News headlines in 2009, page 343

Eighteen U.S. human rights groups Thursday joined a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a retired top diplomat in calling on President Barack Obama to appoint a non-partisan commission of leading citizens to examine and report on the treatment of detainees held by the United States during President George W. Bush's 'global war on terror.'

Despite the heavy military presence of the United States and other Western powers, Afghanistan remains the world's largest illicit producer of opium, according to a new study released by experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotics on behalf of the United Nations.

Environmental experts warn that climate change will lead to oceanic acidification and increase surface water temperatures, especially AROUND the African continent. This will affect fish stocks and, as a result, threaten the livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities.

As U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder prepared for his first trip to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next week, human rights advocates suffered a stinging defeat when a federal appeals court ruled that 17 Chinese Muslims scheduled for release from the Caribbean detention centre could not enter the U.S. and must remain in custody.

The United States is planning to send an additional 17,000 troops to one of the world's most battle-scarred nations - Afghanistan - long described as 'a graveyard of empires'.

The new president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development takes over at a time when women farmers are becoming a growing force - without a growing voice.

After eight years of the closest possible relations, the United States and Israel may be headed for a period of increasing strain, particularly given the likelihood that whatever Israeli government emerges from last week's election will be more hawkish than its predecessor.

A week after Islamabad admitted that the plot to carry out the Nov. 26-29 attacks on Mumbai was partially planned in Pakistan, and that Pakistani nationals were among the assailants, there are tentative signs that the strained relations between the two neighbours may be thawing.

Egyptians seem at best only cautiously optimistic over the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as U.S. envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is mandated chiefly with settling the Arab-Israeli dispute.

Three days ago, Jean-Charles Marchiani, a former member of the French secret services, was released from the Paris prison of La Santé where he had been serving time since May 2008. Last year, a tribunal in Paris found Marchiani guilty of influence peddling and other corruption charges involving African countries.