News headlines in April 2011, page 9

As the so-called Arab Spring enters its sixth month, it appears to have run into seriously wintry headwinds.

Half-shouting over the roar of the old truck we are riding in, Peruvian farmer Pablo Escudero points to a green wall that rises up in the distance and says, 'That’s our ‘rain caller’, the place we have fought so hard to create, which will be our legacy to our children.'

As the Cairo-based Arab League continues to back western military intervention in support of the popular rebellion in Libya, the League's failure to back similar uprisings in other Arab countries - most notably Bahrain - has led to charges of double standards.

One sunny afternoon, 19-year-old Sufia Aktar presides over a courtyard gathering of housewives discussing the use of safe water, a hygienic environment, and personal cleanliness. It is the last of such gatherings for Sufia, who will soon leave, knowing it was 'mission accomplished.'

A proposed law governing NGOs in Cambodia will impose severe restrictions on civil society groups and tighten control over public discourse, critics in this South-east Asian country say.

Although it failed to bring about the hoped-for generational renewal at the highest level of Cuba's governing Communist Party, the recent party congress may have marked the start of a new stage of socialist development, if the resistance to change among the most conservative sectors is overcome.

Earth Day celebrated its 41st year Friday with the slogan ‘A Billion Acts of Green’. The grassroots demonstration is said to have inspired the modern environmental movement, and continues to inform and promote green economic policies worldwide, while attracting over a half billion people every year.

Elections for the governors of two states in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north have been postponed because of violence, officials have announced.

Cuba's young people today feel they have more freedom to navigate the waters of romantic feelings in an uncomplicated way.

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak ran Egypt as his own private estate, carving up its resources and siphoning off its capital into offshore accounts. But he didn’t do it alone: he had help from his family and a few trusted friends.