News headlines in July 2015

LONDON, Jul 31 (IPS) - Cecil the lion, a magnificent senior male, much loved and part of a long-term research project, was lured out of a safe haven in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park last week and apparently illegally shot, to endure a protracted death.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 (IPS) - "Let us remember that behind every story, every figure, every number, there is a person - a girl, a boy, a parent, a family," Anne Christine Eriksson, Acting Director of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said at a panel discussion at the U.N. on Thursday.

ALTAMIRA, Brazil, Jul 31 (IPS) - Paulo de Oliveira drives a taxi in the northern Brazilian city of Altamira, but only when he is out of work in what he considers his true profession: operator of heavy vehicles like trucks, mixers or tractor loaders.

GAZA CITY, Jul 31 (IPS) - Thirteen-year-old Hula Khadoura sits on a large sofa in her grandfather's home in the neighbourhood of Tuffah, Gaza City, her one-year-old twin brothers Karam and Adam on her lap. "I am so happy they arrived," she beams, holding the babies' feeding bottles in her hands.

PARIS, Jul 30 (IPS) - The digital economy permeates countless aspects of the world economy, impacting sectors as varied as banking, retail, energy, transportation, education, publishing, media or health. But the full potential of the digital economy has yet to be realised even in the world's most advanced and emerging countries, says a new report.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - With the enthusiasm of the recent Financing for Development conference behind us, the central issues and many layers of what is at stake are now firmly in sight. In fact, a complex issue like hunger, which is a long standing development priority, remains an everyday battle for almost 795 million people worldwide.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - Liberia's Ebola epidemic may have subsided but the after effects are still being felt, with tens of thousands of infants going unregistered at birth, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF says.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - This October will mark the 15^th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325. The landmark resolution on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) recognises not only the disproportionate impact armed conflict has on women, but also the lack of women's involvement in conflict resolution and peace-making.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - The global population has now reached 7.3 billion. In the last 12 years, the world has added approximately one billion people, and in the next 15 years this is expected to occur again.