News headlines in May 2013, page 15

KABUL, May 16 (IPS) - Western fears of a civil war in Afghanistan are growing ahead of the scheduled pullout of international troops in 2014. However, experts here say the situation on the ground is not comparable to either 1988, when the Soviets withdrew from the country, or the mujahideen's rise to power in 1992, which plunged the country into civil war.

ASIRA AL-QIBLIYA, Occupied West Bank, May 16 (IPS) - Ibrahim Makhlouf reaches for two wooden planks lying in the hallway and places them expertly in an L-shape along the seams of his front door.

GOMA, DR Congo, May 16 (IPS) - The "blind and unrestricted" reintegration of M23 deserters into the Congolese army could harm the country, according to Thomas d'Aquin Mwiti, the chair of the North Kivu civil society platform, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

BELGRADE, May 16 (IPS) - The influential Serbian Orthodox Church publicly crossed a line recently when two of its top clergymen took part in a Belgrade rally with messages amounting to direct threats against the lives of government officials.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (IPS) - Trillions of dollars a year are being produced through extractive industries, but just a tiny percentage of this money is impacting on the lives of poor communities in developing countries, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (IPS) - When the 193-member General Assembly voted Wednesday to condemn the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, there was an increase in the number of sceptics who neither supported nor opposed the tottering regime in Damascus.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (IPS) - Labour groups here are stepping up pressure on U.S. firms to sign a binding building safety agreement for Bangladeshi factories after 10 major European garment companies signed onto the landmark agreement.

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (IPS) - Eighteen days ago, Diane Wilson, a 65-year-old fisherwoman from Texas, decided to go on a hunger strike.

GENEVA, May 15 (IPS) - Brazilian diplomat Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo was named the new director general of the WTO with broad support from the developing world, beating out his Mexican rival Herminio Blanco, who was backed by the industrialised nations.

MANAGUA, May 15 (IPS) - Mayangna indigenous communities in northern Nicaragua are caught up in a life-and-death battle to defend their ancestral territory in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve from the destruction wrought by invading settlers and illegal logging.