News headlines in 2011, page 75

A coalition of 29 international human rights organisations is appealing to the 193-member General Assembly to act 'immediately' to help halt the unbridled violence in Syria which has claimed the lives of over 3,000 people, mostly civilians, since the political protests began last March.

U.S. presidents seeking a second term are not known for taking risks in foreign policy in election years.

Brazil is keen to take part in the international effort to expand access to medicines and to produce its own drugs, and will start by becoming the world supplier of medicines to treat Chagas disease.

I came across an anti-Gaddafi demonstration for the first time in February 2011 in Baghdad’s Tahrir square. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — Tunisia’s former ruler - had left the country a few weeks ago and then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak would be ousted only a few days later. In the framework of the 'Arab spring', angry Iraqis were also protesting against their corrupt government and the lack of opportunities.

The bill to establish a National Truth Commission in Brazil, which has made it through the lower house of Congress and is now in the Senate, is considered at least a start in clarifying, and preventing a repetition of, the abuses committed during the country's 21-year dictatorship.

Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after National Transitional Council fighters overran loyalist defences in Sirte, the toppled Libyan leader's hometown and final stronghold.

As he sits in a New York jail cell awaiting sentencing on a racketeering conviction, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke has all the time in the world to reflect on the role he played in the downfall of at least two prominent Jamaican politicians, none more so than Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Wild cotton in Mexico has been contaminated with genetically modified material, posing a risk to biodiversity, experts say.

Many workers' cooperatives are struggling to stay afloat and need increased public support, said experts gathered at the 2011 International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in Montreal.

Thousands of Greeks, furious at the government's austerity measures, gathered outside parliament in the capital Athens, as the second day of a general strike and mass protests began.