News headlines in 2009, page 92

'I don’t think I will ever miss the old home; it never protected us from floods and storms!' said Dadi Ibrahim, a widow. Her only association, she said, with her dilapidated hut is the 'fond memories' of living there with her late husband.

Brazil, a major source of migrants since the 1980s, is now working at recognising and supporting the rights of the three million Brazilians who are scattered among over 100 countries.

A top U.N. expert on human rights law called Monday for governments to match their words with deeds and make good on promises to respect indigenous communities' right to live as they wish.

Activist groups that have long urged a tougher U.S. policy toward Khartoum praised the new 'comprehensive approach' toward Sudan announced here Monday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even as they expressed concern that it will not be fully implemented.

How countries can develop and provide key services to their citizens while acting responsibly in limiting emissions is a balancing act for many Asian countries, including those in the Mekong region.

Self-appointed guardians of public morality are invoking an ancient instrument of Islamic jurisprudence against those whose ideas they deem immoral or heretical - or simply to gain fame.

Over three decades ago a 14-year-old girl, her sister and a group of young teenagers from Bukwo headed to the River Amana for a ceremony that would change their lives forever.

Far from looking at climate change as a distant theoretical issue for scientists and environmentalists to dissect, countries that share the Mekong River would do well to realise that it is first and foremost a development issue that threatens to affect food, environment and everyday lives.

The finding by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that the dropping of trade tariffs leads to jobs being lost in the formal sector while informal jobs grow is another confirmation of the adverse consequences of forced trade liberalisation.

Globalisation and trade liberalisation policies have led to the privatisation of water and biodiversity and the concentration of land ownership in India, reversing six decades of land reform and introducing a new form of corporate zamindari -a feudal land tenure system- through instruments like "special economic zones", writes Vandana Shiva, an author and international campaigner for women and the environment.