News headlines in February 2014, page 8

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 (IPS) - As the world moves closer to the 2015 end mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new U.N. report illuminates how far global society has come, but also how far it still must travel to achieve its objectives.

NUEVO VALLARTA, Mexico, Feb 14 (IPS) - For decades, Yasuaki Yamashita kept secret his experiences as a survivor of the nuclear attack launched by the United States on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.

CAPE TOWN, Feb 14 (IPS) - "Every day I live in fear that I will be raped," said Thembela*, one of thousands of lesbians across South Africa being terrorised by the scourge of "corrective rape".

ANKARA, Feb 14 (IPS) - Turkey is waiting to see if President Abdullah Gul will ratify the government's controversial Internet bill, which opposition parties, civil society and the international community call a major restriction on freedom of expression.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (IPS) - Even as most international military forces are slated to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, USAID, the foreign aid arm of the U.S. government, is emphasising its sustained commitment to developing Afghanistan's economy after the withdrawal.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (IPS) - The United States is the world's leading arms trafficking nation, with $60 billion in arms transfer agreements last year alone. In 2011, U.S. companies and the U.S. government controlled over three-quarters of the international weapons trade.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (IPS) - A major grouping of rich countries has unveiled a new model for the automatic exchange of certain individual financial information between countries, aimed at significantly cutting down on offshore tax evasion.

BAMAKO, Feb 13 (IPS) - Aminata Diarra last saw her brother, Malamine, a member of the Malian Red Berets, special forces loyal to ousted president Amadou Toumani Toure, alive on national television almost two years ago.

LA PAZ, Feb 13 (IPS) - Three years ago Bolivia passed a law to combat discrimination and racism, but no one has been convicted as a result, in spite of hundreds of legal complaints.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 (IPS) - Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an annual event that deals with a subject that is very close to my heart.  The summit gathered together amazing people: Nobel Prize winners, thought leaders, heads of state, corporate innovators, and academicians to deal with the paramount challenges of the 21st Century all focused on three pressing dimensions of sustainability:  food, water and energy.