News headlines in 2014, page 112

WASHINGTON, Apr 24 (IPS) - Amidst a roiling and mostly partisan debate over Washington's global role, a survey released here Thursday suggests that President Barack Obama's preference for relative restraint and multilateral - over unilateral - action very much reflects the mood of the voting public.

WASHINGTON, Apr 24 (IPS) - A coalition of 134 institutional investors are calling for global corporations to institute new transparency policies throughout their supply chains and to step up assistance to survivors and families still suffering a year after a major fire led to the collapse of a garments factory in Bangladesh, despite repeated warnings from workers.

SANTIAGO, Apr 24 (IPS) - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's proposed tax reform is seen as the cornerstone of her ambitious social programme and a sign of a new shift in fiscal policy towards redistribution of income.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 (IPS) - After a week that saw a massacre inside a U.N. base and wide-scale ethnic-based slaughter in an oil-producing region, the international community is grappling with what, if any, options remain to save lives in South Sudan.

HARARE, Apr 24 (IPS) - Zimbabwe's extensive informal sector could help boost government revenue if regularised, but this won't happen unless the government creates incentives for the informal sector to register, economists say.

SEOUL, Apr 24 (IPS) - Rice, a staple of the South Korean diet, is stirring up a bowlful of worry for Seoul. Under a promise to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the government has to make a tough choice on rice imports by June this year.

WASHINGTON, Apr 24 (IPS) - Last October, the Barack Obama administration suspended the delivery of attack helicopters to Egypt's interim government following the Jul. 2 military ouster of Egypt's democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 23 (IPS) - At the age of 22, Franco finally landed his first job, although he is not on any payroll and receives no labour benefits. He is part of Argentina's informal economy, where one out of three workers are employed – a proportion the government aims to reduce by means of a new law.

KAMPALA, Apr 23 (IPS) - As she sits in a Kampala hotel holding a mobile phone that rings frequently, Sandra Ntebi tells IPS: "I'm really exhausted. I don't know where to start. We have many cases pending." Ntebi manages a hotline and is helping Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community find alternative, safe accommodation after they have faced harassment.

TOKYO, Apr 23 (IPS) - Desperate for more workers to support a construction boom, Japan has proposed to expand its controversial foreign trainee programme to permit more unskilled labour from Asia to work in Japanese companies for five years from the current three years.