News headlines in July 2014, page 3

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Jul 28 (IPS) - Caught between its quest to grow the economy, create jobs and cut electricity costs, and the negative impacts associated with building an oil refinery, the Antigua and Barbuda government is looking to a mix of clean energy and fossil fuels to address its energy needs.

SYDNEY, Jul 28 (IPS) - New legislation recently passed in the southwest Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) outlawing polygamy has been welcomed by experts in the country as an initial step forward in the battle against high rates of domestic violence, gender inequality and the spread of AIDS.

BEIRUT, Jul 28 (IPS) - In front of Osman Bin Affan Mosque, in a central but narrow street of Beirut, several tank trucks are being filled with large amounts of water. The mosque has its own well, which allows it to pump water directly from the aquifers that cross the Lebanese underground. Once filled, the trucks will start going through the city to supply hundreds of homes and shops.

BUDAPEST, Jul 28 (IPS) - Food security is often thought of as a question of diversifying supply and being able to move food through areas plagued by local scarcity, relying on the global economic system – including trade and transport – as the basis for operations.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 28 (IPS) - To teenagers, running away can seem like the easiest answer to problems at home, but for Alex* it was his only option when his family refused to accept that he identified himself as a transgender male.

LEIDEN, Netherlands, Jul 27 (IPS) - Which story line sounds the more credible – that linking the rebel movement ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) to policies pursued by Iran or that linking the Sunni extremist force to Iran's adversary Saudi Arabia?

GENEVA, Jul 26 (IPS) - A group of developing countries brought a tectonic shift at the World Trade Organization on Friday by turning the tables against the industrialised countries, when they offered a positive trade agenda to expeditiously arrive at a permanent solution for food security and other development issues, before adopting the protocol of amendment of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement.

CAIRO, Jul 26 (IPS) - Less than four percent of Egypt's land mass is suitable for agriculture, and most of it confined to the densely populated Nile River Valley and Delta. With the nation's population of 85 million expected to double by 2050, government officials are grappling with ways of ensuring food security and raising nutritional standards.

ROME, Jul 25 (IPS) - The official outlook for agriculture up to 2023 carries optimistic forecasts for agricultural productivity and commodity prices but it is unlikely that the benefits will be shared by the world's poorest.

LISBON, Jul 25 (IPS) - Evidently, oil talked louder. By unanimous resolution, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) admitted Equatorial Guinea as a full member, in spite of the CPLP's ban on dictatorial regimes and the death penalty.