News headlines in August 2015, page 5

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 20 (IPS) - In recent years, online activism platforms have multiplied to the degree that they are starting to have a significant real world impact in areas like environmental protection, human rights and public policy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 19 (IPS) - Overcoming a serious funding shortfall, and caught between numerous regional conflicts, the United Nation's humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees announced on Aug. 19 that it would nevertheless open schools on time for the roughly half-a-million children who rely on the international community for their education.

NEW YORK, Aug 19 (IPS) - Following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who has taken a vocal stance on climate change, Muslim leaders and scholars from 20 countries issued a joint declaration Tuesday underlining the severity of the problem and urging governments to commit to 100 percent renewable energy or a zero emissions strategy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 19 (IPS) - The writing on the Western Wall is evident to most Israelis: "דמוגרפיה היא גורל" or "demography is destiny". Those unwilling to acknowledge the prophetic message are either deceiving themselves or simply ignoring it in order to avoid facing the implications of demography for Israel's future.

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 19 (IPS) - The indigenous camp installed six months ago in the Argentine capital is virtually invisible to passersby who drive or walk quickly around it. The protesters are demanding the return of their land in the northeastern province of Formosa, which has not been fully demarcated and is caught in a web of conflicting economic interests.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 (IPS) - As the number of civilians impacted by the intensifying conflict in Afghanistan rises along with the fighting, humanitarian agencies are struggling to meet the needs of the wounded, hungry and displaced.

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (IPS) - As the U.S. Congress prepares to vote next month on the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was agreed on July 14 between the world's leading powers and Iran, and has been approved by the U.N. Security Council, eminent nuclear non-proliferation experts are mobilising international support for its immediate implementation.

VIENNA, Aug 18 (IPS) - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has praised Bolivia for reducing coca bush cultivation for the fourth year in a row. According to the latest Coca Crop Monitoring Surveyreleased Tuesday in La Paz, coca cultivation declined by 11 per cent in 2014, compared to the previous year.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 (IPS) - The United Nations is commemorating World Humanitarian Day with "inspiring" human interest stories of survival – even as the world body describes the current refugee crisis as the worst for almost a quarter of a century.