News headlines in July 2013, page 12

BRUSSELS, Jul 17 (IPS) - Hundreds of European vessels are scrapped under hazardous conditions in South Asia every year. European parliamentarians have approved a new regulation to tackle the problem - but critics say it will have very limited impact.

NEW YORK, Jul 16 (IPS) - The violent drug war in Mexico's borderlands has changed the face of the country, injecting fear into both average citizens and the journalists trying to tell their stories.

KOLKATA, India, Jul 16 (IPS) - Preeti Rathi was just 25 years old when she passed away in a Mumbai hospital exactly a month after a man threw acid on her while she stood waiting on a railway platform.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 16 (IPS) - Brazil, reportedly one of the main targets of U.S. signals spying, is attempting to untangle a web of hi-tech espionage with low-tech equipment reminiscent of a novel by British author John le Carré.

MEXICO CITY, Jul 16 (IPS) - Jungles, forests, mangroves, swamps and lagoons are natural carbon storehouses or "sinks" in the Caribbean regions of Mexico. But now studies are being conducted to measure their capacity for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 16 (IPS) - Despite the United Nations' "zero tolerance" policy against sexual violence, there has been a rash of gender-based crimes in several of the world's conflict zones, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Northern Uganda, Somalia, the Central African Republic - and, more recently, in politically-troubled Egypt and Syria.

GAZA CITY, Jul 16 (IPS) - Mohammed Assaf is on to a winning track with recordings in Dubai and performances scheduled across Arab countries after winning the Arab Idol contest. But the 23-year-old who has become Gaza's pride is virtually disowned by the government in Gaza.

DHAKA, Jul 16 (IPS) - When it comes to media, Bangladesh boasts some impressive statistics: it has the largest number of outlets among the world's least developed countries (LDCs), including 50 nationwide dailies, of which eight are English-language newspapers; 25 television channels; seven FM radio stations; 14 community radio channels and over 300 regional magazines published in English and Bengali.

WASHINGTON, Jul 16 (IPS) - As a new round of talks behind a major proposed free trade area, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), get underway this week, the United States is pushing several developing countries to accept provisions that critics say would make it more difficult for their citizens to access medicine.

WASHINGTON, Jul 16 (IPS) - As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed his threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, 29 former senior U.S. experts and foreign diplomats urged President Barack Obama to show greater flexibility in anticipated negotiations following the inauguration of President-elect Hassan Rouhani.