News headlines in 2009, page 374

China is entering the Obama era on a defensive note. Angered by U.S. charges that its glut of savings was the root cause for the global credit bubble, Beijing has chided Washington for being ungrateful and hinted at reviewing its long-standing policy of buying U.S. debt.

Two of India’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen have raised a political storm by jarring public endorsements of controversial leader Narendra Modi as the world’s largest democracy’s next prime minister.

Hundreds of Rohingya (Burmese Muslim) refugees are feared dead after being pushed back into the sea by Thai authorities, according to human rights activists based in Thailand.

Perhaps never in human history have the hopes of so many people for positive change in international relations rested on one person as they do on Barack Obama, who is to be inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States Tuesday at noon Washington time.

Brazil expects its international standing to be bolstered by more cooperative relations with the United States under the presidency of Barack Obama, as well as a shift in Washington’s position on the issue of climate change and with respect to Cuba.

U.S. senators at Timothy Geithner's confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary Wednesday may want to ask him about a failure to act that is costing the U.S. a lot more than the amount he evaded on taxes.

At the World Social Forum 'we have tried new formulas,' like holding meetings in different regions, but 'we cannot repeat the same things every year,' said French activist Henri Rouillé d'Orfeuil, who believes the responses generated by the upcoming edition of the global meeting should effectively address the current global crisis.

Polished, clever and charismatic, Barack Obama appears the very antithesis of the bungling cowboy that his predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush was widely believed to be. That in itself helps explain why his election as the first black president of the U.S. in November delighted millions in Europe.

As an estimated two million celebrants converge on the U.S. capital for the inauguration festivities of President-elect Barack Obama Tuesday, the mood among human rights groups and some religious leaders is somewhat more sombre.

As the eagerly awaited recovery in tourism after the election violence in Kenya takes off, bad news has come in the form of corruption allegations.