News headlines in October 2010

All Shabnam Khan wants is a one-day break in the ongoing strike, so that her daughter can try her luck and get admission in a topnotch school here in the capital of Indian- administered Kashmir.

The monsoon rains soaked the ground beneath Mon Hol’s home until it turned to ankle-deep mud. The aged thatched-leaf roof of his hut, badly in need of replacement, provided little protection.

The focus on people's movements in Palestine continues to gain momentum with growing non-violent demonstrations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, and with a Palestine-wide call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The discovery of apparent massive fraud in mortgage and foreclosure documents has called into question millions of pending foreclosures in the U.S. Several banks have enacted partial or complete moratoriums until the issues can be resolved.

The delegates to the 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity ended up with a relatively weak plan for the Herculean task of halting the disappearance of species. The exception was a pact on the use of genetic resources.

'I'd planned to have my wedding party on a Thursday night, when more people could come, and stay later. But because the Dabke dancers weren't free then, I held it on a Tuesday,' says Mohammed Ghronaim, 27, from Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

A year after its creation, a South-east Asian human rights body has earned an unflattering label — that of being a window-dressing exercise to improve the image of a region that is home to governments notorious for suppressing political opponents, rather than expanding civil liberties.

The world is ill-prepared for the human toll from the expected increase in floods, droughts and extreme storms and hurricanes on the horizon.

November will see the World Food Programme launch its Food by Prescription programme in Swaziland, but tens of thousands in urgent need of food aid are set to go without as a donor shortfall restricts assistance.

Tens of thousands of Ecuadorians are set to visit cemeteries on Tuesday, the traditional 'Día de Finados' (Day of the Deceased). But while city residents tend to spend the day in mourning, for many indigenous peoples it is a day of celebration, of reunion with their ancestors.