News headlines in 2015, page 64

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 10 (IPS) - Whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are hounded – not by autocratic but by democratic governments – for revealing the truth about grave human rights violations. Nobel peace prize winner, writer and political activist Liu Xiaobo  is currently languishing in a Chinese prison while the killing of Egyptian protestor, poet and mother Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, apparently by a masked policeman, in January this year continues to haunt us. 

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - Two years after a massive garments factory collapsed in a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, killing over 1,100 people and leaving more than 2,500 injured, a major international fund has met its target of raising 30 million dollars to be paid out in compensation to the victims and their families.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - As the United Nations continues its negotiations to both define and refine a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before a summit meeting of world leaders in September, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed support for a new "International Decade for Water for Sustainable Development."

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - A new survey finds that China leads the world in public support for government action on climate change.

BRUSSELS, Jun 09 (IPS) - We are witnessing a shift in the original rationale behind the unique relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP group, which goes beyond the logic of "unilateral aid transfer", "donor-recipient approach" and "North-South dialogue".

SANTIAGO, Jun 09 (IPS) - The progress that Latin America has made in reducing child mortality is cited by international institutions as an example to be followed, and the region has met the fourth Millennium Development Goal, which is to cut the under-five mortality rate by two thirds.

ROME, Jun 09 (IPS) - Only 50 years of Cold War (and the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel grew up in East Germany) can possibly explain the strange political power of the United States over Europe.

NEW DELHI, Jun 09 (IPS) - In a bid to overhaul the country's child labour laws, the Indian government has banned the employment of children below 14 years of age in various commercial ventures, while permitting them to work in family enterprises and on farmlands after school hours and during vacations.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 08 (IPS) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, reportedly under heavy pressure from the United States and Israel, has decided not to blacklist the Jewish state in an annex to a new U.N. report on children victimised in armed conflicts.

ANKARA, Jun 08 (IPS) - The results of the Turkish elections of Jun. 7 have put an end to the suspense that has dominated national politics in the past three months. For the first time in this Asian republic's history, a Kurdish party has succeeded in being elected to the legislature, with an impressive 15 percent of the seats available.