News headlines in 2009, page 99

Thanks to fair trade, Jorge Cetz - a lemon and mango grower from the southeastern Mexican state of Campeche - has gained access to markets and organised his cooperative better. But in order to enhance results under this form of sustainable production and alternative marketing, more support is needed, he said.

A new financial mechanism to help the developing world deal with the challenges posed by climate change looms as a major hurdle on the road leading up to a United Nations summit in Copenhagen in mid-December.

A lack of political will to tackle corruption in East Timor is holding the country back, said Sebastiao Ximenes, East Timor’s Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice.

In Latin America, Brazil is the leader in the development of renewable energies, while nations like Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina are taking slow steps to change their energy mix.

It was, Malawian police say, a routine sweep for criminals at one of the country’s busiest border posts. They were looking for criminals.

A declassified U.S. State Department cable dated January 1999 blames Colombian soldiers for the killings of civilians rescued by the military operation to retake the Palace of Justice from guerrillas who had seized the building in November 1985.

Fish catches are expected to decline dramatically in the world's tropical regions because of climate change, but may increase in the north, said a new study published Thursday.

Just two months ago, many western commentators were jubilant that Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-supported head of both the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the interim Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), was making a comeback and reducing the influence in Palestinian society of the Islamist movement Hamas.

Friday's announcement that U.S. President Barack Obama had been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize barely nine months into his presidency drew an outpouring of formal congratulations from around the world, amid scepticism and speculation over whether the prize would ultimately prove an asset or liability.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is trying desperately to contain the political fallout following its decision to withdraw support for a UN report into war crimes committed in Gaza in December and January.