News headlines in 2009, page 96

As India struggles to lower one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, activists and experts are calling for a revision of polices aimed at 'institutionalising' deliveries in resource-poor rural settings and phasing out the 'dai' or traditional birth attendant (TBA).

Well before 1.7 million voters trooped to 1,485 polling stations on Oct. 10 to elect the 55 members of the Southern Provincial Council, it was a foregone conclusion that President Mahinda Rajapakasa would easily lead his United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government as the clear winner.

Pressure has been building on the U.N. Security Council to address the impact of the Gaza war on civilians in advance of its meeting Wednesday to discuss the Middle East.

Just days after the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded Barack Obama its coveted peace prize, two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy hawks launched a new group and ad campaign designed to depict the president as weak and defend the more aggressive policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

A growing new market for human organs has prompted the United Nations and the Council of Europe to call for an international convention to regulate the sale of body parts, mostly kidneys and livers, in transplant surgery worldwide.

The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction crisis despite 17 years of national and international efforts since the great hopes raised at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

U.S. national security officials, concerned that President Barack Obama might be abandoning the strategy of full-fledged counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, are claiming new intelligence assessments suggesting that al Qaeda would be allowed to return to Afghanistan in the event of a Taliban victory.

Numerous research institutes and international organisations agree that climate change will in the short and medium term worsen Africa's agriculture and food production capabilities, unless greenhouse gases emissions (GHE) are substantially reduced and adequate trade and investment policies put in place.

For generations, Pakistan's southern Waziristan region has been a launching pad for insurgent military operations in Afghanistan

Obama's greatest strength derives from the hope he arouses for a better world, one with more solidarity and justice. This is not a new utopia. Today it is possible to take a major step forward, like those taken during other crucial periods of history, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.