News headlines in October 2015

PEMBA, Southern Zambia, Oct 31 (IPS) - It is slightly after 10 o'clock in the morning and 48-year-old Felix Muchimba of Siamuleya village in Pemba district has just finished having breakfast – a traditional drink called Chibwantumade of maize meal and grit.

SAN JOSE, Oct 30 (IPS) - For decades, the countries of Central America have borne the heavy impact of extreme climate phenomena like hurricanes and severe drought. Now, six of them are demanding that the entire planet recognise their climate vulnerability.

AMMAN, Oct 30 (IPS) - The 193 member states of the United Nations have adopted an ambitious 15-year sustainable development agenda, the 2030 Global Goals.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 (IPS) - A coalition of independent Nepali citizens – including diplomats, journalists, women's rights leaders, medical doctors and former U.N. officials – is calling on the international community and the United Nations to take "effective steps" to help remove an "economic blockade" imposed on Nepal.

Oct 29 (IPS) - Working as a musician in a military band is the dream of 21-year-old Jackson Coutinho, since hopes that a petrochemical complex would drive the industrialisation of this Brazilian city near Rio de Janeiro have gone up in smoke.

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (IPS) - Women are having fewer than two children on average in 83 countries, representing nearly half of the world's population. And in some countries, such as Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Singapore, South Korea and Spain, average fertility levels are now closer to one child per woman than the replacement level of about two children (Figure 1).

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 (IPS) - When his father drove back to pay the 47 Malaysian cents they owed to the food stall they had just left, then nine-year-old Anis Yusal Yusoff, today president and chief executive officer of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, learned the meaning of standing firm by one's values.

PAVAKODICHENNAI, Sri Lanka, Oct 29 (IPS) - Thavarasa Utharai's most treasured belongings are stuck inside several plastic bags and tucked within old traveling bags.

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (IPS) - Surprise turned to confusion, then to horror, when the children at Kiata primary school realized that the soldiers they had spotted at the bottom of the hill were heading for their school and its occupants.

PESHAWAR, Oct 28 (IPS) - "My grandmother rushed inside the room to save me. Roof suddenly collapsed and she died," said 12-year-old Mushtari Bibi.