News headlines in 2013, page 55

PORT OF SPAIN, Sep 18 (IPS) - Dianne Christian Simmons recalls the days when she would head out with her husband on fishing expeditions in the Gulf of Paria, a 3,000-square-mile shallow inland sea between Trinidad and Tobago and the east coast of Venezuela.

BAKASSI PENINSULA, Cameroon, Sep 18 (IPS) - Thomas Effiom, a 35-year old fisher in Jabane, a small locality in Cameroon's Bakassi Peninsula, scoops off floodwaters from the muddy floor of his house. It is a ritual he performs each time the Atlantic Ocean overflows.

BANGALORE, India, Sep 18 (IPS) - In spite of India's much-publicised national renewable energy policy as part of its international commitments to reduce carbon emissions, its Mid Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, the world's largest school lunch programme, has no energy conservation or even a fuel policy in its workings.

ST. PETERSBURG, Sep 18 (IPS) - "It's okay to be gay in Russia if you live in a big city such as St. Petersburg or Moscow, study at university or work at a liberal company, but even here you can't feel absolutely safe," says Nikita Mironov, describing the climate of fear that many homosexuals face in Russia.

WASHINGTON, Sep 18 (IPS) - On the eve of the 68^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, a newly released survey of 39 countries shows that the world body remains relatively popular around the globe.

WASHINGTON, Sep 17 (IPS) - In the wake of a renewed diplomatic push on the Iranian nuclear front, shared interests in Iran's backyard could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to work toward overcoming decades of hostility.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 17 (IPS) - Crop yields in Brazil, an agricultural powerhouse, are set to decline as a result of climate change, according to the most complete diagnosis yet of climate trends in this country.

NAIROBI, Sep 17 (IPS) - As Kenya's deputy president William Ruto and co-accused journalist Joshua Sang resumed their trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, Sept. 17, many in this East African nation were debating if the trial will continue to its end as four more witnesses withdrew from testifying on Sept. 15.

KAMPALA?, Sep 17 (IPS) - As the ink dries on a 3.6 million dollar agreement between Uganda and the World Bank to support the country's preparations for REDD, some analysts are pessimistic over the mechanism's potential.

BUCHAREST, Sep 17 (IPS) - Street protests are snowballing in Romania against a Canadian-led gold mining project in the Rosia Montana area in the Apuseni Mountains. More than 20,000 people joined a protest march in Bucharest on Sunday, and thousands in other Romanian cities took to the streets.