MEDIAWATCH: Brazilian authorities under fire over flooding deaths
As the death toll rises, the media blames the authorities for failing to invest in disaster prevention
Q+A: Haitian diaspora on Haiti's reconstruction and foreign aid agencies
AlertNet asks Haitian-Americans what they think are the main challenges facing Haiti following the January earthquake, and their views about the hundreds of foreign aid agencies working there.
AlertNet's top 20 big ideas that don't cost the earth
What cheap innovations could be used to improve the lives of the poor? Here's our Top 20 list
Lack of government protection hurts Colombia's displaced
People driven out of homes by violence petition U.N. for help to pressure government to fulfill obligations to assist people
FACTBOX- Floods take heavy toll on Colombia
Facts about damage caused by months of heavy rains
Two million Colombians caught up in devastating floods
Torrential rains kill nearly 260 people, drive hundreds of thousands from homes and in total disrupt lives of almost 2 million
Donors pledge $360 million to U.N. crisis fund, short of target
Donors promise to top up U.N. humanitarian emergency fund with over $358 million next year, falling short of annual target of $450 million
Parties to Colombia conflict raped almost 15,000 women in 2001-09 - study
Armed groups carried out the bulk of the rapes, forced hundreds more into prostitution
Bribery prevalent in Colombia's private sector - survey
One of the main reasons Colombian business leaders pay bribes is to speed up paperwork - Transparency poll
Climate change seen costing Central America billions of dollars
Climate change could cost region around half its GDP over the next 90 years