News headlines in May 2013, page 18

KARACHI, May 11 (IPS) - The road leading to the office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) wears a forlorn look. The same deserted air hangs over the Awami National Party (ANP) headquarters here in Karachi, just hours before voting begins on Saturday in Pakistan's long-awaited general elections.

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (IPS) - Adding fuel to a long-simmering dispute between the U.S. and Pakistan, a Peshawar High Court declared CIA drone strikes illegal on Thursday, referring to such attacks in Pakistan's tribal belt as "war crime(s)".

UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (IPS) - Israel, which has launched three air strikes inside Syria since January this year, has escaped scrutiny or condemnation by a Security Council which remains sharply divided.

MEXICO CITY, May 10 (IPS) - Latin American states are still failing to provide guarantees for women's educational, sexual and reproductive rights, according to activists from different regions of the world meeting in the Mexican capital.

MIANWALI, Pakistan, May 10 (IPS) - For 70-year-old Ghulam Fatima, the upcoming general elections on May 11 promise to be unlike any she has witnessed before in Pakistan.

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 10 (IPS) - Tuchinha was once a drug lord in Rio de Janeiro's Mangueira favela. But today he is helping youngsters turn their lives around and leave behind crime, prison and the likelihood of an early death.

PESHAWAR, May 10 (IPS) - If you can't beat them, at least innovate. That seems to be the lesson that Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) has drawn from its predicament.

DHAKA, May 10 (IPS) - Last month, 18-year-old Shapla was just another one of thousands of garment workers employed in a factory in Savar, a suburb of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

CAIRO, May 10 (IPS) - Regardless of who is responsible for Egypt's current political impasse – be it the administration of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi or an aggressive secular opposition – local experts are certain of at least one fact: Egypt's dire economic circumstances will not improve without political stability.

ADDIS ABABA, May 10 (IPS) - Several Ethiopian publications are coming together to set up a 'press council' with the hope of easing restrictions on the media in Ethiopia.