News headlines in 2009, page 64

With the exception of South Africa, most African countries criminalise same-sex relationships with imprisonment, while incidents of violence against gay women and men are poorly investigated and rarely taken to court.

West Africa is one of the world’s regions most affected by pirate fishers. Illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing has been devastating local livelihoods and ecosystems for decades. National fisheries management authorities are often helpless to protect their maritime resources.

Watching healthcare reform legislation pass through the U.S. Congress is like watching sausage get made. It is a gory and lumbering process of alliances and amendments, procedure and pandering.

An increasing number of universities and colleges across the Asian region today are running a programme called 'service-learning,' a teaching and learning strategy that has become synonymous with precisely what its name stands for.

There is more to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s pledge last week to extend at least 500 billion yen (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) in fresh assistance to the Mekong region than meets the eye, or so observers think.

After a spell of sleeping rough at the railway station, Farid has a roof over his head, by way of a small room he shares with five other students.

Unfortunately for both Afghans and Americans, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama, his counterpart in Washington, missed a chance to reset the critical relationship between their two countries and move the dialogue in an honest direction.

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo Thursday for the first stop of his four-nation trip to Asia, but an ongoing disagreement over realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, new roadblocks towards a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, and continuing tussles over climate change, trade and currency issues with China have led the White House to downplay goals for the northeast Asian legs of trip.

A major international conference on South-South cooperation is scheduled to take place early December in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi against the backdrop of a rising trend in regional economic integration in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

'At first I was embarrassed and had a hard time getting involved, but then I started relaxing. I like it a lot, because it helps me share different things with my kids,' says María José Jara, a young mother from a poor neighbourhood in this Uruguayan city, referring to an innovative and successful family literacy project.