News headlines in November 2013, page 4

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 25 (IPS) - The world's poorest countries are rethinking economic policies that - even during periods of breakneck growth - have failed to provide quality employment capable of matching a demographic boom.

HAVANA, Nov 25 (IPS) - From a very young age, Irma Castañeda has braided her curly hair and cared for it with natural recipes inherited from her mother, ignoring the widespread conception that black women's hair is "ugly" or "bad".

MANILA, Nov 25 (IPS) - After months of rising tensions over disputed territories in the South China Sea, there are growing signs that the Philippine government is seeking to revive strained relations with Beijing. And no less than the Philippine President Benigno Aquino is spearheading the ongoing efforts to diplomatically resolve territorial disputes and prevent a disastrous conflict in the region.

KAROO, South Africa, Nov 25 (IPS) - To the casual passer-by, Petrus Kabaliso and his wife Cynthia present a disarmingly rustic sight, seated as they are under the shade of a date palm at a truck stop in the scorching Karoo desert, in South Africa's Northern Cape province, a battered umbrella held jauntily over their heads.

GAMBELLA, Ethiopia, Nov 25 (IPS) - Chiang Both from Gambella, a remote and a traditionally non-circumcising province in Ethiopia that borders Sudan, volunteered to undergo the procedure despite his community's initial mistrust.  

WARSAW, Nov 24 (IPS) - The U.N. climate talks in Warsaw ended in dramatic fashion Saturday evening in what looked like a schoolyard fight with a mob of dark-suited supporters packed around the weary combatants, Todd Stern of the United States and Sai Navoti of Fiji representing G77 nations.

GENEVA, Nov 24 (IPS) - A momentous agreement over Iran's nuclear programme was officially announced shortly after 3:00 am local time by Iranian and French diplomats here on Nov. 24 following more than four days of grueling talks.

BEIRUT, Nov 24 (IPS) - Married women in Lebanon who suffer abuse at home remain at the mercy of the country's multitude of religious courts, because the hard-fought civil law against domestic violence has been stalled for a vote in parliament since the summer.

RAIPUR, India, Nov 23 (IPS) - Deep in the forests of central India live the Gond tribals, an almost forgotten lot, neglected as much by the state as by mainstream media. Many cannot read or write. But thanks to a new technology, and the rapid spread of mobile phones through India, they are now picking up their cell phone and making their voice heard.

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (IPS) - As Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of at least four other major powers prepared to join talks with Iran in Geneva Saturday, the stakes over the eventual success or failure of the negotiations seem very much on the rise here.