatal results.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 13 (IPS) - Argentina is creating protected marine areas at a rate of knots. In the last 10 years, the preservation of saltwater areas has expanded, and for the first time an Atlantic ocean zone is being added to the list.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 12 (IPS) - The courtroom broke out in angry shouts and cries when judges in Argentina unexpectedly acquitted 13 defendants accused of kidnapping a young woman and forcing her into prostitution in 2002.

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 05 (IPS) - "This isn't like a tsunami, which appears all of a sudden, but a silent enemy that kills you slowly, as you breathe and drink the water," says Hugo Ozores, who lives in González Catán, a working-class district in Greater Buenos Aires.