News headlines in March 2013, page 5

WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (IPS) - Environmentalists and others here are reacting with concern to a surprise announcement on Monday of a major deal that would see U.S. natural gas exported to the United Kingdom, marking the first time that such sales have been permitted.

WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (IPS) - While the U.S.-led sanctions regime on Iran has produced substantial economic hardship, analysts here are increasingly pointing out that Tehran's controversial nuclear activities have continued unabated.

ATLANTA, Georgia, Mar 26 (IPS) - Even as the issue of gay marriage continues to make waves in the U.S., change is inexorably arriving in the halls of power, with a record seven openly homosexual or bisexual members of the new U.S. Congress.

HAVANA, Mar 26 (IPS) - Thousands of young Cubans are graduating in computer engineering, a sector the government decided to strengthen over the past decade. But their professional future is uncertain because of failures of organisation and of internet connectivity.

SYDNEY, Mar 26 (IPS) - Lynette Edwards (not her real name) grew up watching her mother being beaten by her partner each night. In high school, Edwards began associating with bullies, thinking this would protect her from being abused; but when she turned 16, two male acquaintances raped her.

TOKYO, Mar 26 (IPS) - Pushed and pulled in opposite directions, the future of Japan's energy plans in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two years ago is emerging as a fight between national economic advancement and what anti-nuke activists call "the lives of the people".

LUSITU, Zambia, Mar 26 (IPS) - Indigenous people who were displaced from the Zambezi Valley almost six decades ago for the construction of the Kariba Dam say they have not benefited from the development they made way for.

EL JATATAL, Bolivia, Mar 25 (IPS) - "We can't take any more abuse," Carmelo Tayo, the head of this small Tsimané indigenous village, says sadly. The community has lived for decades on land in Bolivia's Amazon jungle that outsiders are now trying to gain control of.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Mar 25 (IPS) - Days after the sudden fall of the Central African Republic to Séléka rebels, questions are being raised about the circumstances surrounding the hasty departure of President Francois Bozizé.

MBABANE, Mar 25 (IPS) - Every day for the last four years, 52-year-old Tintfombi Msibi has had to walk past the borehole in her village of Ekuphakameni, one of the driest rural villages in southern Swaziland, to a dirty stream two kilometres away to collect drinking water.