Crowds gathered in the small community of El Mozote to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accords that ended El Salvador´s 12-year-long civil war. Rural El Mozote, the site of a 1981 massacre, was offered reparations and economic health, as well as protected historical status.
Gang leaders in El Salvador declared an unprecedented truce that authorities say has cut the homicide rate in half in just four months. In March, rival gangs surprised the country by releasing a joint statement declaring an end to violence and pledging to freeze recruitment of new adolescent members, especially in poor neighborhoods and around schools. Since then, the change has been dramatic.
As of Thursday, donations to Myanmar relief totaled $25 million from 28 nations, the European Union and charities, with another $25 million pledged by donors. Friday the Gates Foundation added $3 million and Japan, $10 million.
Relief efforts by aid agencies have reached around one million people in Myanmar, just over 40 percent of those affected by the cyclone, according to the United Nations (not counting aid distributed by the Government).
Nineteen political prisoners, including allies of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and five Buddhist monks, have been freed in military-ruled Myanmar as part of a general amnesty, an exile group said on Sunday.
One of the world's rarest turtle species – the Arakan forest turtle – has been observed for the first time in the wild by scientists according to a new report by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Previously known only by museum specimens and a few captive individuals, research scientists discovered five of the light brown […]
Myanmar's government signed a cease-fire agreement today with rebels in a major step toward ending one of the world's longest-running insurgencies, part of efforts by Myanmar's new civilian government to embarked on democratic reforms after years of military repression.
Myanmar set free dozens of political prisoners Monday in an amnesty that coincided with the historic visit of US President Barack Obama.
A small bird thought to have been extinct and not seen in 73 years was overheard and recorded by scientists while surveying the grasslands of Myanmar.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which opened in January 2007 in South Africa to provide educational opportunities for gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds, celebrated its first graduating class Saturday. 72 girls of graduating age filed onto the stage, all wearing white dresses, to cheers and tears from Oprah herself, who'd invested $40 million to give them a safe haven and opportunities undreamed of before.
Pop star Lady Gaga launched her new foundation with some powerful friends at Harvard Wednesday, a non-profit charity whose mission is to "foster a more accepting society and help youth challenge meanness and cruelty.
Oprah Winfrey is donating $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture -- the museum's largest donation to date. In recognition, Winfrey's name will be on a 350-seat theater in the museum, which is currently under construction and set to open in 2015.