News headlines in 2017, page 52

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 06 (IPS) - The failure of European Union (EU) to buckle up safety for migrants and refugees reaching its shore has been condemned by Amnesty International in a report today.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 06 (IPS) - A former French judge has been appointed as the head of an independent team tasked with investigating war crimes in Syria.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 06 (IPS) - Allow me first of all to express my deep gratitude to all the colleagues that have worked hard – in the Secretariat, in the Agencies, Funds and Programmes – to allow for this report to be ready on time. And to the leader of the team – the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed – who has been not only the inspiration, but also the centre of management and strength to make things happen, and to make things happen with the required ambition and with the required detail.

MPUMALANGA, South Africa, Jul 06 (IPS) - The United States and Europe's preference for white meat is hurting Africa's poultry industry, says Luc Smalle, manager at the agro firm Rossgro in South Africa's Mpumalanga area.

ROME, Jul 05 (IPS) - In the Near East and North Africa region, the per capita renewable water availability is around 600 cubic metres per person per year --only 10 per cent of the world average- and drops to just 100 cubic metres in some countries, the United Nations warned.

PENANG, Malaysia, Jul 05 (IPS) - It's been 20 years since the Asian financial crisis struck in July 1997.   Since then there has been an even bigger global financial crisis, centred in the United States starting in 2008.  Will there be another crisis in the near future?

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 05 (IPS) - After months of withstanding speculative attacks on its national currency, the Thai central bank let it ‘float' on 2 July 1997, allowing its exchange rate to drop suddenly. Soon, currencies and stock markets throughout the region came under pressure as easily reversible short-term capital inflows took flight in herd-like fashion. By mid-July 1997, the currencies of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines had also fallen precipitously after being floated, with stock market price indices following suit.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 04 (IPS) - A decade ago, it was difficult to get Western policy makers in governments to be interested in the role of religious organizations in human development. The secular mind-set was such that religion was perceived, at best, as a private affair. At worst, religion was deemed the cause of harmful social practices, an obstacle to the "sacred" nature of universal human rights, and/or the root cause of terrorism. In short, religion belonged in the ‘basket of deplorables'.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Jul 04 (IPS) - A leading climate change mitigation and adaptation activist and former climate negotiator in the Caribbean says that the United States could protect its economic and political interest by helping the region to go green.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 03 (IPS) - World hunger has increased, reversing years of progress, said a UN specialised agency.

During its biennial conference held in Rome, Italy from 3-8 July, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) noted that the world is facing it's worst food crisis since World War II.