News headlines in February 2009, page 16

'Dora', a young Mexican woman, was helped by another Mexican woman to cross the U.S. border in the promise of a good job there. She ended up in Texas, working in a sweatshop and not allowed to go out or even take a shower.

Shipping used to be for men. Now women are starting to be seen commanding merchant vessels, oil tankers and cruisers, 'manning' ships and operating liner engines.

Back in mid-December, many Middle Easterners were daring to hope that, with the imminent end of George Bush's presidency, their own deeply U.S.-influenced region might see a new day of peacemaking and inclusiveness in place of the recent years of war, confrontation, discrimination and distrust.

The global recession has exposed the ideological fissures at the highest level of officialdom in the European Union.

Coverage of Israel's recent war on the Gaza Strip by regional news stations has reflected longstanding political divisions within the Arab world. Qatar-based Al- Jazeera's reporting drew a particularly angry response from Egypt.

Leaders of a wide variety of national organisations and Congress are putting pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama to reconsider his predecessor's policies of allowing the use, transfer and production of weapons that have been shown to indiscriminately maim and kill civilians.

Electioneering in South Africa is in full swing. Party posters emblazon lampposts and the media has been lapping up the weekly rallies and manifesto launches as parties set out to woo voters. As in previous elections, the focus has been on party political events.

A 'one-step victory' was how a women’s rights group described a decision handed down by the Supreme Court (SC) this week on a controversial rape case involving a United States serviceman.

An experiment in international justice finally gets under way on Feb. 17 when a war crimes tribunal begins in Cambodia to prosecute the notorious jailer of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.

The strong showing by right-wing parties in Israel's elections is likely to create new obstacles to U.S. President Barack Obama's hopes for achieving a swift and substantial progress, if not a breakthrough, in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to most experts here.