Global News Journal

Allah, Antarctica and Ancient Inca-The best reads of 2009

When I have time to lavish on reading something other than news, I want to spend it on stories that leave me saying, “Wow!” A great read should tell readers something they don’t already know, enlighten them about the world and its people, inform them about the human condition. Readers should be moved to laughter, tears, anger, action through superb writing and extraordinary reporting.  Here are my picks for the best reads of 2009.

As Spain’s jobless lose homes, tensions mount

A packet of cigarettes is enough to cause a fight among the Spaniards and immigrants shivering in the dark outside an emergency homeless shelter in Madrid, set up for a bitter winter and depression-era unemployment. Police push past jobless Romanian and Hungarian construction workers.  ”One day this place is going to explode,” says unemployed waiter Miguel Roa, a Spaniard.

Pakistani newlyweds live in fear of honour killing

Pervez Chachar and his young wife live in the police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Their crime? They fell in love and married without their families’ permission. In traditional rural society in Pakistan, getting married without permission is such a serious slight to the “honor” of a family or a tribe that death is seen as fitting retribution. They share a cramped room with another young couple in the same position.

Peru’s Congress suspends land laws, but is it enough to calm Amazon conflict?

Peru’s Congress hopes to calm protests over President Alan Garcia’s plans to open up the country’s Amazon region to oil and logging by multinational companies but the conflict is far from being resolved. 

Peruvian lawmakers temporarily suspended two decrees that triggered deadly protests by indigenous groups opposed to the move. 

 At least 60 people died last week in clashes between security forces and Indian protesters and the government hopes the suspension will ease tensions.

A wide divide remains. Indian groups say they want the government to repeal those decrees and roll back on other laws giving energy and mining firms access to jungle areas. 

The government, meanwhile, is hoping to make up for what analysts say was a critical misstep in its push to develop the Amazon: failure to consult Indian groups living in the region. 

The clashes have sparked vitriol from both sides with Garcia referring to the Indians as “terrorists” and indigenous leaders calling him a “murderer.” 

Also complicating any agreement is that circumstances surrounding the clashes and the death toll remain murky.