News headlines in March 2012, page 4

As the trial began this week of 37 alleged participants in a strike-related riot, the man who did the most to help the striking oil workers and to publicise their cause, Mukhtar Ablyazov, remained far beyond the Kazakhstan government’s grasp.

South Africa’s membership of the bloc of leading emerging economies and its unique position in Africa heralded the country’s role as a gateway into the African continent. However, trade experts question whether it can live up to this position as investors begin to increasingly look towards other African markets.

A former top state department official singled out diplomatic engagement as the best available option for ending decades of 'mistrust and misunderstanding' between Washington and Tehran.

A former top state department official singled out diplomatic engagement as the best available option for ending decades of 'mistrust and misunderstanding' between Washington and Tehran.

Weather events such as extreme temperatures and drought caused global agricultural losses of 11.4 billion dollars in 2011, while 12 million hectares of farmland are lost to land degradation every year, and unsustainable agricultural practices contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.

Analysts say that Senegal’s outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade was made to pay for his failure to respond to popular demands, particularly arising from the high cost of basic commodities, a lengthy strike by teachers, and high youth unemployment, by loosing his bid for a third term of office.

In a world where drug offences are punishable with the death penalty, torture or arbitrary detention, we must ask how far States can go to enforce the global prohibition on drugs.

China may be the country that emits the most carbon dioxide (CO2), but oil-rich Venezuela and some of its Caribbean neighbours produce more of this greenhouse gas responsible for global warming on a per capita basis.

In Tunisia, a new debate is taking shape. Long suppressed by the authoritarian regime of former President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's free expression movement for many years existed on the fringe, comprised of bloggers, software developers, media aficionados and expats whose frustration at Tunisia's Internet censorship and surveillance regime — in place for over a decade — fomented their activism.

Mali's neighbours have threatened to use sanctions and a readiness to use military force to dislodge those behind last week's coup, urging them to quickly hand back power to civilian rulers.