News headlines in April 2009, page 23

Over 20 years after the diagnosis of the first cases of AIDS in Cuba, HIV-positive persons and those who work with them or are involved in the issue on the island are attempting to drop the use of terms like tolerance and acceptance, and speak instead of respect.

The rival Palestinian parties Fatah and Hamas, the Arab League, the EU and the new U.S. administration all appear to have found common ground against Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank.

The Rome Statute, adopted in July 1998, enabled the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002. Since then the ICC has issued 12 arrest warrants , all against Africans.

Africa’s contribution to the global economy will continue to be low if there is no investment in infrastructure, delegates heard at the North-South Corridor Conference in Lusaka, where 1.2 billion dollars was raised.

A Palestinian woman fleeing her abusive husband in Gaza several weeks ago was stabbed to death by her enraged husband as the terrified woman sought shelter in her parents home.

As a man in a patriarchal society, an outspoken advocate of women’s rights and a harsh critic of the way Palestinian women are treated, Mashoor Basissy, MOWA’s director in the West Bank, brings a fresh male perspective to the growing problem of domestic violence against Palestinian women.

An estimated 160,000 people in Serbia are still in danger from thousands of unexploded cluster bombs, ten years after the NATO bombing campaign. The danger is gravest in the south, close to the border with Kosovo.

Human rights organisations and legal scholars are applauding the efforts of Spanish lawyers in seeking the indictment of six former officials of the administration of President George W. Bush in connection with the torture of detainees at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay prison.

Suwicha Thakhor's nightmare in a Thai jail is set to continue after a court delivered a harsh verdict this week that contained a unequivocal message - the Internet in this country is being policed with the aim of limiting free expression.

Namibia is experiencing flooding on a scale last seen nearly 50 years ago. The northern parts of the country are the worst hit.