News headlines in 2009, page 32

Arizona community activists and religious leaders are trying to mitigate fears over a new law that would require state employees to denounce undocumented immigrants.

U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for a 30,000-troop surge and a troop withdrawal timeline beginning in 18 months has caught criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.

More than one million poor children in Nicaragua will enjoy a massive Christmas celebration this month, complete with recreational activities and presents, organised by the government of President Daniel Ortega. But the opposition is criticising the project as populist and eccentric.

As U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration defended the Barack Obama administration's new policy toward the war-torn country on Capitol Hill Thursday, NGOs and a U.N. official reacted with disappointment and impatience.

Activists and U.N. officials celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) say the treaty has been an increasingly successful tool for challenging discriminatory laws and battling violence against women's and girls.

Although he was born with the virus, it was only 15 years after his birth that Robert* and his family discovered he was HIV-positive.

All HIV-positive east Africans could soon access free anti-retroviral treatment even as they move freely from country to country, if a new proposed law comes into effect.

A basket fund aimed at increasing the economic participation of women in Zimbabwe, has been relaunched after a start which faltered due to the delayed appointment of the new government earlier this year.

Ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup have fueled renewed calls for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will pen a new chapter in his country’s relationship with Thailand during an upcoming visit. He will be the first Malaysian leader to venture into Thailand’s southern provinces, where an insurgency has been raging for nearly six years.