News headlines in March 2010, page 6

Diario Uno, a newspaper with an innovative business model put out by a group of journalists and academics, went on sale Sunday in Chile, promising to provide a voice for those who do not feel represented by the country's economic model nor by the mainstream media.

The Republic of Korea (ROK), one of the fastest growing industrial nations and the world's 13th largest economy, has not only survived the global financial crisis but is also gearing up to play a key role in the international arena.

Thailand’s culture of non-violence got a shot in the arm on Monday, after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ended a second round of nationally televised peace talks with leaders of the anti-government movement that has been holding protests for over two weeks now.

Between 30 and 40 percent of taxes that should be collected by developing countries end up in countries operating as tax havens. Overall, these 'clandestine passengers of globalisation' contribute to capital flight from developing countries to the tune of 1,000 billion dollars a year.

After Colombia’s FARC rebels released 23-year-old soldier Josué Daniel Calvo, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he is not opposed to a humanitarian swap of imprisoned insurgents for hostages, as long as the guerrillas do not return to the fighting.

Both chose the legal profession for their career path, and both are bent on fighting for more rights for the people. But the fortunes of Vietnamese women lawyers Tran Thi Quoc Khan and Le Thi Cong Nhan cannot be more different: One enjoys prominence in the National Assembly, while the other was just recently released from jail.

Southern African governments must regain control over the negotiations on the trade deals known as economic partnership agreements (EPAs). Issues earmarked as deal-breakers should be resolved before talks to a full EPA are continued. These include limiting the EPA to a goods-only agreement and the EU dropping its demand for reciprocity.

Often described as too square and boring, Philippine presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III reaches out to the music-television generation as a smiling, hip-hop rapper in his television advertisement.

A high-level meeting in London of political and business leaders will consider this week ways of raising 100 billion dollars to fight climate change. And yet another one in Washington will search for ways of finding, and funding, more three-dollar stoves around the world.

Trade unions in Romania and Bulgaria are embarking on a spring of protests in response to the governments’ anti-crisis measures involving considerable cuts in budget expenditure.