News headlines in February 2010, page 25

If peace talks do ultimately begin between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban leadership, they may well follow a 'road map' to a political settlement drawn up by a group of ex-Taliban officials who have been serving as intermediaries between the two sides.

Civil liberties advocates and legal authorities struck back Friday at what they describe as the 'deliberate targeted killing of U.S. citizens far away from any active hostilities, as long as the executive branch determines unilaterally that they meet a secret definition of who the enemy is.'

Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has made a career for himself tweaking the sensibilities of government officials and developing software tools meant to disrupt the status quo.

A neighbour started calling Andrea del Sol 'Perseverance,' and the name stuck. Since 1998, she and a small group of women from Alamar, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, have been throwing their combined energies behind a common purpose: 'changing things.'

Swamps, marshes and other wetlands are beginning to be recognised as a country's 'green jewels', even in a tropical paradise like Mahé Island here in the Seychelles, with its stunning beaches and dramatic granite outcrops.

Street stalls in the centre of the Mexican capital openly display books and publications that are sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and Nazism, indicating that there is public demand for such items.

Thailand’s attempt to repatriate over 3,000 ethnic Karens who fled the conflict in military-ruled Burma last year has triggered strong local and international objections, including from 27 members of the United States Congress.

At dawn, 65-year-old Indian share farmer Gundicha Rout goes to the stone water trough in his backyard to wash his face and prepare for paddy husking. He reaches out for the water, dipping into a thin film of oil on its surface. As he swishes the water in his mouth, there is a bitter metallic taste.

The droughts in the Turkana region were less severe when she was growing up, says Laura Letapalel, and pastoralists could still find some grass and water for their animals. Now, she laments, the droughts are longer and there is nothing to eat.

Since he dropped out of elementary school, 17-year old Cenen, has been making a living for himself driving a borrowed motorised sidecar in the crowded streets of Binondo, a bustling business district in Manila, capital of the Philippines.