News headlines in 2009, page 95

Gustavo de la Rosa, head of the Ciudad Juárez office of the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission in northern Mexico, was forced to flee to El Paso, across the border in the United States, and take refuge there for nearly a month, because of death threats related to his work.

A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations.

U.N.-supported military operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have had an 'unacceptable' cost for the civilian population, said a coalition of rights groups Tuesday.

The Peruvian government has moved to protect the armed forces and police against investigations for crimes committed in the line of duty, especially in areas convulsed by social protests or where remnants of the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas are still active.

Turkey's cooling relationship with Israel comes in tandem with its improving relations with the Arab and Muslim world, and this development is expected to impact positively on Palestinian politics.

The Sugar Protocol enabling developing world sugar farmers to produce for the European market over the past 34 years ended on Sep 30. Among these, the small island state of Mauritius built two major industries -- tourism and textile and clothing — on the back of its sugar sales.

'EU policies continue to undermine the economic, social and human development of developing countries' despite repeated commitments in treaties and declarations, a group of European NGOs said in a report published Wednesday.

'Life under the Taliban was like hell. They destroyed our school and the video shop of my father. Now we are again marching towards peace, but fears of the Taliban persist,' said 11-year-old Ayesha.

The acquittal of former President Frederick Chiluba on charges of theft after a seven-year long landmark case, and the refusal by the Zambian government to appeal, has put government and civil society on a collision course.

Reconstruction of some of Berlin's historic buildings that were damaged during World War II or by the Communist regime that earlier ruled East Germany, is raising troubling questions about Germany's past, and its future.