News headlines in June 2015, page 9

LONDON, Jun 11 (IPS) - One of the promises made by the leaders of the world's seven richest nations when they met at Schloss Elmau in Germany earlier this week was an energy transition over the next decades, aiming to gradually phase out fossil fuel emissions this century to avoid the worst of climate change.

PRAIA/PARIS, Jun 11 (IPS) - Elida Almeida is Cape Verde's newest star, with thousands of fans in Africa and Europe. She sings, dances, plays the guitar, tells jokes, and makes her audiences laugh as well as groove. But behind it all, her music carries a serious message, about the importance of overcoming setbacks, avoiding unplanned pregnancy and following one's dreams.

TAIPEI, Jun 10 (IPS) - I live on a crowded, subtropical island ​nation ​in the Western Pacific, on the opposite side of the "Pacific Pond" from North America. And just south of Taiwan is the ​many-splendored island nation of the ​Philippines. We are neighbours. You can fly there in one hour, it's that close.

GEORGETOWN, Jun 10 (IPS) - Despite its highly variable climate, Guyana is the only Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country that enjoys food security. But rapid climate change could pose a challenge not only for Guyana, but for its Caribbean neigbours who depend on the South American country for much of their produce.

MAROUA, Cameroon, Jun 10 (IPS) - Twelve-year-old Bienvienue Taguieke was expected to obey her parents and marry a man 40 years her senior, but an association of women in Cameroon's Far North Region, where child marriages are rife, put a stop to it in a sign that women are starting to speaking out against the practice.

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 10 (IPS) - Whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are hounded – not by autocratic but by democratic governments – for revealing the truth about grave human rights violations. Nobel peace prize winner, writer and political activist Liu Xiaobo  is currently languishing in a Chinese prison while the killing of Egyptian protestor, poet and mother Shaimaa al-Sabbaghapparently by a masked policeman, in January this year continues to haunt us. 

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - Two years after a massive garments factory collapsed in a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, killing over 1,100 people and leaving more than 2,500 injured, a major international fund has met its target of raising 30 million dollars to be paid out in compensation to the victims and their families.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - As the United Nations continues its negotiations to both define and refine a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before a summit meeting of world leaders in September, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed support for a new "International Decade for Water for Sustainable Development."

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 09 (IPS) - A new survey finds that China leads the world in public support for government action on climate change.

BRUSSELS, Jun 09 (IPS) - We are witnessing a shift in the original rationale behind the unique relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP group, which goes beyond the logic of "unilateral aid transfer", "donor-recipient approach" and "North-South dialogue".