News headlines in June 2011, page 42

Organisations of small farmers and human rights groups are disappointed with the measures announced by the Brazilian government to address the problem of violence in the Amazon jungle region, after four environmental activists were murdered in less than a week.

The world's more than 850 million cars and small trucks are parked 20 to 22 hours a day. Why not use these vehicles more efficiently by letting other people drive them when the owners aren't, asks Robin Chase, CEO of Buzzcar, a car- sharing network to be launched shortly in France.

Time is of the essence if the implementation of a two-state solution to end the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to succeed. Changing demographics both within Israeli and Palestinian society could render this impossible, with a one-state solution the only feasible outcome.

As of July, Japanese minors will no longer be able to buy comic books featuring children portrayed as violent or as sexual objects, under an ordinance enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last December.

Egyptian officials are warning that the country, just emerging from a popular uprising that ousted the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, could be facing a major economic crisis with lagging international aid and foreign investment.

Haleh Sahabi is the latest Iranian woman to die in political violence.

Every year on Jun. 1, the People's Republic of China pulls out all the stops — hosting festivals, printing greeting cards and sponsoring public games and parades — in celebration of International Children's Day, a holiday widely acknowledged to have originated with the rise of communism and now observed primarily in communist or former communist countries.

Amid a spate of calls by U.S. lawmakers to slash aid to Pakistan in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death, an influential think tank is calling for greater patience, precision, transparency and humility in implementing Washington's 1.5-billion-dollar-a-year development aid programme.

The world is facing a 'global epidemic in need of a global effort', according to a panel of experts on tobacco control, who met at the United Nations Tuesday to commemorate World No Tobacco Day.

Organisations of small farmers and human rights groups are disappointed with the measures announced by the Brazilian government to address the problem of violence in the Amazon jungle region, after four environmental activists were murdered in less than a week.