News headlines in May 2013, page 9

CHAPAINAWABGANJ, Bangladesh, May 22 (IPS) - Fahima Begum rises each morning at dawn and walks two kilometres to a small pond, the nearest source of fresh water. On her way she passes the rusty old hand-pumped tube well that used to supply water to her village in Bangladesh's arid Barind region until the water table here dropped out of reach.

UNITED NATIONS, May 22 (IPS) - The global fight against HIV/AIDS has seen recent hard-won breakthroughs, including the discovery of the genetic hiding place of the virus by doctors in Australia, a 50-percent drop in new infections across 25 low- and middle-income countries, and an increase of 63 percent in the number of people with access to HIV medication.

SANTIAGO, May 22 (IPS) - Chile's position as the world's top producer of copper is not under threat, but the country faces the challenge of transforming its copper mining industry into social capital for the long term, and addressing high energy costs, which have grown seven-fold over the last decade, experts told IPS.

HONOLULU, Hawaii, May 22 (IPS) - With the disqualification of former president and current chair of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani by a vetting body, the Guardian Council, Iran's presidential campaign is opening with many in the country in a state of shock.

NAIROBI, May 22 (IPS) - Amid warnings that Kenya's agricultural water use is surpassing sustainable levels and adversely affecting food security, biodiversity researchers say that agrobiodiversity should be considered as a vital tool to combat this.

KARACHI, May 22 (IPS) - Staring out at his golden wheat field with satisfaction, 50-year old Alamgir Akbar says with a sigh of relief: "We've had a good crop this season."

JOHANNESBURG, May 22 (IPS) - The lack of economic diversification throughout sub-Saharan Africa means that despite South Africa's pledges to help Nigeria make the automotive sector the West African nation's flagship industrial target, it may be difficult to do so, experts say.

WASHINGTON, May 22 (IPS) - U.S. officials Tuesday formally unveiled the government's first comprehensive strategy aimed at integrating water into all U.S. development funding and programmes, a step long urged by advocates and development experts.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 21 (IPS) - Everyone knows water is life. Far too few understand the role of trees, plants and other living things in ensuring we have clean, fresh water.

HAVANA, May 21 (IPS) - "The people are the only thing that matters," says agronomist Miguel Ángel Salcines, who then goes on to list a series of other "secondary" factors that have turned Vivero Alamar, an urban farm on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, into a rare success story in the country's depressed agricultural sector.