News headlines in March 2009, page 13

In the city of Garopaba, a tourist destination on Brazil's southern coast, leftover food from restaurants will be turned into fertiliser to be used by farmers, who in turn will grow pesticide-free fruits and vegetables for snacks in the local schools.

The U.S. should stop focusing on universalising Western democracy and instead work on constructing an international order that grants full legitimacy to responsible non-democratic states, argues an influential new paper that has become widely discussed in Washington foreign policy circles.

Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers who took part in the recent war in Gaza, Israel is being confronted directly with the serious charge that permitted rules of engagement allowed for the killing of Palestinian civilians and widespread destruction of Palestinian property.

Carole is an 18-year-old student of African descent at a high school in central Paris. She is currently studying for the baccalauréat, an exam at the end of secondary school. When she graduates, she would like to leave France as soon as possible, preferably for the United States.

The critical wounding of a U.S. activist has highlighted the excessive use of force by Israeli forces.

Due perhaps in part to the country's economic woes, but also a major shift in political culture, discussion of marijuana legalisation has risen to a level of openness and prominence previously unseen in the United States.

Denying women access to political and economic power is a 'strategic waste', says Saadia Zahidi, co-author of the WEF’s Global Gender Gap (GGG) report in a telephone interview from Geneva.

Rama Yade, France’s secretary of state for human rights, is not having an easy time on a number of fronts.

Few women are visiting the mausoleum of the famous 17th century mystic poet Abdul Rehman Baba since suspected Pakistani Taliban bombed it.

The December 2006 coup, Fiji's fourth in less than 20 years, was dubbed a 'cleanup campaign' by military commander Frank Bainimarama, now Fiji's interim prime minister.