News headlines in July 2009, page 6

Egypt receives some of the highest annual solar radiation in the world, yet the desert country remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels.

Twenty German companies have drawn up ambitious plans to meet at least 15 percent of the European electricity demand by 2020 from solar thermal power plants installed in the North African Maghreb region.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has revoked the visas of four senior officials of the de facto government in Honduras, the State Department announced here Tuesday, in what was seen as the first of a series of new steps Washington is considering to force acceptance of a plan that would return President Manuel Zelaya to power.

Several days after what many have called an unfair election in the Kyrgyz Republic, the U.S. has shown its own reluctant agreement.

Millions of litres of water are being unlawfully diverted into dams set up by South Africa's major industries, big mining companies and commercial farmers - with potentially devastating consequences for management of the resource.

Barely two weeks after the start of an official process to draw up a new constitution for Zimbabwe was delayed by supporters of Robert Mugabe, it faces another challenge: civil society organisation have launched a parallel constitutional project, saying the unity government's parliamentary-led procedure is undemocratic, defective and will produce a flawed document.

Seventy years old now, Mr. Arrúa lives a comfortable enough life in Durazno, a town in central Uruguay. But he still remembers when his father took him to work as a farmhand when he was only nine.

It has become common these days to hear about the killing of young Iranians at the hands of Iran's security forces and Basij militia. So many families have come forward with heart-wrenching tales about the deaths of their children in prison or during peaceful protests, it is difficult to keep count.

Workers at a munitions factory in Almosnino walked out last Wednesday, joining an anti-war protest nearby. The combined strikers and protesters later stormed the factory after a scuffle with police who were trying to arrest a crowd that was blocking a truck from leaving the factory.

They may be far from ditching the sanctions imposed on Burma, but there are emerging signs that U.S. and European nations might be open to reviewing a new approach to tackle one of the world’s most oppressive dictatorships.