News headlines in 2010, page 384

Sudan is at a crossroads. Its future looks grim. 'Only a miracle can save it from disintegrating. The signs are already on the wall,' says Khamis Lako, a petty trader in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

New York City recently hosted its first Cuban band in five years, after the group Septeto Nacional became the first to win a visa that allowed it to accept a booking there.

Marjorie Louis was sitting in her kitchen eating dinner when she felt the house shaking, but she didn't get up.

Rosemarie Tintin's black hat and veil barely concealed the sorrow on her face. She recently lost her entire family in Haiti's devastating earthquake and the only place she could find solace was at her church.

Recent inter-factional clashes in Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp once more illustrated the fragile security situation in some of its Palestinian camps. Lebanese plans to take over security within the camps are rejected by the Palestinians.

Allegations of racism and financial impropriety have spiced up an otherwise lacklustre two-week ritual in which nominees to the European Union's executive arm are quizzed by the EU's only directly elected institution.

Egypt embarked on 'neo-liberal' economics more than three decades ago reorienting its socialist-oriented policies towards those of the 'free market.' Now, however, many critics call the strategy a failure and blame it for the country's rampant poverty and unemployment.

The declining snow cover and receding glaciers in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir could trigger renewed hostilities between India and Pakistan, neighbouring states in the South Asian region that are at odds on a host of issues, experts warn.

Kenya and Tanzania have recently passed anti-counterfeit laws and regulations that risk blocking legitimate generic medicines instead of fake products, which is the purported purpose of these laws. Uganda is now considering a similar bill.

Israel has long argued that Palestinians should pursue their political objectives in a non-violent way. However, several prominent Palestinian peace activists have recently been arrested and jailed for doing just that.