News headlines in February 2012, page 17

Grappling with the fallout on their country of a possible forced removal from power of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, Israeli leaders are fluctuating between wariness, cautious optimism, and self-righteousness.

It was the decade-long civil war in the autonomous Bougainville region that inspired the founding of New Dawn FM, a community radio station recognised for contributing to the rebirth of civil society and development.

While Israel and its allies here blamed Iran for Monday's two nearly simultaneous car bomb incidents in the capitals of India and Georgia, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama echoed local authorities in both countries who said they were not sure who the perpetrators were.

Four months before the island hosts the World Congress of the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), the Trinidad and Tobago government finds itself on the defence in the wake of police raids on two national media houses in six weeks.

In its less than two months in office, Spain’s new conservative government has begun to introduce sweeping educational and reproductive health reforms, prompting protests from the opposition and from civil society groups, which see them as a throwback to an earlier era.

Despite renewed media speculation regarding possible Israeli attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities as early as this spring, scepticism that such a campaign could actually be successfully carried out remains relatively high, raising the question of whether there is more bark than bite to Israeli threats.

A coalition of anti-nuclear peace activists and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) is launching a global campaign for a summit meeting of world leaders calling for the total elimination of one of the world's most devastating weapons of mass destruction: the nuclear bomb.

Following numerous warnings issued by geologists, health scientists and environmental experts throughout the United States, Europe is now well aware of the high ecological and health risks associated with the exploitation of shale gas fields.

Israeli diplomats have been targeted by car bombs in India and Georgia, leaving three injured and Israel's foreign minister promising a response.

Mental health professionals in Argentina have accumulated such a wealth of experience in treating victims of state terrorism that they are now sharing it with colleagues across the country’s borders.