News headlines in February 2010, page 23

The newly elected Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government's plans to move legislation, that will greatly affect migrants and refugees, have been both welcomed and criticised by rights organisations and activists.

If there were any doubts about what exactly U.S. President Barack Obama meant when he warned Iran of 'growing consequences' during his State of the Union address last month, they seem to be dispelled by recent statements from top administration officials, who are beating the sanctions drum loud and clear.

Bahrain's security forces should immediately cease the use of torture to elicit confessions from prisoners suspected of security offences, says the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

As the financial crisis continued to threaten world economies last year, the White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared: 'You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.'

Laura Chinchilla of the governing National Liberation Party (PLN) will be the first female president of Costa Rica and the ninth in the history of Latin America.

The 2004 'Orange revolution' saw a pro-Western leadership emerge victorious in a Presidential vote that opposed them to a pro-Russian candidate accused of vote rigging. After six years of political and economic chaos, the once villain Viktor Yanukovich has reclaimed the President's post.

In the Seychelles' only cannery, the din of thousands of empty tuna cans rattling on narrow metal troughs is incredible as they bustle along, soon to be filled with Skipjack tuna that only days ago were swimming freely in the inky blue Indian Ocean.

Perfectly in tune, in spite of the off-key world of Terra Encantada ('Enchanted Land'), a shanty town in this Brazilian city, the guitars of Daniel Sant'Anna's orchestra strike up the 'Ode to Joy', played by children and teenagers who are looking for a way forward in their lives.

The perilous state of the world’s fish stocks has received less media attention than the more visible, palpable environmental problems like air pollution. Isabella Lövin is seeking to redress that balance. Her 2007 book ‘Tyst hav’ (Silent Seas) hit the best-seller list in her native Sweden, garnering her three awards, including the title of 'Journalist of the Year'.

Meal by meal, a political feast is being laid out under the night sky to nourish a wave of anti-government protests rapidly spreading across this rural heartland. The diners come dressed in their signature red shirts.