News headlines in 2009, page 244
POLITICS-US: Implementing Af-Pak Strategy Is the Hard Part
- Inter Press Service

With the strategic review for U.S. goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan now complete, the administration of President Barack Obama must shift to the more difficult task of choosing and even more daunting implementing policies that seek to quell the militant insurgencies in both countries, says a new report from a think tank here known to be close to the administration.
U.S.: NGOs Oppose Nearly 100-Billion-Dollar Pledge to IMF
- Inter Press Service

A broad coalition of civil society groups, as well as some U.S. lawmakers, is fighting what they call a 'blank cheque' from the U.S. to expand funding for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
POLITICS: Where Iran Fits in the Mideast Peace Puzzle
- Inter Press Service

What is the relationship between the United States’ policy towards Iran and its performance on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, including the crucial quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
DEVELOPMENT-VIETNAM: Govt Bauxite Plan Stirs Public Worries
- Inter Press Service

While investors and their opponents argue the pros and cons of an ambitious plan to mine bauxite deposits in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, life for the tea and coffee farmers in nearby towns has already become a lot more complicated.
INDIA-US: Thorny Times Ahead Despite Nuclear Deal
- Inter Press Service

Although Manmohan Singh, the man who steered through the landmark Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal, has been voted back to power, there is little sign that his second term as prime minister will see the same geniality between the world’s two major democracies.
CLIMATE CHANGE: More Subsidies for Fossil Fuels in Recovery Plans
- Inter Press Service

Despite the economic slow down, growing numbers of world leaders are calling for urgent action on climate change while many governments used their economic stimulus packages to increase subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
FRANCE: 'Defying Rules on Arms Sales to Israel'
- Inter Press Service

French arms sales to Israel are 'in total contradiction' of European Union rules on the defence industry, the author of a new study has said.
MIDEAST: Palestinians Honour Holocaust Victims
- Inter Press Service

On a cool and overcast day, a procession of grim-faced people filed silently past pictures of heaps of skeletons piled high, of emaciated survivors with blank stares corralled behind barbed wire, barely clinging to life.
MIDEAST: Israel Threatens to Outlaw Palestinian Memory
- Inter Press Service

Israel is set to approve a radical new bill which threatens to legalise discrimination against its sizeable Arab minority for the first time.
ECONOMY: ‘‘Africa Should Seize Control of its Development’’
- Inter Press Service

Colonisation can be blamed for Africa’s underdevelopment but today Africans must take their fate in their own hands and become ambitious. The continent badly needs industrialisation but it has fallen back into the trap of merely exporting commodities because of booming prices.
Global Issues