News headlines in March 2014, page 12

BOSTON, United States, Mar 08 (IPS) - On one of her many visits to Pakistan recently, Sarah Peck, director of the U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council, spent some time talking to young women medical students in Pakistan. She was struck by their passion and commitment -- and by the hurdles they face.

WASHINGTON, Mar 08 (IPS) - Advocacy and accountability groups are urging the U.S. Congress to enact new mechanisms that would allow it to hold multinational corporations accountable for rights infringements abroad.

CARACAS, Mar 07 (IPS) - Seven of the 20 people killed in the street protests that have shaken Venezuela since the second week of February were shot in the head, a testimony to the role being played by firearms in the political struggle in this oil-rich country.

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 07 (IPS) - When Phumzile Khoza* came to the central Johannesburg antenatal clinic on a chilly day in August 2013, she was feeling on edge. Not about the medical procedures – she already had two children – but about talking to the nurse.

ANANATAGIRI, India, Mar 07 (IPS) - Chintapakka Jambulamma, 34, looks admiringly at a solar dryer. It's the prized possession of the Advitalli Tribal Women's Co-operative Society- a collective of women entrepreneurs that she leads.

CAIRO, Mar 07 (IPS) - The group of buildings near Tahrir Square could be modern campus-style office space anywhere. It's hard to believe that just outside the heavy steel gates lies downtown Cairo, the noisy, polluted and now troubled heart of Egypt.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 06 (IPS) - In much of the Arab world, women's participation in the labour force is the lowest in the world, according to the United Nations, while women in politics is a rare breed both in the Middle East and North Africa.

WASHINGTON, Mar 06 (IPS) - As the fate of Ukraine hangs in the balance, U.S. politicians from both parties have been scrambling to take advantage of the crisis.

GENEVA, Mar 06 (IPS) - Several developing countries are now being engulfed in new economic crises as their currency and stock markets are experiencing sharp falls, and the end is not yet in sight.

ALAPPUZHA, (India), Mar 06 (IPS) - Farming, tourism, poor fishing practices along with misdirected policies are muddying the famous backwaters of Kerala, one of India's best known holiday destinations. Nowhere is this misuse more visible than in and around the 95-km-long Vembanad Lake.