News headlines in June 2013, page 13

Jun 16 (IPS) - Saudi Arabian religious scholars are leading an increasingly vocal chorus of Islamic preachers who are urging Muslims and Arabs to support Syrian rebels against what they say are atrocities at the hands of Iran-backed Shiite forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

ROME, Jun 16 (IPS) - Thirty-eight countries were recognised for the first time on Sunday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation for cutting in half the prevalence of people suffering from undernourishment, one of three targets under the first Millennium Development Goal.

ROME, Jun 16 (IPS) - Three different models for regional unification have been proposed by the movement for European integration since its inception. One vision is a league of states that preserve national sovereignty while committing themselves to follow specific policies agreed by consensus.

ADDIS ABABA/LONDON, Jun 16 (IPS) - Ethiopia may be one of the fastest-growing, non-oil producing economies in Africa in recent years, but corruption in this Horn of Africa nation is a deterrent to foreign investors looking for stable long-term partnerships in developing countries.

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Jun 15 (IPS) - Iran's June 14 presidential election results, announced the day after, was nothing less than a political earthquake.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Jun 15 (IPS) - The Caribbean has the unenviable reputation as one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, a situation exacerbated by climate change and vulnerability that experts warn could have significant economic consequences if unaddressed.

ROME, Jun 15 (IPS) - Jassiben, a self-employed potter from Nana Shahpur village in western India, loves summer despite the heat waves and frequent power cuts, because summer days always mean great business.

ROME, Jun 15 (IPS) - The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has long warned that a quarter of the world's farmland is "highly degraded".

MAPHUNGWANE, Swaziland, Jun 15 (IPS) - The overcast sky is a sign that it might rain, and Happy Shongwe, a smallholder farmer from rural Maphungwane in eastern Swaziland, is not exactly happy.

SYDNEY, Jun 15 (IPS) - Following worldwide outrage over a spate of brutal sorcery-related murders in Papua New Guinea, the government has rolled out a new hard-line approach to spiralling crime in this southwest Pacific island state.