BRUSSELS/NEW YORK, Jan 17 (IPS) - The European Union and the United Nations will co-chair a high-level meeting in Brussels on Monday, aiming to mobilise funding to provide immediate life-saving assistance for the Central African Republic.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (IPS) - After 34 years of enmity, Tehran and Washington are heavily invested in the success of a deal over Iran's nuclear programme achieved through teamwork. Now the political future of Iran's new moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, depends on this issue.

NAIROBI/HARARE, Jan 17 (IPS) - With its two-trillion-dollar economy, recent discoveries of billions of dollars worth of minerals and oil, and the number of investment opportunities it has to offer global players, Africa is slowly shedding its image as a development burden. 

KIEV, Jan 17 (IPS) - Just hours after Ukrainian investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovil was beaten and left for dead last month at the side of the road by men she claims were acting on the orders of the country's president, pictures of her battered and bruised face quickly made their way around the world.

YANGON, Jan 17 (IPS) - Myanmar is flinging open the gates to foreign investment, seen as key to the southeast Asian country's future after decades of stagnation under military rule. From Coca-Cola and Unilever to Samsung and Fujitsu, the key brands of international companies can be seen hogging billboards.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 (IPS) - The widespread sectarian violence and ongoing military conflicts in several political hotspots, including Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, have not only claimed thousands of human lives and devastated fragile economies but also undermined the U.N.'s longstanding plans to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty worldwide.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (IPS) - An accord that would be the largest trade agreement ever negotiated appears to be rolling back environmental safeguards that have been a key part of U.S.-led trade deals for much of the past decade.

TORONTO, Jan 16 (IPS) - Many of the challenges faced by the Conservative government in its relations with Canada's aboriginal peoples may come to a head at the 200th birthday events for Sir John A. Macdonald, the country's first prime minister, set for Jan. 11, 2015.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 16 (IPS) - "The army decided to open fire on the people," Estanislao Beltrán, a spokesman for the self-defence forces of Michoacán, said in a radio interview after the government's attempt to disarm the vigilante groups in the state of Mexico, in which at least two people were killed.

DOHA, Jan 16 (IPS) - Egyptians have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new constitution drafted by the army-backed interim government, according to early results.