Anastasia Moloney

Venezuelans fleeing economic and political turmoil now face tough new border regulations in the U.S. as Joe Biden's administration tries to clamp down on a wave of migration.

Millions have left the South American nation over the last decade for countries including neighboring Colombia, Brazil and the United States.

People in Colombia who are uprooted within the country due to the impacts of climate change could receive legal recognition under a landmark climate migrant bill that this week cleared the first hurdle in Congress.

From fishing communities having to abandon their coastal villages on Colombia's Pacific Coast as sea levels rise to families losing their homes to landslides triggered by heavy rains, the draft law covers climate change-fueled displacement.

Indian High Court judge Anoop Chitkara has ruled over thousands of cases. But when he refused bail to a man accused of assault and murder, he turned to ChatGPT to help justify his reasoning.

He is among a growing number of justices using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to assist them in rulings, with supporters saying the tech can streamline court processes while critics warn it risks bias and injustice.

High gold prices are bad news for the Amazon rainforest, fueling demand for the metal and increasing illegal mining linked to deforestation and violence against Indigenous communities.

Prices for the precious metal - traditionally seen as a safe-haven investment during times of political and financial uncertainty - are close to a record high after rising above $2,000 an ounce earlier in April.

Women and girls in U.S. states from Texas to Arizona face increasing obstacles to getting abortion pills as conservative lawmakers tighten restrictions on terminations.

Reproductive rights groups say that demand for the pills has soared since the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022 removed women's nationwide rights to end their pregnancies.

When Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico and decimated the Caribbean island's power grid five years ago, the lights stayed on in one building in the mountain town of Adjuntas.

The Casa Pueblo environmental group had equipped its Adjuntas headquarters with solar panels and storage batteries - a model of green self-sufficiency that inspired the organization to launch a pioneering community-run microgrid in the town.

When Maria discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant after a one-night stand in her home country of Malta, she knew she did not want a baby and would need to find a way to bypass the European island nation's total abortion ban.

An online search led her to Women on Web, a Dutch nonprofit telemedicine service that provides abortion pills around the world. After paying 130 euros ($135), Maria - who asked not to be identified by her real name - got the medication by mail.

Colombia's bold plan to phase out the country's reliance on oil and coal revenue as part of its clean energy transition will likely take decades due to a lack of consensus and uncertainty over how to replace that cash, economists and analysts said.

Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, who took office in August, has pledged to prioritize fighting climate change and promoting renewable energy over fossil fuels.

Colombia's pledges to stem rising deforestation and protect its Amazon rainforest go "hand in hand" with the government's push to end decades of violence by negotiating with illegal armed groups, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said.

She said deforestation issues were on the negotiating table as crime gangs, drug traffickers and dissident guerilla groups seek possible peace or surrender deals under President Gustavo Petro's effort to bring "total peace" to the Andean country.

With ritual chants and plumes of smoke, an indigenous leader performed an ancient ceremony to bless the community-run fruit oil processing plant in Colombia's Amazon rainforest that locals hope will become a thriving - and sustainable - business.

Their aim is for the plant in the mountainous Putumayo province to supply cosmetics companies with oil extracted from the fruits of the lofty canangucha palm trees that grow widely in the forested home of the Inga indigenous people.