News headlines in 2009, page 7

It all started with a warning on the quality of bottled water in Paraguay. But concern has now spread about the extent of pollution of the country's underground water reserves.

From the Arctic sea ice to the Antarctic interior and the mountainous peaks of Peru, Alaska, and Tibet, ice is melting at an alarming rate. The accelerating loss of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers is one of the most powerful and striking indicators of a warming climate.

As the general elections scheduled for April 2010 draw nearer in Africa’s largest country ravaged by a long drawn war, the scramble for political positions is rife as women struggle to make their presence felt.

The illegal logging of precious wood rose sharply during the political crisis that gripped Madagascar during 2009. Forest communities, who could be part of the preservation of these resources, have been swept up in the rush for rosewood.

A group of Rwandan women enjoy a night of unbroken sleep for the first time in 15 years, and see their depression and physical pains fade after having taken part in yoga classes.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman visited Washington last week, for his first visit with President Barack Obama. The meeting was a quick one, tucked in amongst the myriad of domestic issues that are demanding Obama's attention.

The number of housing units affordable to extremely low-income (ELI) families in the U.S. has declined over the last year, even as the number of families needing those units has increased, according to a new report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

'We have been here for almost five years. So many promises have been made, but very few have been kept,' complains Mohideen Nafia, 22, one of the survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami still living in a temporary facility in the coastal town of Kalmunai, located 300 kilometres east of the capital, Colombo.

Just 40 kms away from the capital Kathmandu, in Thasingtole, Lalitpur District, Kalli Kumari B.K., 46, a local Dalit woman, was mercilessly beaten up. She was accused of being a 'witch', imprisoned in a shed and forced to eat her own excreta

The hundreds of savings and loan cooperatives operating in South Kivu should be providing an opportunity to develop agriculture and fight food insecurity in the province, but few farmers have been able to take advantage.