1. Headline: MPs raise concern over Zimbabwe children after visit
Though the UK government pledged £60m in aid to Zimbabwe in 2009, the country is still in a period of fragile transition. Aid agencies last ear estimated more than 1.5 million orphans in the African country, many who are said to have lost their parents through HIV/Aids, malaria or cholera. The present Zimbabwe government still has the major problems with political violence and intimidation.
2. Headline: Mexican drug gangs 'spread to every region of US'
The National Drug Threat Assessment has issued a report estimating $40 billion in cash being moved across the Mexican border by drug gangs each year. Mexican gangs were active in every region of the US, it found. Heroin production doubled in 2008, and trade in marijuana, ecstasy and methamphetamine grew, despite the US funding for the war on drugs. Mexico has long been the main channel for illegal drugs smuggled into the US, but efforts to stop the trade on both sides has fallen short of effective.
3. Headline: US and Russia announce deal to cut nuclear weapons
After months of negotiation, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to a new arms reduction deal. The leaders will sign the pact, limiting both sides to 1,550 warheads, in Prague on April 8. The US is said to have more than 2,000 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, while Russia is believed to have more than 1, 500. Both countries will go into next month’s Washington Summit on nuclear security being able to claim some moral high ground. Both Presidents are hoping the new deal will put pressure on Iran to abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons.
4. Headline: Israeli PM says Jerusalem policy will not change
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his policy on Jerusalem will not change, and will carry on to build 1, 600 homes in East Jerusalem. Palestine claim their capital to be in East Jerusalem, but Israel insists Jerusalem will remain its undivided capital. This row has caused one of the worst crises in US-Israeli ties for decades. The US protested when the pan for the homes was initially approved last year. Pressure is being put on the US to forge ahead with some serious peace negotiations.
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