News headlines in 2017, page 82

CIENEGUITA, Costa Rica, Mar 28 (IPS) - Two years have gone by since the new government initiative which subsidises community works changed the face with which the coastal town of Cienaguita, on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, looks out to the sea.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Mar 28 (IPS) - The Caribbean Drought & Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN) is warning countries in the region that the same abnormal climate conditions they have experienced over the last few years, which resulted in some of the worst drought in two decades, could continue this year.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 27 (IPS) - A top UN human rights group has decided to investigate human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

ROME/CAIRO, Mar 27 (IPS) - Food security and nutrition levels in the Near East and North Africa have sharply deteriorated over the last five years, undermining the steady improvement achieved before 2010 when the prevalence of undernourishment, stunting, anaemia and poverty were decreasing, a new UN report warns.

ROME, Mar 27 (IPS) - For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history. Slavery is, nevertheless, far from being just a chapter of the past—it still there, with estimated 21 million victims of forced labour and extreme exploitation around the world--nearly the equivalent to of the combined population of Scandinavian countries.

PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 26 (IPS) - The Trinidad and Tobago government has invested about 74 million dollars in the first phase of a 295-million-dollar project to encourage more drivers to use Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), described by experts here as a preliminary step in the country's transition to using more sustainable forms of energy.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 (IPS) - Physical injuries are some of the more visible, and at times most deadly, consequences of gender-based violence (GBV). But the long-term mental health consequences are often invisible and left untreated. Similarly, the reproductive and sexual health needs of survivors from rape and sexual violence – to reduce the risk of HIV and STIs, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe terminations, and long-term reproductive complications – are often unmet, stigmatised and under-reported.

VIENNA/Oxford/LONDON, Mar 24 (IPS) - Nuclear weapons are once again high on the international agenda, and experts note that the risk of a nuclear detonation is the highest since the Cold War.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 24 (IPS) - The Carbon Law says human carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be reduced by half each decade starting in 2020. By following this "law" humanity can achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by mid-century to protect the global climate for current and future generations.

PARIS, Mar 24 (IPS) - With widespread attacks on professional journalists and the rise of a fake-news industry, media experts agree that journalism is increasingly under fire. But how can the press fight back and ensure its survival?