News headlines in February 2011, page 3

The 15-member U.N. Security Council Saturday unanimously decided to impose economic and military sanctions on Libya and urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to pursue charges of war crimes against Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi, members of his family, and 16 of his political and military advisers.

The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Friday launched its annual ‘State of the World’s Children’ report singling out the challenges faced by the world’s youth, including the need for protection and improvements in health and education. The report titled 'Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity' focuses on how investments in education and training could break the twin cycles of poverty and inequality.

Once every two weeks, 45-year-old Perween Riaz enters a place with a sign outside that says 'Ghazi Medical Centre' where she gets injections for headache and nausea from someone people know is not a real doctor.

Disasters caused by overcrowded pilgrim centres are as old as the religious festivals themselves, but a dramatic increase in stampedes in recent years has caused national concern.

In their 2010 book 'Half the Sky', Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn write about a disturbing but not uncommon problem in Southern Africa - male teachers who trade good grades for sex with students.

As revolutions and popular protests against dictatorships spread across northern Africa and the Middle East, questions are being raised whether they will inspire similar uprisings in Central Asia. Activists say that it is now a question of when, not if, regime change comes in the region.

A look at the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings that succeeded in ousting long- entrenched dictators confirms a universal truth: it is the youth who are leading the way in forcing reform in the Middle East.

After years of stiff resistance, the Japanese government has announced a temporary halt to its controversial research whaling programme in the Antarctic Ocean, a decision that will finally stir the debate to promote sustainable fishing, say conservationists here.

The momentous events of Tahrir Square, Egypt also signify a huge step forward for gender equality in the region, women's rights activists said Friday.

Risk of sexual violence, limited access to education, and health issues such as HIV/AIDS and forced female genital mutilation/cutting are just a few of the obstacles adolescent girls face in developing countries, yet these girls are the key to the future and the eradication of poverty, stress experts at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).