News headlines in 2013, page 118

WASHINGTON, Jun 19 (IPS) - Nearly 12 years after the United States ousted the Taliban from power, the White House announced Tuesday that the United States will begin formal talks with the militant Islamist group in Qatar later this week as part of Afghanistan's national reconciliation process.

WASHINGTON, Jun 19 (IPS) - The United States is being singled out for criticism after the Group of Eight (G8) rich countries failed to adopt a plan pushed by British Prime Minister David Cameron to require the creation of public country-level registries with detailed information on corporate ownership and activity.

WASHINGTON, Jun 19 (IPS) - Controversy is building following the announcement that negotiations will soon begin on a free trade agreement between the United States and European Union, with critics warning that any such agreement could negatively affect a host of regulatory concerns.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 (IPS) - In the aftermath of the global economic crisis and with three years to go until the 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, global leaders are struggling to formulate a post-2015 agenda that can address the widespread dilemmas of employment and inclusive growth.

ROME, Jun 18 (IPS) - Judging by the accolades and diplomas handed out to 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries by FAO, it would be easy to conclude that the region has taken a giant leap towards eradicating hunger.

MEXICO CITY, Jun 18 (IPS) - "We can't sow our fields, which they have rented for next to nothing. What good do we get out of it?" Guadalupe Ramírez complained about wind farms operating in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

BUDAPEST, Jun 18 (IPS) - Monday's resignation of Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas over a massive corruption scandal may well mark a new era of judicial independence in the Czech Republic and possibly the whole post-communist region.

ALFAZ, Spain, Jun 18 (IPS) - The United States and Colombia are the leaders in mental anxiety in the Americas.

Both have good reasons: Colombia has witnessed the longest lasting violence in any contemporary country: from 1949, with some interruptions, then on again from 1964 with the notorious guerilla group, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jun 18 (IPS) - The United States is laying meticulous plans ahead of its 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan, but it has clearly overlooked how its continued drones strikes on the tribal areas of neighbouring Pakistan will affect the much-anticipated pullout.

MALAGA, Spain, Jun 18 (IPS) - The people in the textile factory where Lourdes Soler presented the design of her skirts had never seen such detailed "blueprints" of a garment. Spain's depressed labour market forced the technical architect to reinvent herself and create her own job – a growing trend in this crisis-stricken country.