News headlines in February 2009, page 13

Young people took to the streets of Pristina well before midnight brought in the 17th of February and the first anniversary of Kosovo's declaration of independence. They yelled and danced, waving the Albanian and occasionally the U.S. flags.

CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander General Ray Odierno have submitted assessments of Iraq combat troop withdrawal plans to President Barack Obama based on the premise that his 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to 'security gains' than the 23-month plan they favour.

Almost three months after the terrorist attacks on India’s commercial hub of Mumbai, which soured relations between India and Pakistan, the prospect for renewed cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours looks dim, two eminent analysts from the region conceded at a policy dialogue here.

This week, two high-level U.S. Congressional delegations are setting out for Syria to meet with President Bashar Al Assad. The trips are seen as a precursor for engagement with Syria, but the extent of possible diplomatic deal-making is still in question.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s upcoming maiden trip to China this week has raised both expectations and apprehensions in Beijing.

Since being elected to office five months ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has often declared that Pakistan’s single biggest challenge stems from ‘religious’ militants.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez won Sunday's referendum with 54 percent of the vote, which will allow him to stand for reelection indefinitely. But he will have to exercise leadership over a country that is stubbornly split in two.

The first time I visited award-winning Northern Nigerian filmmaker Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama in prison, a week after his arrest, the former Kano State gubernatorial candidate seemed to be in high spirits.

With growing public support for a public investigation of crimes that may have been committed by the administration of former president George W. Bush in waging its 'global war on terror', policy makers and legal experts are deeply divided on how to proceed - and President Barack Obama seems ambivalent about whether to proceed at all.

Israel is toughening its negotiating stance with Hamas as the two try to hammer out a permanent ceasefire agreement.