News headlines in 2009, page 387

A controversial but powerful newspaper editor was assassinated Thursday even before outrage and dismay had died down over the ransacking of the premises of a popular radio and TV broadcaster by masked, armed men.

The Mexican government announced a 54 billion dollar economic recovery plan Wednesday aimed at helping the local economy weather the global financial crisis, with measures like freezing gasoline prices and boosting spending on public works.

A few days after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Iranian authorities to take immediate measures to ensure the safety of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, she told IPS in a telephone interview from Tehran that police stood by and watched as her house was attacked by a mob.

Consumed by coverage of the Nov. 4 presidential election, U.S. mainstream media ignored a key Israeli military attack on a Hamas target that some Palestinians claim marked the effective end of the ceasefire between the two sides and set the stage for the current round of bloodletting.

In carefully crafted official statements, diplomats have portrayed the European Union as something of an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet even though almost all of the people killed over the past fortnight have been Palestinians, some top-ranking leaders in the 27-country bloc have tacitly offered their support for Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza.

Thousands of fishermen in Mexico have gone on strike over the last few days to protest the rise in the cost of diesel fuel which, they say, has reduced their profit margin to zero. But the industry’s problems, which have been simmering for decades, go beyond the question of fuel prices.

Thousands of fishermen in Mexico have gone on strike over the last few days to protest the rise in the cost of diesel fuel which, they say, has reduced their profit margin to zero. But the industry’s problems, which have been simmering for decades, go beyond the question of fuel prices.

It was typical of what Sri Lankan media has been facing over the years: a pre-dawn raid on a media house, employees beaten up and costly equipment destroyed. Maharaja TV, the latest victim, was also promised the routine, impartial inquiry by the government.

On any weekday evening in the heart of Kano’s Old City, the sounds of a koroso dance troupe can be heard from within the maroon walls of the Gidan Makama Museum.

Israel has committed war crimes and should be prosecuted in an international court, says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza.