News headlines in July 2014, page 2

SAN JOSE, Jul 30 (IPS) - China's plan to become Costa Rica's main energy ally through the joint reconstruction of an oil refinery has been revived after the presidents of the two countries agreed to review the conditions of the project during a meeting in the Brazilian capital.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 (IPS) - As the death toll in Gaza keeps climbing - and charges of alleged war crimes against Israel keep mounting - the most powerful political body at the United Nations remains ineffective, impotent and in a state of near paralysis.

WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - As the killing and destruction rages on in Gaza, and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hamas leadership exchange recriminations and threats, key regional and world players must accept a central truism: No peace can be achieved between Israel and the Palestinians without including Hamas. The quicker they internalise this fact, the faster the cycle of violence can be broken.

SAN SALVADOR, Jul 29 (IPS) - El Salvador is making steady progress towards diversifying its energy sources, with a plan to bolster the use of cleaner sources and achieve a substantial change in its energy mix by 2018.

ISTANBUL, Jul 29 (IPS) - Among the labyrinth of winding narrow streets just outside a major shopping centre in the Kumkapi neighbourhood of Istanbul is a rundown road, congested with shops and apartments stacked atop one another.

GENEVA, Jul 29 (IPS) - In the 1960s, there were high hopes for the development of the newly-independent sub-Saharan African countries but these hopes were quickly dashed following a series of shocks which began in the mid-70s, with the first oil price spikes, followed by a severe decline in growth and increase in poverty in the 80s and early 90s.

ROME, Jul 29 (IPS) - With Italy having taken over presidency of the European Union (EU) until December 2014, questions remain regarding Europe's migration policies as reports of migrants dying at sea while trying to reach Italy regularly make the headlines.

LUCCA, Italy, Jul 29 (IPS) - "Only two years ago, the soup kitchen was serving 50 meals a day. Today the number has almost doubled and, what is even more worrying, we have started receiving families with children," says Donatella Turri, director of the Caritas Diocese of Lucca.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 28 (IPS) - As the ambulance stopped in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, people rushed in to help. They unloaded six children, from several months to 11 years old, all injured allegedly by an air attack in the neighbouring town of Tuz Khurmatu.

MEXICO CITY, Jul 28 (IPS) - Construction worker Leobardo Gómez has been out of work for nine months since he slipped and fell to the street on a construction site in the Mexican capital in October.