News headlines in May 2011, page 26

Two of the country’s main religious-political groups have been calling on Pakistanis to come out and protest the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, but the public response has been lukewarm.

Egypt is stepping up its wheat production in a bid to stem the country’s rising dependence on foreign imports that escalated during the 30-year rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February.

Better living through using far fewer material resources is the only possible future, experts agree. Humanity is pressing up against the limits of a finite planet to provide resources like water, oil, metals and food, according to a new report released Thursday.

Upstairs in halls where the conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is being held, all the right things were being said about the misery of poverty and the virtue of opportunity and development. Several floors below, what are called ‘market forces’ were at work.

Crate loads of lush ripe mangos are stacked up, a sweet fragrance filling the air. Factory workers wait for their instructions, decked out in protective coats, rubber boots and hairnets. As they see each other kitted out for the first time, they break into giggles. This is a big week for Sierra Leone as its first fruit- processing plant goes into production.

Though the Arab Spring has heralded newfound hope and optimism across the Middle East, the mood has darkened considerably as entrenched governments have fought back viciously against democratic opposition.

In the wake of anti-government protests by the opposition and youth activists in Baku, Azerbaijan, authorities have arrested and detained scores of demonstrators and journalists in deplorable and inhumane conditions.

Spring has come early this year to the Arab world. Climate change has awakened the once comatose Middle East from the stupor of singular leaderships. A new dawn of democracy and freedom is sprouting from Morocco to Oman. Or so we are told.

Afghanistan, once described as the graveyard of empires, is ranked number one as the country with the most 'significant rise' in civilian deaths last year, turning it into a veritable killing field, according to a new report by the London-based Minority Rights Group International (MRG).

In Panama's largest cities, minors under 18 not under supervision of an adult must be off the streets after 9:00 p.m. The juvenile curfew law means some spend several days behind bars until someone shows up to pay the fine.