News headlines in August 2011, page 12

Although the Sri Lankan government has evaded calls for an international probe into alleged excesses while militarily defeating Tamil separatism in 2009, it may yet be called to account at the September session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The first High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases is scheduled to take place one month from now, but U.N. member states are lagging in preparing for it, an alliance of civil society organisations says.

In a groundbreaking decision that affirms domestic violence as an international human rights issue, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has ruled that the U.S. should do more to protect victims of domestic violence.

'I repeat: there will be no peace talks without concrete actions. Words are not enough,' Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on a visit to Argentina this week. Earlier, in Chile, he said for the first time since taking office a year ago that he was 'willing' to eventually sit down to talks with the guerrillas.

As the world’s worst food security crisis continues across the Horn of Africa, including in Kenya, some smallholder farmers in the western part of the country are still feeding their families with last year’s abundant harvest.

'I was walking down the street, talking on my cell phone, when a guy on a motorbike came by and grabbed the phone out of my hand. I ran after him but I couldn't catch him. He had probably been following me.'

Legislation incorporating gender identity protection has ignited debate among activists for gay and lesbian rights, with some arguing that the legislation actually endangers women and threatens their physical safety, while others contend that gender identity protection is key to obtaining equality for the LGBT community.

China's burgeoning presence as a leading trade and investment partner in Latin America is still an overriding concern for some observers in Washington, as the East Asian giant appears to have changed the focus of economic development in countries south of the U.S.'s border.

Scores of buses carrying Syrians out of the country are waiting in uneven lines on the Lebanese-Syrian border for their paperwork to be processed. There are no Arab or Western tourists eager to cross to the other side, usually seen in hordes this time of year.

As one of the world's emerging economic powerhouses, Brazil is vigourously pursuing one of the key economic objectives on the U.N.'s development agenda: South-South Cooperation.