News headlines in 2013, page 122

WASHINGTON, Jun 14 (IPS) - Despite Thursday's announcement that President Barack Obama has decided to provide direct military assistance to Syrian rebels, what precisely the administration has in mind remains unclear.

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 14 (IPS) - The latest railway tragedy in the Argentine capital, the third in less than two years on the same commuter line, brought to light the severe limitations of a hybrid public-private system, despite the changes underway.

WASHINGTON, Jun 14 (IPS) - A Congressional task force started work Friday to review the massive U.S. federal penal code and cull statutes deemed to be overlapping, ineffective or otherwise unnecessary.

KUDANKULAM, India, Jun 14 (IPS) - The Tirunelveli district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu may seem idyllic, dotted with lush green fields, but upon closer inspection one sees signs of a battle that does not appear to abating.

COLOMBO, Jun 14 (IPS) - For the first time since Sri Lanka's 30-year-long civil conflict drew to a bloody finish in May 2009, casting an eerie hush over the Northern Province that had grown accustomed to the sounds of war, there is a buzz in the air generated by the prospect of provincial elections that hold the promise of radical change.

WASHINGTON, Jun 14 (IPS) - Energy specialists say that advancements in fossil fuel extraction technologies have sparked a "revolution" in U.S. energy production, especially given radical recent changes in the global energy market and the U.S. role within it.

ROME, Jun 14 (IPS) - As the United Nations prepares to launch an ambitious post-2015 development agenda later this year, the message from one of its Rome-based agencies is unequivocal: the eradication of hunger and malnutrition should remain a high priority when the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) end in 2015.

WARSAW, Jun 14 (IPS) - Twenty-nine-year-old Andrzej W. and his partner lived for almost a year off of food found in the trash bin of the upscale supermarket Piotr i Pawel in Muranow, a neighbourhood near the centre of the Polish capital Warsaw. And they ate in style.

NAIROBI, Jun 14 (IPS) - On a side street in Nairobi's bustling neighbourhood of Shauri Moyo, Faisal Ngila shouts to street vendors, motorbike taxi drivers and pedestrians. "Do you know taxes are increasing in Kenya?" he asks, handing out flyers urging Kenyans to say "no to Unga (maize flour) tax" by dialling a phone number that will register their signature on a petition.

WASHINGTON, Jun 14 (IPS) - Declaring that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebel forces, the White House announced Thursday that it will increase "the scope and scale" of assistance it has been providing to the opposition, including direct support to its military arm.