News headlines in March 2011, page 36

On Feb. 19, the morning after Uganda's presidential elections, Michael Muhamuza called home and spoke to his cousin and his brother; a regular check-in with the family.

Women's rights campaigners are hoping for a strong turnout to public rallies set to be staged across the Islamic Republic of Iran next Tuesday, despite a government crackdown on opposition demonstrators in recent weeks.

The four-year old African Union Mission in Somalia is fighting a desperate defensive action in support of a transitional government that is 'corrupt and inept', according to the International Crisis Group

Although the ratification of a new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) with the United States is considered a top priority for the Medvedev administration, experts are debating whether such an agreement could threaten to reduce Russian military power in the future.

Security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, Cote d'Ivoire's disputed president, have shot dead at least six women at a demonstration in support of his rival, Alassane Ouattara, witnesses said.

The rebel forces fighting to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power are slowly moving towards the Libyan leader’s bastions in the cities of Sert and Tripoli. Ordinary citizens are responding to the call to arms, even though they have no weapons.

Brazil, firmly opposed to a militarisation of the crisis in Libya and in favour of negotiated solutions without foreign intervention, is heading to a Mar. 7-8 meeting with India and South Africa on the unrest in the Arab world, and Libya in particular.

In 1945, more than half a century ago, the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco wrote women's equality into its canon, creating an indisputable commitment to gender equity in the post-World War global order.

The irrepressible Hollywood comedian and celebrated movie director Woody Allen once jokingly remarked that the 1917 Russian Revolution erupted when the serfs discovered that 'czar' and 'tsar' were one and the same autocratic monarch they hated.

More than 50 years of conflict between Cuba and the United States, and in particular Washington's consistent support for dissidents in this Caribbean island nation, will leave their mark on the trial of U.S. citizen Alan Gross that began this Friday.