News headlines in 2015, page 96

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 (IPS) - When the World Economic Forum (WEF) met last January in Switzerland, attended mostly by the rich and the super-rich, the London-based charity Oxfam unveiled a report with an alarming statistic: if current trends continue, the world's richest one percent would own more than 50 percent of the world's wealth by 2016.

CANBERRA, Australia, Mar 23 (IPS) - Rising multi-drug resistance in patients suffering from tuberculosis, a debilitating infectious lung disease which mainly impacts the developing world, has led to a public health emergency in the southwest Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea, according to state officials.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 (IPS) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has been attacked by activists over alleged support of a plan to privatise African agricultural markets.

SAN SALVADOR, Mar 23 (IPS) - Textile companies that make clothing for transnational brands in El Salvador are accused of forging alliances with gang members to make death threats against workers and break up their unions, according to employees who talked to IPS and to international organisations.

CAMBRIDGE, UK, Mar 23 (IPS) - On Feb. 13, 2014, heads of state and ministers from 41 countries met in London to inject a new level of political momentum into efforts to combat the growing global threat posed by illegal wildlife trade to species such as elephants, rhinos and tigers.

PARIS, Mar 23 (IPS) - We are lucky to live in a country that has long since abandoned the image of the damsel in distress. Even Disney princesses now save themselves and send unsuitable "saviours" packing. But despite the great strides being made in gender equality, we are still failing rural women, particularly women farmers.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 (IPS) - The Commission on the Status of Women, one of the biggest events on the calendar for United Nations headquarters in New York City, is over for another year.

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 23 (IPS) - For those of us interested in a vibrant civil society, it seems to be best of times and the worst of times.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 22 (IPS) - Guards at a Nauru refugee detention centre managed by the Australian government traded marijuana for sexual favours from detainees, according to the latest damning report into the Australia's beleaguered refugee policy.

OWERRI, Nigeria, Mar 22 (IPS) - In Nigeria, it's all about the numbers. My nation recently became the largest economy in Africa by some distance, with a GDP of well over 500 billion dollars.