News headlines in March 2011, page 17

When the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) imposing a no-fly zone in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya passed Thursday by a predicted 10-0, no one stopped to ask what ends the means of military force hoped to achieve.

Now that the wave of water privatisation of the 1980s and 1990s has let up, the main challenge facing water utilities in Latin America is expanding coverage of high-quality water services.

Forty-nine United Nations member-states have co-sponsored a resolution asking for a special mechanism to monitor Iran's human rights situation, which is expected to be voted later this week at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

If women like Judith Mussacula realise their aspirations to become the next generation of mozambican politicians, the country's future will be in safe hands.

Crowds have set fire to the courthouse and other buildings on a third straight day of demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.

Investing in beneficiation of raw materials is crucial for the development of the African continent. Some foreign entrepreneurs have created food-processing businesses in Africa and are making good money, despite an occasionally difficult business environment.

In the small village of Gwélékoro, 60 kilometres south of the capital, Bamako, the fields are empty now, during the dry season. After a poor harvest, farmers are worried by swiftly rising prices for staple foods like sorghum and millet.

From the outside, little has changed at the Maternal and Child Healthcare Clinic: pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers wait patiently on wooden benches. A chorus of infant call-and-response betrays the less long-suffering approach of their children to the wait.

Egyptians voted in a nationwide referendum yesterday on proposed amendments to the constitutional articles that govern the electoral process. But regardless of the outcome, political analysts are certain that the Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed throughout the 30-year rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, remains poised to be an electoral force to be reckoned with.

Long lines, orderly queues and a mostly calm and jubilant atmosphere marked Egypt's first nationwide vote since a popular uprising forced Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-time president, to step down in February, leaving the country without a constitution and under the control of an unelected military council.