News headlines in October 2013, page 5

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (IPS) - Even as Pakistan's prime minister again publicly demanded an end to controversial U.S. drone strikes in his country during a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday, secret documents reveal long-time collusion with the CIA-led targeted assassination programme.

VERSONNEX, France, Oct 24 (IPS) - Nobody has brought this simple message to the world like the Perdana Global Peace Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the leader, Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's fourth prime minister, says: "Peace for us simply means the absence of war. We must never be deflected from this simple objective".

PANGANI, Tanzania, Oct 24 (IPS) - As farmers and herders fight over dwindling water levels in the Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania, a new dispute is emerging between farmers and the state-run power utility firm over this precious resource.

SOUTHERN GOBI REGION, Mongolia, Oct 24 (IPS) - Decades of international and local collaboration have brought the Tahki or Asian Wild Horse back from the brink of extinction and reintroduced herds to Mongolia's Gobi desert and grasslands. However, the country's other wild equine - the Mongolian Wild Ass or Khulan - is fast disappearing.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 24 (IPS) - "We are not saying that all people become sex workers, but you make more money," Virak Horn, a 32-year-old gay sex worker who works freelance in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, tells IPS. He earns enough to support his family and pay for his college degree.

NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (IPS) - A nationwide enquiry into illegal mining in India was aborted before it completed its investigation into the failings of the country's mining industry. The study had prompted the government to ban mining in two states and arrest high-ranking politicians.

HAVANA, Oct 23 (IPS) - As private initiative expands in socialist Cuba, it is making incursions into new areas, such as waste picking and recycling – for many a means of subsistence, but for others, a gold mine.

JERUSALEM, Oct 23 (IPS) - Israel keeps urging the group of six major powers to agree nothing less than a full dismantlement of Iran's nuclear capability. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have to come to terms with settling for an agreement which, though sustainable, falls short of his longstanding demand.

MOSCOW, Oct 23 (IPS) - Growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Russia which spilled over into violent riots in Moscow earlier this month is playing into the hands of a government keen to promote the image of a popular ‘enemy' to a discontented public, rights groups claim.

PESHAWAR, PakistanH, Oct 23 (IPS) - Like most Christians in Pakistan, Johar Maseeh did a little cleaning job. He was a sweeper in a factory in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan.