News headlines in December 2008, page 10

A region that has enthusiastically embraced free market economics since the collapse of state socialism is facing new socio-economic and political challenges.

As Internet usage grows in communist Vietnam, fostering a vibrant community of bloggers, the government is looking at ways to regulate blogs, particularly those that tend to be political rather than personal.

Eighteen months after Hamas evicted Fatah forces from Gaza, the prospects for restoring Palestinian unity are more elusive than ever, with both factions believing that time is on their side, according to a new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released Wednesday.

The improved security in Iraq has had benefits for everyone there. This has included fewer Iraqi civilian deaths, U.S. casualties, and, says a new report, journalists.

U.S. military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they plan to violate a central provision of the U.S.-Iraq withdrawal agreement requiring the complete withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops.

Should the amount of aid that African countries receive from Europe be linked to their efforts to prevent their nationals moving to this continent?

Quietly and inconspicuously, Aymara indigenous traders are combining pre-Columbian traditions and modern-day survival skills to find unique ways of creating wealth and sustenance beyond the confines of textbook economic theory.

With the sun glistening on waves that gently lap its clean sandy beaches and coral reefs, Hikkaduwa is the perfect tourist paradise. But there is one thing missing --tourists.

As the global financial crisis evolves, more and more migrants will lose their jobs. Because migrants are a key component of the workforce in both developed and developing countries, addressing their plight is a major concern, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

With talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his opposition yielding few resolutions to the political deadlock, some observers are calling for outside-the-box thinking beyond the parametres laid out in negotiations.