News headlines in November 2009, page 5

The beating sun in southern Honduras doesn't stop a group of women from throwing themselves into the task of protecting and recuperating a mangrove forest on the Pacific coast.

Rights activists are hoping a landmark announcement by the Czech government regretting forced sterilisation of Roma women in the past will push politicians in neighbouring Slovakia to follow suit.

The U.S. military has announced the opening of a new prison on Bagram Air Base. The prison, costing 60 million dollars, will hold up to 1,100 prisoners at any one time.

China and the United States are wrestling to claim leadership during the upcoming climate change talks in Copenhagen, unveiling proposals to cut greenhouse gases one after the other this week and setting the stage for some tough negotiations. But gauntlets thrown, both face challenges in achieving their pledged targets.

Competing with the destruction caused by former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s ‘systematisation’ plans might be hard. But an official report says that 'the aggression on Bucharest’s architectural heritage, documented since 1989, exceeds Ceausescu’s acts.’’

Despite the recent accelerated return of tens of thousands of war-displaced civilians to their former villages in northern Sri Lanka and the impending relaxation of further restrictions, aid agencies say far more efforts are needed to help the civilian population regain normalcy lost to decades of conflict.

Public money in Brazil is being used by the state development bank to finance deforestation projects and others that trample rights, concentrate wealth, and encourage 'imperialist' expansion of large national companies, according to activists at a three-day meeting in this southeastern city.

'Man RDP!' sighs Martha Hamukoto, sitting on the steps of a Windhoek office block. She is lamenting the breakaway faction, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The party formed after a split with the ruling party almost two years ago and will be contesting the elections for the first time this year.

Gender activists foresee a drop in female parliamentarians after Namibia’s general and presidential elections on November 27 and 28. It’s a trend that jeopardises the region’s goal of 50 percent female representation in politics by 2015.

Social organisations in Guatemala are celebrating the entry into effect of a family planning law that will usher sex education into the country's classrooms and facilitate access to birth control methods, as a victory in the fight against the country's high birth and maternal and infant mortality rates.