News headlines in August 2011, page 14

To a soundtrack of almost constant pounding of fists against iron doors, drama therapist Zeina Daccache is trying to capture the attention of a group of women prisoners. Many of the 45 women are suffering from drug withdrawal and alternately appear agitated, upset, energised and detached. Others chat loudly, take long puffs off cigarettes, or pace the room.

Huge protests have taken place across India in support of a jailed anti-corruption campaigner who has been demanding a tough anti-graft law.

When 20-year-old Isaura Garcia called the 911 emergency hotline while being physically abused by her partner, she never imagined that her plea to U.S. legal authorities would lead to imprisonment and possible deportation.

The day that electricity arrived in the Cuban village of Jova, there were shouts, laughter and tears of joy, even among the most incredulous, who had doubted it was possible. 'I didn’t know what to do; it actually made me nervous,' Carmen Carvallosa confessed.

The United States is likely to maintain and sustain its huge arsenal of nuclear weapons for many years to come, even though President Barack Obama has repeatedly stressed that he stands for nuclear disarmament and global peace, non-proliferation experts believe.

Two battered plastic chairs bar entry to the toilets at the Bangwe Township Clinic in Blantyre. The toilets are not working because there is no running water — yet again. And if patients want to use the facilities they will have to run to the next- door primary school, which has pit latrines.

As several African governments examine the possibility of setting up their own 'offshore' financial centres, the trade name for tax havens, campaigners are calling for transparency and fair tax regimes.

The world's water map is being significantly redrawn due primarily to the mass migration of people into urban centres, threatening one of life's vital resources.

In Central America the temperature is rising and forests are taking longer to grow, while farther south, the Amazon rainforests have yet to feel the effects of global warming. This is just one example of how climate change is manifested differently in different parts of the region.

The diets of people in Ecuador and other countries in South America's Andean region suffer from chronic deficiency of zinc, a mineral essential to childhood nutrition, as demonstrated by studies led by paediatrician Dr. Fernando Sempértegui.