News headlines in March 2012, page 14

Today, weighed down with mundane concerns, Cubans seem to expect more from their own ability and initiative and far less from the impending visit of the Pope than they did from John Paul II's visit fourteen years ago, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban author and journalist whose novels have been translated into more than fifteen languages.

'Are you crazy, Fauziya?' Cecilia asked. 'You want to go back to Togo?' Cecilia Jeffrey, herself hailing from the West African country, couldn't believe her ears. Her friend and roommate Fauziya Kassinja was confessing she was ready to end her struggle to be the first woman in U.S. history to gain political asylum because she feared female genital mutilation. Later Cecilia walked out of the shower and showed Fauziya how she had been changed forever in an effort to convince her friend to change her mind, writes Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

A year ago the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was greeted with general satisfaction and considerable relief. Was it already possible to glimpse (for example, in the spectacle of the Egyptian leader being judged bedridden in a cage) the difficulties that lay ahead for North Africa and the Middle East fulfilling the promise of the "Arab Spring"? asks Joaquin Roy, 'Jean Monnet' Professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami.

China, India and South Korea - three of the most vibrant economies in Asia - are also beefing up their military arsenals with new weapons systems from the United States, Russia, Germany, France and UK.

A reproductive health advocate from the United States and a Malaysian non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in family planning and sexual health have been named this year’s recipients of the annual United Nations Population Award.

India’s proposal to set up a bank of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will top the agenda at the summit of the group in New Delhi Mar. 28.

At first sight the group of children playing in a shaded courtyard in Cote d’Ivoire’s economic capital Abidjan seem carefree. But when a defunct car exhaust blasts, they tremble. When a soldier walks past, they shudder. And they become anxious when an unknown adult approaches them.

Thousands of African refugees in Israel face expulsion to dangerous conditions in their countries of origin as Israel hardens its policies. The refugees are increasingly turning to protest.

Rani Murthy, a public officer who lives in Plaines Wilhems, central Mauritius, wakes at three every morning to wait for the water tanker from the Central Water Authority so that she can collect water for cooking and household chores.

Margaret Gamedze earns a living doing laundry for people in her community in Msunduza Township, which lies about a kilometre outside Swaziland’s capital city of Mbabane. But since the country’s fiscal crisis began, she no longer earns enough to pay the rent for her one-roomed mud shack, which she shares with her five children.