News headlines in 2014, page 93

GENEVA, Jun 01 (IPS) - Erwin Sperisen was chief of Guatemala's National Civil Police from 2004 to 2007, when he left the country for Switzerland. In August 2010, the Guatemalan authorities issued an international arrest warrant, accusing him, among others, of extrajudicial executions in the prisons of Pavon and Infiernito.

MEXICO CITY, Jun 01 (IPS) - A lack of controls, regulation and transparency marks the monitoring and surveillance of electronic communication in Mexico, one year after the revelations of cyberespionage shook the world.

WASHINGTON, Jun 01 (IPS) - New investments from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private-sector investment arm, may perpetuate economic inequality rather than alleviate poverty in Myanmar, critics here are warning.

KARACHI/NEW DELHI, Jun 01 (IPS) - Mukhtar Ali is one of the many Pakistanis who are furious at politicians and authorities for failing to provide citizens with a regular supply of electricity during the smouldering summer months.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (IPS) - Mobile-finance and direct cash grants are revolutionary tools that can substitute for under-developed financial sectors and help reduce poverty and promote entrepreneurship in developing countries, according to researchers here.

PHNOM PENH, May 31 (IPS) - The movement for reproductive justice sees women's decision to have – or not have – children as a fundamental right. Should they choose to bear a child, women should have the right to care and provide for them; if they opt not to give birth, family planning services should be made available to enable women to space or prevent pregnancies.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (IPS) - Over two billion people - or 30 percent of the world's population - are either obese or overweight, and no country has successfully reduced obesity rates to date, according to a new study published this week by the British medical journal, The Lancet.

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 (IPS) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), one of the largest U.N. agencies with an estimated average annual budget of more than five billion dollars, is undergoing major structural changes - triggering large-scale staff layoffs, demotions, salary reductions and downgrading and abolition of existing senior-level jobs.

COLOMBO, May 30 (IPS) - Stuck in mid-day rush hour traffic, commuters packed tight into a tin-roofed bus in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, peer expectantly up at the sky that is beating a savage heat down on the city.

BEIRUT, May 30 (IPS) - Roughly three kilometres north of Beirut's Syrian embassy in Baabda, Syrians crammed in one of an endless stream of buses, exited and continued on foot. The masses opted to walk the remaining few kilometres rather than sit in a traffic jam generated by the tens of thousands flocking to vote.