News headlines in April 2009, page 10

The United Nations racism conference regained its momentum Tuesday with the approval of the final declaration, leaving behind the unpleasantness of the first day, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a divisive opening speech.

In a spirit of South-South Cooperation Asian NGOs must take the lead from international and western NGOs working in war-torn Sri Lanka and across Asia, as they understand the local dynamics and culture much more deeply than anyone else, an experienced Asian NGO leader told IPS.

Many of the adverse effects of floods which swamped northwest Botswana in early March could have been avoided if the Okavango River Basin Commission (OKACOM) had an early warning system in place.

A Muslim legal advocacy group Tuesday charged that federal agents routinely target Muslim American travelers - or simply those perceived to be Muslim - for 'deeply intrusive, personal questions and searches about their politics, faith, finances, charitable giving and associations with lawful organisations, all without any evidence or even suspicion of wrongdoing.'

The quality of South African public health services cannot improve if community-based organisations (CBOs) are not given a greater role in shaping, developing and implementing national and provincial health policies.

Thousands of people poured into the streets of Phoenix this past Sunday in one of several nationwide marches scheduled through May to pressure President Barack Obama to act on immigration reform.

President Barack Obama and other top officials in his administration have made it clear that there can be no military solution in Afghanistan, and that the non-military efforts to win over the Afghan population will be central to its chances of success.

As the extension of the U.S. missile defence system to Eastern Europe is halted, U.S. President Barack Obama seems inclined to exchange it for Russian cooperation in taming Iran's nuclear ambitions.

At first it was nothing out of the ordinary. A book intriguingly tilted ‘China is not happy’ was expected to generate buzz because it claimed to detail the world’s most populous nation and aspiring superpower’s resentment of foreign abuses.

The United Nations racism conference, trapped from its rocky start between the caution of Western countries and the inflamed speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could still avoid failure, say independent experts.