News headlines in January 2012, page 8

Another trial opened Tuesday with Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzón, in the dock for attempting to investigate crimes against humanity committed during the 36-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

We live under a nuclear 'umbrella' that is outdated, unwieldy, extremely costly, and doesn't even work. People today see themselves as part of a global community. They want to live in ways that protect life instead of putting it at risk. Nuclear weapons are wrong and need to go. It's time to get involved. Each person can do his or her part; all can make a big difference, together, writes Jonathan Frerichs, programme executive for peace-building and disarmament for the World Council of Churches.

The self-appointed "World Economic Forum" will meet again in Davos, Switzerland, 25-29 January 2012. We can expect a new load of gratuitous advice to emanate from the meeting, the invited participants of which were utterly unable to comprehend the September 2008 manifestation of the world economic crisis when they met three years ago. So, what are they going to talk about now? asks Johan Galtung, Rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University and author of "The Fall of the US Empire-And Then What?"

Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being 'fracked' in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown.

Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts.

As Puerto Rico seeks to lower soaring utility rates while simultaneously shifting toward cleaner energy sources, it faces grassroots opposition to two major projects even though at least one is 100-percent renewable.

For more than a week, thousands have been demonstrating in cities across Romania. Participants from all walks of life bring to the fore the broadest array of demands in what looks like a celebratory discovery of street protest. The main call is against lack of transparency and accountability in decision-making.

Yumi Goto, 60, lives with her husband in a temporary shelter on a windy hill that overlooks vast stretches of tsunami- devastated seacoast where her home was once located. 'The huge earthquake and tsunami destroyed the life I had known till now. We are waiting to return to our former lives as soon as possible,' Goto told IPS.

Although Papua New Guinea is known as a resource-rich country, 85 percent of the population depends on the informal economy for a living.

As the Syrian uprising enters its tenth month, the country’s economy is suffering. Since last March, the Syrian government has been cracking down on pro-democracy protests, and the once peaceful uprising has morphed into a full-blown armed rebellion in areas such as Homs, Hama and Jabal al-Zawiya.