News Rounds: Pakistan college named for Taliban victim Malala, Kenyan women denied land rights, Obama and Romney forget Latin America and more |
In rebuke to Taliban, Pakistan college named for Malala (CNN) – In a message of defiance to the Taliban, authorities in Swat have decided to rename a government college after Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head after demanding education for girls.
Women of Kenya Denied Law’s Land Entitlement by Husbands (Bloomberg) – More than three-quarters of Kenyans live outside cities, most of them on subsistence farms owned by men — and, by tradition, worked by wives and daughters. Like women across the developing world, “they need land rights to achieve any equality,” says Soipan Tuya, a Kenyan lawyer with the U.S. nonprofit Landesa, which promotes property rights for the poor.
Obama and Romney forget Latin America (GlobalPost) – For a region historically regarded as the United States’ “backyard,” Latin America has been notable in the 2012 race for the White House only by its near total absence.
Poor Infrastructure Is Africa’s Soft Underbelly (Forbes) — Calestous Juma points out that basic improvements are what’s most needed in Africa: “Take agriculture as an example. Africa continues to suffer from low levels of agricultural productivity and is constantly bedeviled by famines. A large part of the continent’s inability to feed itself and stimulate rural entrepreneurship can be explained by poor infrastructure (transportation, energy, irrigation, and telecommunication).”
Central Africa becoming new drug transit point for South American cartels: Interpol (AP) – The arrest of a Nigerian allegedly smuggling heroin here highlights what officials say is a growing problem of drug trafficking in Central Africa.
Virunga National Park: DR Congo rangers killed (BBC) — Two rangers and a soldier have been killed by rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo’s famous Virunga National Park, officials say.