News headlines in 2009, page 373

A pillow, a belt, a child's school bag and pages of a torn copy of the Quran lie in the wreckage of the Al-Da'aa family home in Zeitoun, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. Twenty-four members of the family were killed when an F-16 fighter jet dropped a bomb on their house. Nine bodies still lie under what is now just a massive pancake of concrete, metal wires and death.

Tens of thousands of houses inside the Gaza Strip were destroyed by air strikes and artillery during Israel's recently concluded military campaign. Areas along Egypt's border with the hapless enclave, meanwhile, have not been immune from the devastation.

As billions of people around the world tuned in to participate electronically in Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, the message of hope that he symbolised resonated with Pakistanis - though some shrugged it off as part of a system that is unlikely to change.

As much of the world jubilates in the swearing in of Barack Hussein Obama as the President of the United States of America, Indian diplomats are uneasy about what his presidency would entail for relations between the two countries.

Thailand’s plans to contain the spread of the deadly avian influenza virus must involve the tens of thousands of Burmese migrant workers employed in this country’s poultry industry, say experts.

When Israel went on a military rampage during its 22-day air strikes and artillery attacks on Gaza, it largely singled out residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools and U.N. buildings on the pretext of targeting Hamas fighters.

Speaking before a record crowd estimated at between two and three million people at his inauguration here Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama promised a foreign policy of 'humility and restraint' and 'greater cooperation and understanding between nations'.

Arab Israeli lists Balad and Ta'al might not be allowed to take part in the upcoming elections. Last Monday, representatives from all major parties voted for the exclusion of the lists. Danny Hershtal, candidate of main instigator Yisrael Beitenu explains why his party considered such a move necessary.

When Odaly Aroche set out from the mountains of Topes de Collantes in central Cuba to see what other women farmers were doing in San Andrés, 380 km west of her home, her neighbours told her she was crazy. But that didn’t stop her.

A visit to India by a delegation of civil society activists from Pakistan as part of a ‘peace offensive’ is expected to help keep the two South Asian neighbours from going to war over the Nov. 26-29 terror attacks on Mumbai city.