News headlines in April 2016

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 30 (IPS) - Imagine a world without the media, where we have no verified information about what's going on around us. Where everything is hearsay and gossip, where there are no trusted sources of information. It would be hard to operate in a world like that: to make decisions about what to do about the things that affect our lives.

CANBERRA, Australia, Apr 30 (IPS) - For more than half a century, the indigenous people of West Papua, located on the western side of the island of New Guinea, who are related to the Melanesians of the southwest Pacific Islands, have waged a resistance to governance by Indonesia and a relentless campaign for self-determination.

BOGOTA, Apr 30 (IPS) - When Tamara Adrián, a Venezuelan transgender opposition legislator, spoke at a panel on inclusion during the last session of the International Civil Society Week held in Bogotá, 12 Latin American women stood up and stormed out of the room.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 29 (IPS) - International capital flows are now more than 60 times the value of trade flows. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is now of the view that large international financial transactions do not facilitate trade, and that excessive financial ‘elasticity' was the cause of recent financial crises.

LIVINGSTONE, Zambia, Apr 29 (IPS) - ‘No Farmer, No Food' is an old slogan that the Zambia National Farmers' Union still uses. Some people consider it a cliché, but it could be regaining its place in history as agriculture is increasingly seen as the answer to a wide range of the world's critical needs such as nutrition, sustainable jobs and income for the rural poor.

Apr 29 (IPS) - Hospitals, health care workers and patients in war zones are supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law yet recent attacks from Syria to Afghanistan suggest that they have become targets.

BUHERA, Zimbabwe, Apr 29 (IPS) - Emaciated and with their ribs jutting out, Evans Sinyoro's cattle lie on the ground overlooking a dry patch of land while the small earth dam nearby is also dry, thanks to the El Nino-induced drought wreaking havoc across Zimbabwe.

NEW YORK, Apr 28 (IPS) - For women journalists, violence and intimidation don't just happen in conflict zones, they are every day experiences.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 (IPS) - Ten presidents and prime ministers from around the world will work together to resolve the growing global water crisis amid warnings that the world may face a 40 percent shortfall in water availability by 2030.

ROME, Apr 28 (IPS) - Media freedoms appear increasingly under siege around the world, with concerning signs that achieving middle-income status is no guarantee for an independent political watchdog in the form of the press.