News headlines in January 2011, page 20

A concerted effort to formally document the magnitude and directions of climate trends in the Eastern Himalayas and thereby decide regional adaptation strategies is critical to ensure the region’s water security, according to water experts.

Just over two months after the death of her husband, Argentine President Cristina Fernández is the front-runner in the polls for this year's presidential elections. She is also the politician with the best image in the country. Fernández recently stated that 'personally, 2010 has been the worst year of my life.' But on the political front, the sudden death of her husband Néstor Kirchner, her predecessor as president from 2003 to 2007, has apparently given her a boost.

Wafa Saab, a high-powered executive at the leading Lebanese-manufactured paint company Tinol, is an environmentally friendly fashionista. On her arm hangs a pink and blue gym bag. It’s made of garbage.

In September 2009 French police bulldozed the migrant encampment at Sangatte near Calais, inhabited by hundreds of mostly Afghan asylum seekers seeking to reach the United Kingdom. The destruction of the Sangatte ‘jungle’ was carried out in the full glare of publicity, and the French and UK governments hailed it as a major blow against illegal immigration.

Twenty years ago when the Berlin wall fell, radical privatisation was promoted as a solution to the ills of Eastern European economies. The one country that ignored the West’s recipe— Slovenia — seems to be faring far better.

In the Himalayan Mountains of eastern India’s Darjeeling locals are coping with the economic fallout of tourists cancelling their holiday plans in the area.

Fresh calls emerged Wednesday for Haiti to void its recent disputed presidential elections, following a new analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) showing serious and unprecedented flaws in the Nov. 28 voting process.

In October 2001, the United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution recognising that women's participation is essential to sustain efforts for peace in the world. But did the international body ever ask world's women leaders to take part in the decision-making process?

The initial steps taken by Brazil's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, have confirmed that a stronger female presence will indeed be a hallmark of her administration.

In one of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower's most remembered speeches, he warned against 'the acquisition of unwarranted influence' resulting from the close brotherhood between the country's defence agencies, Capitol Hill and private business interests.