News headlines in 2013, page 61

ALI SARAY, Iraq, Sep 07 (IPS) - "The soul needs to reincarnate a thousand times before becoming one with god," says Rajab Assy Karim from Ali Saray, 190 kilometres north of Baghdad. Iraq is full of ‘shortcuts' to the ultimate, and several seem to pass through this tiny desert village.

WASHINGTON, Sep 07 (IPS) - Between concluding rounds of negotiations towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major U.S.-proposed free trade agreement, a divisive fight has heated up over the extent to which countries should be allowed to regulate the sale of foreign – potentially far cheaper – tobacco products.

WASHINGTON, Sep 06 (IPS) - With a week of intense lobbying behind him, U.S. President Barack Obama looks increasingly beleaguered - both at home and abroad - in his effort to rally support for a military strike against Syria to punish its government for its alleged Aug. 21 chemical-weapons attack outside Damascus.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 06 (IPS) - Against the backdrop of widespread sectarian violence in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria - and rising xenophobia and Islamophobia in Western Europe and the United States - the United Nations hosted its second high-level forum on the "culture of peace".

MANAMA, Bahrain, Sep 06 (IPS) - As if the Iran nuclear issue was not already difficult enough, it became even more complicated when Bashar al-Assad unleashed his chemical weapons across Damascus suburbs last month. Suddenly, the Syria issue is overshadowing all other factors concerning Iran.

HAVANA, Sep 06 (IPS) - In nearly all of Latin America, illegal abortion is a serious public health problem. But in Cuba, where abortion is legal, it is being overused by teenagers.

MOGADISHU, Sep 06 (IPS) - The system of government remains the biggest political obstacle in Somalia as key political players boycotted the government's current national conference to discuss this country's political future, according to Jaylani Mukhtar, a local academic based in capital Mogadishu.

OSLO, Sep 06 (IPS) - On a sunny day at the end of August, the popular Karl Johans pedestrian street in Oslo pulsed with folk music as three young women and a man played stringed instruments and belted out English and Norwegian lyrics.

WASHINGTON, Sep 05 (IPS) - Even with potential U.S. strikes against Iranian ally Syria looming, Washington and Tehran appear to be preparing for the resumption of nuclear talks.

WASHINGTON, Sep 05 (IPS) - U.S. officials on Wednesday issued strict new guidelines on the use of solitary confinement for detainees being held on immigration charges, the first federal policy decision following a strengthened public debate on the country's unprecedented dependence on "segregated housing".