News headlines in September 2014

PYEONGCHANG, Sep 30 (IPS) - In Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, the international community made a commitment to future generations by adopting the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

HAVANA, Sep 30 (IPS) - Leonor Pedroso's sewing machine has dressed children in the Cuban town of Florida for 30 years. But it was only a few months ago that the seamstress was able to become formally self-employed.

MBABANE, Sep 30 (IPS) - Men in blue overalls are offloading vegetables from trucks while their female counterparts dress and pack the fresh produce before storing it in a cold room.

CHIRANG, India, Sep 30 (IPS) - On a bright March morning, a 17-year old tribal girl woke as usual, and went to catch fish in the village river in the Chirang district of India's northeastern Assam state.

WASHINGTON, Sep 30 (IPS) - The United States will begin developing a national action plan on responsible business practices, following on several years of related advocacy from civil society.

YAOUNDE, Sep 29 (IPS) - As climate change interest groups raise their voices across Africa to call for action at the COP20 climate meeting in December and the crucial COP21 in Paris in 2015, many worry that the continent may never have fair representation at the talks.

GENEVA, Sep 29 (IPS) - The steady increase in patent applications and grants that is taking place in developed and some developing countries (notably in China) is sometimes hailed as evidence of the strength of global innovation and of the role of the patent system in encouraging it. 

COLOMBO, Sep 29 (IPS) - The last time there was mud on his village roads was about a year ago, says Murugesu Mohanabavan, a farmer from the village of Karachchi, situated about 300 km north of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

APIA, Sep 29 (IPS) - The small South Pacific island state of Samoa, located northeast of Fiji, attracts tourists with its beaches, natural beauty and relaxed pace of life, but similar to other small nations with constrained economies, it is experiencing an exodus of young people, who are unable to find jobs.

WASHINGTON, Sep 28 (IPS) - Six months into West Africa's Ebola crisis, the international community is finally heeding calls for substantial intervention in the region.