News headlines in May 2012, page 2

The Yeosu Expo 2012 exemplifies how the Republic of Korea (ROK) has made its debut on the world stage.

It is vitally important that governments and civil society organisations start transitioning to a more sustainable global food system in order to achieve lasting development.

The Fifth Anniversary of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples calls for a celebration of the achievement of the global indigenous movement and an optimistic outlook for the greater recognition of indigenous rights.

Senior UN officials paid tribute to fallen peacekeepers and hailed the courage of those still carrying out 17 challenging missions around the world, such as in Syria, before focusing on the country’s current critical situation.

The crash of a million-dollar Ferrari driven at high speed by a wealthy Chinese expatriate in the early hours of a weekend morning earlier this month has reignited the stormy immigration debate here, highlighting many Singaporeans’ resentment towards foreigners living and working in this small island nation.

Like the delayed after-effects of an earthquake below the ocean before the subsequent tsunami hits adjacent coastlines, Egyptian anger finally exploded this week after several days of stunned silence following the controversial results of Egypt’s first-round of presidential elections.

Lawmakers from 110 countries, representing all continents, pledged here last week to intensify efforts, individually and collectively, aiming to attain the goals on safeguarding people’s rights to sexual health and freedom to determine their reproductive choices. The goals were set at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in 1994 in Cairo.

Misradi, a 58-year-old farmer from the Jelok neighborhood in Pacitan, East Java, some 524 kilometres east of Jakarta, has found a way to reduce his monthly expenses by 30 percent: instead of buying produce from the local market, he and his family now harvest most of their vegetables from their own yard.

A sell-out concert by controversial U.S. pop star Lady Gaga scheduled for June 3 in the Indonesian capital was called off by the concert promoters on the weekend citing security concerns. This has reignited debate in the local media about the clout of 'extremist' Islamic groups in the country and police inaction to limit what many in the media call their 'thuggery'.

A new super-weapon has entered the Mideast cyber arena. First detected on Monday by a Moscow-based security company, ‘Worm.Win32.Flame’ — just call it ‘Flame’ — might be 'the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed' on Iran’s secret nuclear networks.