News headlines in April 2009, page 19

Czech media groups have warned that investigative journalism is under threat after what they described as 'draconian' legislation on reporting came into effect.

It has been more than 65 years since the guns fell silent, but the World War II desert battlefields where Allied forces defeated Rommel's Afrika Corps are still claiming lives. Each year the casualty count grows, as Bedouins planting crops, herding livestock and collecting scrap metal are killed or maimed by rusting landmines and munitions hidden beneath the baking sands of Egypt's North West Coast.

Israel does not object to talks between the West and Iran if the intent is to stop Iran's nuclear programme and as long as Iran does not take advantage of these talks, top level Israeli government sources tell IPS. But the sources go on to reiterate that Israel still expects the international community to act firmly to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Fiji is maintaining an uneasy calm days after its president abrogated the constitution, promulgated emergency regulations, and reinstated the 2006 coup leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, as interim prime minister.

Fulfilling a key campaign promise, U.S. President Barack Obama Monday lifted all restrictions on Cuban-Americans to visit their homeland and send money to family members there.

'Another prize...let’s go get ice cream to celebrate,' said their mother, and the boys jumped up to get their shoes on and head out for their reward, as the TV set in their tiny living room broadcast the news about the tribute paid at OAS headquarters to the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

Despite ongoing community concerns over the highly secretive Pine Gap spy station in central Australia, the nation’s parliament has moved to effectively ban protest at the joint Australia-United States base.

Painful images of the exile suffered by thousands of Chileans during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet and of the expressions of solidarity from the countries that took them in are presented in a new book with a prologue by internationally renowned writer Ariel Dorfman.

Photographing revolutionary movements seems to run in Gustavo Vilchis’s family. Four generations ago, his great-grandfather snapped a picture of Emiliano Zapata. Vilchis, a 29-year-old photographer and human rights activist from Guerrero, Mexico, keeps the photo of the mustachioed Mexican revolutionary hero taped to the inside cover of his notebook.

Art and fashion, environmental conservation, poverty alleviation and fair trade come together at UniqEco’s Marula Studios in an upscale suburb of Nairobi. A visit to its workshop and display centre is a delight to the eyes as well as an occasion to learn about the problem of marine pollution and its eco-friendly, community-based and business-savvy solutions.