News headlines in February 2009, page 18

Five weeks after India handed over a dossier to Islamabad containing detailed evidence on the Nov. 26-29 Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan has finally promised an official response, based on investigations by its Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni clung precariously to a narrow lead over her right-wing rival Benjamin Netanyahu as vote counting neared conclusion from Israel's Tuesday general election. Both would-be prime ministers continue to claim victory: 'I won,' read the headline of the country's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronot, alongside the photos of the two.

Central Asia is shaping up to be an early test of Barack Obama's foreign policy, as the increased demands of the war in Afghanistan force his administration to decide how far to accommodate or to pressure the region's autocratic governments.

It's the latest dance craze here and many artists have hopped on the bandwagon. But when the latest 'daggering' song hit the airwaves, government, broadcast regulators, civil society and others in Jamaica said enough is enough.

The United Nations Human Rights Council report on the status of human rights in Cuba reflected solid support for Havana from an ample majority of countries, but also took note of objections raised by a smaller number of governments.

The launch of a new international agency devoted solely to the promotion of renewable energy last month was applauded by many environmental groups, but left others wondering whether it is too little, too late.

Two years after the administration of President George W. Bush backed Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia, President Barack Obama is being urged to pursue a much more flexible policy toward the East African nation than his predecessor and let Somalis, including Islamist leaders who were targeted by the invasion, sort things out for themselves.

Food security experts say India must wean itself away from dependence on wheat and rice and look to the sub-continent’s rich agro-diversity in order to address the kind of food crisis that hit the country last year - as well as longer-standing nutrition deficiency issues.

Rodney Freitas, 24, is happy to see Brazilians of Japanese descent organising themselves at time when Japan’s economy is cooling down and many are in danger of losing jobs or are already unemployed.

In Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, journalists are becoming increasingly vulnerable to physical violence as a result of their work, says a U.S.-based media watchdog in a new report released Tuesday.