News headlines in October 2014, page 8

NAIROBI, Oct 17 (IPS) - Although AIDS has defied science by killing millions of people throughout Africa in the last three decades, HIV experts now believe that they have found the magic numbers to end AIDS as a public health threat in 15 years.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (IPS) - President Barack Obama is under significant pressure to impose a range of restrictions on travellers coming to the United States from West African countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (IPS) - After six weeks in office, the new U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein of Jordan launched a blistering attack on member states for insufficient funding, thereby forcing operations in his office to the breaking point "in a world that seems to be lurching from crisis to ever-more dangerous crisis."

PYEONGCHANG, Republic of Korea, Oct 16 (IPS) - Bamboo Avenue is a two-and-a-half mile stretch of road in Jamaica's St. Elizabeth parish. It is lined with giant bamboo plants which tower above the road and cross in the middle to form a shady tunnel. The avenue was established in the 17th century by the owners of the Holland Estate to provide shade for travelers and to protect the road from erosion.

TABOGA, Panama, Oct 16 (IPS) - Fermín Gómez, a 53-year-old Panamanian fisherman, pushes off in his boat, the "Tres Hermanas," every morning at 06:00 hours to fish in the waters off Taboga island. Five hours later he returns to shore.

PYEONGCHANG, Republic of Korea, Oct 16 (IPS) - The Mountain Chicken isn't a fowl, as its name suggests, but a frog. Kimisha Thomas, hailing from the Caribbean island nation of Dominica, remembers a time when she could find these amphibians or ‘crapaud' as locals call them "just in the backyard".

BISHKEK, Oct 16 (IPS) - Each winter in Kyrgyzstan the energy situation seems to worsen; blackouts last longer, and officials seem less able to do anything to improve conditions. This year is expected to be particularly difficult.

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 16 (IPS) - Ethiopia has experienced its fair share of environmental damage and degradation but nowadays it is increasingly setting an example on how to combat climate change while also achieving economic growth. 

MARRAKECH, Oct 16 (IPS) - Africa has the capacity to access at least 200 billion dollars for sustainable development investment but it will remain a slave to foreign aid unless it improves the climate for investment and trade and plugs illicit financial flows, development experts say.

CÁRDENAS, Cuba, Oct 16 (IPS) - Cafés, real estate agencies, taxis and other small privately-owned businesses and cooperatives in Cuba have brought new life to the depressed local economy and have given rise to pockets of prosperity in the country's towns and cities.