News headlines in December 2009

The world's hungry have good reason to look to the new year with trepidation given the experience of the 12 months that preceded it.

While the world's climate negotiators were getting ready for Copenhagen earlier this month, a meeting was taking place in Mumbai to discuss progress in green chemistry, a field that — like the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — has the potential to greatly enhance the world's environmental health and sustainability.

The Iranian government has intensified its pressure on political and human rights activists since the harsh crackdown on protesters on the holy day of Ashura, arresting major political figures and even their family members, including Noushin Ebadi, the sister of Noble Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Brazil's economic achievements are being enthusiastically recognised abroad as never before. 'Brazil takes off' was the Nov. 12 cover title of the British weekly The Economist.

Long after the official opening of the crayfish season in South Africa on November 15, the boats lay idle on the beach in West Coast fishing villages like Paternoster. Fishing permits from the Marine and Coastal Managment unit (MCM) of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism had not been issued.

Because of an unfair fishing quota system, more and more small South African fishing communities struggle to survive.

Presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire, scheduled for Nov. 29, were postponed until February or March 2010. Among the candidates who will try to take advantage of some additional time to campaign will be the sole independent candidate, Jacqueline Oble.

The confrontation that took place in the streets of several large cities in Iran on the occasion of Ashura has brought the acrimonious political fight among the Islamic Republic's elite into focus in significantly different ways than before.

Malaysia may have been spared the worst effects of the economic slowdown due largely to its oil and gas reserves and other natural resources.

For Fazeelat Bibi, 21, the last few days of 2009 have brought her some retribution, if not cheer. 'Justice has been delivered,' said the young woman, her voice void of any feelings.