News headlines in 2009, page 369

'Obama is going to have continuous pressure from Israel to attack Iran and, in some way, their nuclear facilities, and this is going to be tied up with Gaza and Lebanon,' according to Robert Baer, a former top Central Intelligence Agency operative and the author of 'The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.'

Nearly 50,000 cases of cholera have been reported in Zimbabwe by the World Health Organisation; the death toll stood at 2,755 on Jan. 21. International and regional humanitarian organisations are working with Zimbabwean health care workers and volunteers to slow the spread of the epidemic, but human and financial resources are stretched to the breaking point.

South Africa's constitution is often celebrated for its protection of social and economic rights; but how readily can this protection be invoked by the most vulnerable?

As high-profile delegations from Pakistan visit India after the launch of a month-long cross-border signature campaign to press for resumption of dialogue between the two countries and call for peace, IPS interviewed three Pakistani women who are pushing this agenda in their own unorthodox ways.

The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last week ostensibly aimed at combating arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty.

Ireland's rejection of the European Union's Lisbon treaty has led Brussels officials to plan a major publicity campaign aimed at convincing voters that they should respond favourably to the bloc's economic, social and foreign policies.

A sharp polarisation between Israeli Arab parties and the rest is expected to mark the upcoming elections Feb. 10.

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday lifted an eight-year ban on U.S. funding for overseas family-planning groups and clinics that perform or promote abortion or lobby for its legalisation.

The purge of the Colombian army over killings of civilians passed off as guerrilla casualties continues, this time with the dismantling of an entire army brigade and the removal of 11 officers who served in another battalion.

Members of the black community in Latin America and the Caribbean hope the rise to power of Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent, will help raise awareness about the discrimination and other problems they face.