News headlines in September 2014, page 2

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 28 (IPS) - With state support moving at an unprecedented pace, the Arms Trade Treaty will enter into force on Dec. 24, 2014, only 18 months after it was opened for signature.

WASHINGTON, Sep 27 (IPS) - Iraqi President Fouad Massoum said this past week that the government was looking for an independent Sunni Muslim to fill the post of defense minister in an effort to improve chances of reunifying the country and defeating the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS).

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 (IPS) - When the United Nations commemorated its first ever "international day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons," the lingering question in the minds of most anti-nuclear activists was: are we anywhere closer to abolishing the deadly weapons or are we moving further and further away from their complete destruction?

WASHINGTON, Sep 27 (IPS) - President Barack Obama this week extended the no-fishing areas around three remote pacific islands, eliciting praise from some, and disappointment from those who fear the move did not go far enough towards helping depleted species of fish recover.

KABUL, Sep 26 (IPS) - Seventy-year-old Mohamad Arif still earns a living in the streets of Kabul. He prepares all kind of documents for those who cannot read or write – in other words, the majority of people in this country of 30.5 million people.

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (IPS) - President Obama's speech at the United Nations on Sep. 23 offered a rhetorically eloquent roadmap on how to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (IPS) - Once again, Washington claims Bolivia has not met its obligations under international narcotics agreements. For the seventh year in a row, the U.S. president has notified Congress that the Andean country "failed demonstrably" in its counter-narcotics efforts over the last 12 months. Blacklisting Bolivia means the withholding of U.S. aid from one of South America's poorest countries.

ABDIJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, Sep 26 (IPS) - In the middle of downtown Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, the aisles of a thriving supermarket are full of customers. But as they line up to pay for their items, there is one line to a cashier's till that remains empty. It's the "green cash register", where the cashier does not provide plastic bags as this supermarket tries to implement a green policy. 

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (IPS) - Despite mounting pledges of assistance, the continuing spread of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is outpacing regional and international efforts to stop it, according to world leaders and global health experts.

Sep 26 (IPS) - Twenty-five-year-old Khemwanti Pradhan is a ‘Mitanin' – a trained and accredited community health worker – based in the Nagarbeda village of the Bastar region in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.