News headlines in May 2013, page 20

NAIROBI, May 09 (IPS) - Kenya's nominees for cabinet secretary positions, who include an unprecedented number of women - six out of 18 - will undergo a gruelling public vetting process by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments Thursday.

WASHINGTON, May 09 (IPS) - The surprise accord reached by the U.S. and Russia in Moscow Tuesday to try to convene an international conference to resolve the two-year-old civil war in Syria as soon as the end of this month has been greeted with equal measures of hope and scepticism.

DHAKA, May 08 (IPS) - Adding to a long list of domestic woes, including a factory collapse that left hundreds dead last month, Bangladesh is now grappling with a wave of violence that threatens to deepen the gulf between secular sections of society and religious fundamentalists.

MEXICO CITY, May 08 (IPS) - In the 2011 action-thriller "Unknown", scientists are persecuted by the biotech industry because they plan the open release of a drought- and pest-resistant strain of maize that could help eradicate world hunger.

May 08 (IPS) - When a Southeast Asian country was riddled with corruption in a bygone era, there were rumours that government officials routinely offered receipts every time they accepted a bribe.

SANTIAGO, May 08 (IPS) - Chile is one of the countries with the greatest potential for geothermal energy development in Latin America, but a lack of incentives for investment in the sector has kept it from moving past the exploratory phase. A strategic partnership with New Zealand aims to change that situation.

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 08 (IPS) - July will mark the start of a new era for the Common Southern Market (Mercosur), when it will expand to five full members, if the South American bloc manages to overcome the commotion caused by the admission of Venezuela and the suspension of Paraguay.

NEW DELHI, May 08 (IPS) - Harsh police handling of public protests erupting across India over a spate of sensational rapes since December has resulted in renewed demands to reform a force that retains the repressive features of its colonial origins.

PUTTALAM, Sri Lanka, May 08 (IPS) - The camp should not have been difficult to find. We were told to drive straight on the road that leads north away from the town of Puttalam, 140 kilometres from Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, and we would come upon the settlement of internally displaced people.

PESHAWAR, May 08 (IPS) - "Women in Pakhtun society have traditionally helped their men in hard times," declares former Pakistani lawmaker Shagufta Malik. They are doing so again, and how, going by their hectic campaigning activity in northern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.