News headlines in January 2012, page 4

After a hearing that lasted more than 11 hours, a Guatemalan court ordered the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), who could face up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The primitive Juang tribe in remote Nola village on Chandragiri hill experienced its first three institutional childbirths only a month ago.

When Louisamène Joseph Alionat unexpectedly began singing in a packed hall at the United Nations cultural agency here this week, it was an attempt to give encouragement to her peers engaged in the uphill battle of trying to end extreme poverty.

If there was no HIV/AIDS, South Africa would have 4.4 million more people than today, the size of a major city. This significant slow-down in population growth is causing a slow down in economic growth and resulting in social ills, researchers warn.

Although the latest rhetoric seems to signal a hardening of the historical sovereignty dispute between Argentina and Britain over the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, some experts are sceptical and say nothing will change in essence.

El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world, with one of the highest murder rates. But the authorities cannot agree on whether or not most of the killings should be laid at the door of the youth gangs known as 'maras'.

Attempts by regimes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to suppress the flow of information during the region's pro-democracy uprisings has led a higher number of journalists killed, attacked or arrested.

Like the imminent prospect of one's hanging, to paraphrase the 18th century British essayist Dr. (Samuel) Johnson, the suddenly looming possibility of war can concentrate the mind wonderfully.

Community radio stations in Brazil are finding the internet and user-friendly information technologies to be valuable allies for their broadcasts, which focus on citizenship, social equity and human rights.

In an address to the European Parliament on 24 January, Bill Gates appealed to the Committee on Development that Europe remains a leader in aiding the developing world.