News headlines in 2014, page 56

NEW DELHI, Aug 20 (IPS) - Basanti Rani*, a 33-year-old farmers' wife from the northern Indian state of Haryana, recently withdrew her 15-year-old daughter Paru from school in order to marry her off to a 40-year-old man.

ALEPPO, Syria / GAZIANTEP, Turkey, Aug 19 (IPS) - Numerous mechanics, tyre and car body shops used to line the busy streets near the Old City of Syria's previous industrial and commercial hub.

MALKANGIRI, India, Aug 19 (IPS) - Scattered across 31 remote hilltop villages on a mountain range that towers 1,500 to 4,000 feet above sea level, in the Malkangiri district of India's eastern Odisha state, the Upper Bonda people are considered one of this country's most ancient tribes, having barely altered their lifestyle in over a thousand years.

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (IPS) - Despite rising criticism of his foreign policy– even from his former secretary of state – U.S. President Barack Obama's decision last week to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) militants in northern Iraq enjoys relatively strong public support, at least so far.

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (IPS) - The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in the southern United States earlier this month has led to widespread public outrage around issues of race, class and police brutality.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 18 (IPS) - Homes for orphans or children in vulnerable situations in Mexico lack the necessary state regulation and supervision, which leads to scandalous human rights violations.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Aug 18 (IPS) - Amid accelerating climate change and other challenges, a major international conference in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa next month represents a key chance for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean to turn the tide.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 (IPS) - The Arms Trade Treaty is about to provide the biggest shake-up to conventional arms trade transparency since the end of the Cold War.

BELFAST, Aug 18 (IPS) - I once asked Dan Berrigan, the great American anti-war activist, for some advice to me in my life as a peace activist. He replied "Pray and Resist".

REYKJAVIK, Aug 18 (IPS) - Although fin whaling by Icelanders has encountered increasing opposition over the last year, Icelandic whaling boats headed off to sea again in mid-June for the first hunt of the summer and by August 14 had killed 80 fin whales.