News headlines in 2009, page 345

While the bushfires which ravaged parts of the state of Victoria earlier this month - the most devastating in the nation’s history - are not being blamed directly on the effects of climate change, it is clear that global warming was indeed a factor.

Antonio and Héctor Cerezo, whose parents have been accused by the Mexican authorities of founding a guerrilla group, walked free out of prison this week after serving seven-and-a-half year sentences. According to human rights organisations, they were victims of state revenge.

Praise by the U.S. State Department for Sunday's referendum in Venezuela suggests that President Barack Obama is hoping to ease long-strained relations with President Hugo Chavez, according to regional experts here.

The guns have been silent for 10 years across what was Yugoslavia, but more than 130,000 violent deaths still cast a long shadow on the region.

Israel is bracing for a wave of lawsuits accusing the Jewish state of substantial human rights violations during its 22-day military assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and nearly 5,000 wounded, more than half of them civilian.

The average income in the Kyenjojo district in western Uganda is less than a dollar a day. Spending twice that on a single sanitary pad is an unaffordable luxury for most women.

Young people took to the streets of Pristina well before midnight brought in the 17th of February and the first anniversary of Kosovo's declaration of independence. They yelled and danced, waving the Albanian and occasionally the U.S. flags.

CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander General Ray Odierno have submitted assessments of Iraq combat troop withdrawal plans to President Barack Obama based on the premise that his 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to 'security gains' than the 23-month plan they favour.

Almost three months after the terrorist attacks on India’s commercial hub of Mumbai, which soured relations between India and Pakistan, the prospect for renewed cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours looks dim, two eminent analysts from the region conceded at a policy dialogue here.

This week, two high-level U.S. Congressional delegations are setting out for Syria to meet with President Bashar Al Assad. The trips are seen as a precursor for engagement with Syria, but the extent of possible diplomatic deal-making is still in question.