News headlines in 2011, page 73

In a decision promptly denounced by Republicans, President Barack Obama announced here Friday that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the Christmas holidays in late December.

While a growing number of influential voices here and in the region insist that the nearly 20-year, U.S.-sponsored 'peace process' has reached its terminal phase, the administration of President Barack Obama remains committed to reviving direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Economic status, education, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition and the environment determine the level of health of persons, communities or countries, and so does the extent to which rights are enjoyed or denied.

The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) began a wide process of consultation among its members this week with a view to an upcoming national conference charged with charting policies on issues that range from generational renewal and the internal functioning of the party to dealing with corruption and other social problems.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the most desperate human rights situations in the world.

The polls all point to a crushing first-round victory for Argentine President Cristina Fernández in Sunday's elections, due to her administration's successful social and economic policies and the wave of sympathy she received after her husband's death, analysts say.

For millennia, people have coped with drought in the Horn of Africa, comprised mainly of drylands. Yet today, more than 13 million people there are starving because of political instability, poor government policies and failure to invest in the world's poorest people, say experts here in Changwon.

Scepticism about the U.S. allegation of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador has focused on doubts that high-level Iranian officials would have used someone like used car salesman Monssor Arbabsiar to carry out the mission.

With six weeks to go before the presidential and parliamentary elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, civil society organisations say the elections will not be fair, as many doubt the ability of the country’s electoral authorities to ensure transparency.

The visual impact is harsh: flattened hills, valleys full of mud, and kilometres and kilometres of bulldozed land - the modification of nature in Brazil's semiarid Northeast region is disturbing due to the enormous dimensions involved.