News headlines in May 2010

Pescomaggiore village, destroyed by the earthquake that hit the mountain region of L’Aquila in central Italy on Apr. 6, 2009, is now being rebuilt by its 40-odd inhabitants with straw and wood.

Ten years after an Indonesian agriculturist discovered microbes capable of producing natural fertilisers, farmers attest that they have boosted agricultural production.

Peru will not extradite Wong Ho Wing, a Chinese citizen wanted by the courts in his country for a crime that carries the death penalty, until the Inter-American Court of Human Rights rules on his case, according to a letter from the government to which IPS had exclusive access.

A landmark court case, alleging that HIV-positive women were forcibly sterilised in Namibian state hospital begins in Windhoek's High court on June 1. Human rights groups claim the practice has continued long after the authorities were notified.

Cuban biodiversity scientist Humberto Ríos, one of the six recipients of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, probably won't be able to collect the 150,000 dollars in prize money, though that setback is unlikely to cause him to lose any sleep -- or keep him from singing.

Five months and a day after their arrest, the gay Malawian couple who dared to publicly declare their union with a traditional engagement party were pardoned by the president and released without conditions.

Six months after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights handed down two sentences against the Mexican state, one of them linked to the wave of murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, little has been done to comply with the rulings.

Opinion polls on Sunday's presidential elections in Colombia turned out to be correct in predicting a June runoff. But they pointed to a much smaller gap between the two leading candidates.

On the heels of reports that the Barack Obama administration altered a new manual on military commission rules to accommodate an illegal drone programme, a senior United Nations official is expected to call on the U.S. this week to stop Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone strikes against people suspected of belonging to al Qaeda.

As oil continues gushing from the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, with no sign of stopping until a new well is finished this August, scientists, environmentalists and local residents are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife.