News headlines in May 2015

BUENOS AIRES, May 30 (IPS) - The death of two Bolivian boys in a fire and the mistreatment and sexual abuse of a young Bolivian woman put the problem of slave-like labour conditions in clandestine sweatshops back in the headlines in Argentina.

BRISBANE, May 30 (IPS) - Every year since 1998, Australia has marked ‘National Sorry Day' on May 26, a day to remember the tens of thousands of indigenous children who, between the 1890s and 1970s, were forcibly removed from their communities by government authorities and placed into the care of white families or institutions to be assimilated into settler society.

SANTIAGO, May 29 (IPS) - The Latin American and Caribbean region is the first in the world to reach the two global targets for reducing hunger. Nevertheless, more than 34 million people still go hungry.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (IPS) - In many ways, Jayakumari Balendran epitomizes the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces, both during and after the island nation's 26-year-long civil conflict.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (IPS) - Leaked United Nations documents show high-level staff knew of abuses by soldiers in the Central African Republic and failed to act, all while planning the removal of U.N. whistleblower Anders Kompass.

AMSTERDAM, May 29 (IPS) - Huizen, a small town of less than 50,000 inhabitants, has become the first town in the Netherlands to prohibit the sale of Nazi paraphernalia.

NASSAU, May 29 (IPS) - Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have championed the phrase "1.5 to stay alive" in demanding that global temperature increases be kept as far below 1.5 degrees C as possible to limit the anticipated devastating effects of climate change on the world's most vulnerable countries.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (IPS) - The United Nations is not only overwhelmed by a spreading humanitarian crisis, largely in Africa and the Middle East, but also remains hamstrung by a severe shortfall in funds, mostly from Western donors.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (IPS) - When war breaks out, most non-combatants run the other way. But a handful of courageous reporters see it as their duty to tell the world what's happening on the ground. And many pay a high price.

MUNICH, Germany, May 28 (IPS) - After peace talks failed earlier this month, the ongoing conflict in South Sudan between government forces and opposition forces that began at the end of 2013 is having a severe impact on the country's food security and civilian safety.