News headlines in 2014, page 97

NEW DELHI, May 24 (IPS) - Even though there has been a broad political consensus over the major tenets of India's foreign policy across successive governments in the past, the assumption on May 26 of a BJP-led government in India will have some visible impact on external relations, precisely because of the prospects of a strong government at the centre and a decisive and charismatic leader at its head.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (IPS) - The U.S. government has pledged to reduce the number of chronically malnourished children around the world by at least two million over the next half decade, receiving an initial positive response from the development community.

SYDNEY, May 23 (IPS) - Growing up on a farm in the resource-rich, rugged landscape of Western Australia, Mel Murphy would often dream of driving the mammoth trucks that went whizzing past her property.

SANTIAGO, May 23 (IPS) - Tens of thousands of women employed as seasonal workers in rural areas of Chile suffer high levels of poverty and poor working conditions, even though their labour generates huge profits for agricultural exporters.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida, May 23 (IPS) - Japanese Buddhist and president of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Daisaku Ikeda's Peace Proposal 2014 elevated my focus from the daily news to my longer term concerns for more peaceful, equitable and sustainable human societies to assure our common future. These broader concerns are now shared by millions of humans who have transcended purely personal, local and nationalistic goals and become prototypical global citizens.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (IPS) - Democratic governance offers a viable option for developing countries to achieve economic growth and inclusion, yet this doesn't need to follow the Western model, new research released here this week suggests.

NEW YORK, May 23 (IPS) - The Congress Party took a beating in India's recent parliamentary election and has been now sidelined by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party, or BJP).

MALAGA, Spain, May 22 (IPS) - Spain is experiencing a resurgence of hemp, one of the species of cannabis with the lowest THC content, which has been used for millennia to produce textile, medicinal and food products.

HONOLULU, Hawaii, U.S., May 22 (IPS) - The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Council announced Wednesday that the 2016 World Conservation Congress (WCC) will meet in Hawaii - the first time in its 66-year history that the world's largest conservation conference will be hosted by the United States.

WASHINGTON, May 22 (IPS) - Pending legislation calling for U.S. President Barack Obama to impose sanctions against key Venezuelan officials is unlikely to defuse the ongoing crisis there and could prove counter-productive, according to both the administration and independent experts here.