News headlines in 2009, page 251
POLITICS-DRC: Debate Over Truth Commission
- Inter Press Service

The search continues for the best way to expose the truth surrounding crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), not least in Ituri, in the north-east of the country, a region which where years of atrocities and massive human rights violations have gone unpunished.
CUBA: Exotic Fish Has Bad Reputation but High Yields
- Inter Press Service

Known for eating everything in its path, and even for stinging people, the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is feeding debates in Cuba while at the same time it is filling family dinner plates.
BRAZIL: Mixed Reviews for ‘Community Policing’ in Slums
- Inter Press Service

The police, who used to shoot first and ask questions later in Santa Marta, a Rio de Janeiro shantytown, are now getting on well with the local community the result of a state government plan that nevertheless has drawn criticism.
SRI LANKA: U.N. Probes Civilian Deaths as Guns Fall Silent
- Inter Press Service

The Sri Lankan government, which has claimed military victory against a 26-year-old brutal insurgency in the country's northern and eastern provinces, will be battling charges of violating humanitarian law at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva next week.
POLITICS-US: Iran Hawks Push Obama on Deadline for Diplomacy
- Inter Press Service

After an uneventful first meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that seemed to produce no real breakthroughs, hawks in the U.S. and Israel are seizing upon what they claim is a significant concession by Obama: his setting a 'timetable' for negotiations with Iran.
AFGHANISTAN: Finding a Way Out of the Crossfire
- Inter Press Service

The people of Afghanistan are increasingly caught in the cross-fire between a violent insurgency and a violent counter insurgency but does this mean the entire country is unravelling?
ASIA: Burma Gives ASEAN a Black Eye with Suu Kyi Case
- Inter Press Service

By pushing ahead with a sham trial to prosecute the country’s pro-democracy icon, Burma’s military regime appears set to shatter the credibility of the new, rules-based Southeast Asian regional bloc, of which it is a member.
MEXICO: Avalanche of Anti-Abortion Laws
- Inter Press Service

In the last 13 months, 12 of Mexico's 32 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions defining a fertilised human egg as a person with a right to legal protection, and seven other state parliaments are taking steps in the same direction.
Q&A: How an Alcohol Ban Revived an Aboriginal Community
- Inter Press Service

In 2007, a group of aboriginal women from Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia decided that the only thing that could save their community from going under was to impose a complete ban on the sales of takeaway alcohol.
KUWAIT: ‘Gender-Bender’ Election Raises Optimism
- Inter Press Service

Despite the reappointment of the Kuwaiti ruler’s nephew as premier, the results of last week’s elections - the historic victories of women candidates, and the decline of Islamist representation in parliament - are being perceived as a vote for change in the Gulf’s oldest and most vibrant democracy.
Global Issues