News headlines in August 2012, page 19

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Aug 13 (IPS) - The nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is pushing harder for regional integration with the launch of a new parliamentary forum that it says will play a major role in its efforts to establish an economic union.

DOHA, Qatar, Aug 13 (IPS) - The Egyptian president has ordered the powerful head of the army and defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and several senior generals into retirement and canceled constitutional amendments issued by the military restricting presidential powers.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 13 (IPS) - As the three-month-long international exhibition Expo 2012 came to a close in the South Korean coastal town of Yeosu last week, the United Nations announced the launch of an "Oceans Compact" aimed at the preservation of marine resources worldwide.

ABIDJAN, Aug 13 (IPS) - Even as Côte d'Ivoire gradually recovers from the bloody events of the 2010-2011 post-electoral crisis, massacres in the western part of the country and the frequent sound of gunfire in the economic capital, Abidjan, are signs of the long road ahead.

HAVANA, Aug 13 (IPS) - Enrolment in Cuban universities fell by 25.8 percent during the past school year, as young people are being oriented toward fields with more employment opportunities, such as agriculture, in the context of sweeping economic reforms that are also affecting public education.

PORT MORESBY, Aug 13 (IPS) - Agriculture provides a livelihood to the majority of the population in Papua New Guinea, a developing island nation of approximately seven million in the south west Pacific.  However, the loss and waste of an estimated half of all fresh produce between harvesting and marketing is threatening improvements to food security and local incomes.

OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM, Aug 13 (IPS) - “This is King David’s palace!” proclaims the Israeli tour guide with much fanfare, ignoring the cautionary “King David’s Palace?” legend on the sign. Opportunely opening the Bible, he reads from 2 Samuel 6:16, “As the Ark of the Lord came to the City of David…”

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Aug 13 (IPS) - The nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is pushing harder for regional integration with the launch of a new parliamentary forum that it says will play a major role in its efforts to establish an economic union.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 13 (IPS) - A peacekeeper from the African Union/United Nations hybrid mission ion Darfur (UNAMID) was killed and another injured on Sunday in line of duty in Nyala, South Dafur. The incident took place during late night. A gang appeared at the Otash camp for internally displaced people and fired at the staff. The peacekeeper was from Bangladesh's Formed Police Unit.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 11 (IPS) - “The United States should stop producing so many weapons, which cause us so much harm. That country also suffers from so much violence, as billions of dollars go into manufacturing guns.”