News headlines in July 2010, page 3

Dispersing feasting flies and angry residents from a manhole cover spewing sewage from people’s homes and into the road: another day in the working life of Njabulo Siziba. It's a dirty, frustrating, thankless job as a civil engineer for Bulawayo city council, but help is at hand for Siziba and the city he serves.

In early July, whales from the world’s largest population of humpbacks began arriving in the warm, subtropical waters off Australia’s north-west coast to breed and nurse their young.

Six months after the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo, the human rights situation in Honduras continues to deteriorate, according to two major New York-based groups.

The recent Wikileaks dump of war-related documents has brought little new to the debate over Washington's ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan, but allegations that Pakistan's intelligence services are aiding the Taliban has brought renewed attention to U.S. concerns over its reliance on Islamabad in battling Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.

In his Independence Day speech in the Peruvian Congress, which was broadcast nationwide, President Alan García admitted that corruption has tarnished his administration, although he lectured the judicial branch for delays in punishing those responsible.

Brigitte Rasamoelina and Yvette Sylla are women with two different approaches to politics in Madagascar. One formed a political party, while the other decided to legalise her organisation as an association. But both women are considering running in Madagascar's November elections.

Cuban nationals can be found every day at the busy corner of Amazonas and Naciones Unidas avenues in the Ecuadorean capital, where the National Civil Registry Office is located.

Carlos sold his house, Juana got a divorce so she could remarry and obtain resident status, and Pedro bought a 'letter of invitation' with 10 years of savings... These sorts of stories are common amongst Cubans anxious to make a new life in Ecuador.

Uganda’s National Drug Authority (NDA) says the failure rate among samples of medicines tested at their laboratories has fallen by 15 percent from the early 2000s. This serves as a possible indication of a drop in the availability of counterfeit medicines in the East African country.

Concentrated mainly in the arid northern region of Arica y Parinacota, Chile's small black population is seeking formal recognition as an ethnic group and inclusion on the 2012 census form, to put an end to what they describe as 'structural discrimination.'