new internationalist

WORLD The IMF agrees to sell five per cent of its gold stockpile to fund debt relief for the world’s most impoverished countries. The World Health Organization warns of a tuberculosis epidemic. Some eight million cases are notified each year but drug-resistant strains of the disease mean only 16 per cent receive the right treatment. TB is the biggest single killer of young women.

CANADA The indigenous Innu population are given autonomy of Nunavut after 50 years of Canadian rule. The 27,000 inhabitants inherit a fifth of Canada’s land and two-thirds of its coastline.

INDIA India tests its Agni intermediate-range (2,200-kilometre) missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads into China.

RWANDA Three former Rwandan government ministers, implicated in the 1994 genocide, are arrested in Cameroon and face trial in a UN court in Tanzania.

TURKEY The far-right Nationalist Action party makes sweeping gains in the general election, and will play a key role in the coalition government. It takes a hard line on Kurdish activism.

NIKKI VAN DER GAAG

NIGER Unpopular military ruler Ibrahim Bare Mainassara is killed by his own guard. The head of the presidential guard, Major Daouda Malam Wanke, takes over.

JAMAICA The capital, Kingston, closes down as anti-government protesters block main roads across the island. The wave of protests is sparked by a 30 per cent increase in petrol prices.

ALGERIA Ruling-party candidate Abdelaziz Bouteflika wins the presidential election with 74 per cent of the vote. His six opponents, who withdrew from the race 24 hours before polling began, accuse him of rigging the pre-election army and police ballots.

EGYPT 1,000 Islamic militants are freed following a ceasefire by the largest militant group, Gama’a al-Islamiyya, ending a seven-year battle with security forces which has claimed 1,300 lives.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA At least 20,000 villagers are in need of food and sanitation after the worst floods in 27 years.

ZIMBABWE For the first time President Robert Mugabe acknowledges his country’s AIDS problem, admitting that 1,200 Zimbabweans die from AIDS each week. Some 20 per cent of the 12.7 million population is estimated to be infected with HIV.

CARIBBEAN To the delight of banana transnationals, the World Trade Organization rules that US sanctions on European products are a legitimate reaction to the EU’s banana-import regime.

SERBIA NATO bombing of a refinery, fertilizer plant and US-built petrochemical complex in Pancevo releases a toxic cloud so dense and potentially lethal that its effects will be felt for decades.

NAMIBIA The biggest bacterium ever known, Thiomargarita, is discovered by an international team of researchers off the African coast. It is 100 times larger than the biggest bacterium recorded previously with cells up to 0.75 millimetres in diameter.

RWANDA The first ever war-crimes trial of a Rwandan in a foreign country for atrocities committed during the genocide of 1994 takes place in Switzerland as former mayor Fulgence Niyonteze is accused of inciting Hutu extremists to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

RUSSIA The World Bank reports that up to a fifth of Russians will be living in extreme poverty by the end of next year as the full effect of last August’s financial crisis continues to be felt.