News headlines in December 2015, page 3

HAVANA, Dec 16 (IPS) - While the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba is moving ahead, and the U.S. and Cuban flags have been proudly waving in Havana and Washington, respectively, since last July, the year gone by since the thaw has left many unanswered questions.

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Dec 16 (IPS) - While the war in Syria continues to draw in more outside forces, the work towards finding a political solution to this five-year old conflict carries on. In the past week, no less than three separate conferences were organized by different clusters of opposition groups. Conferences were held in three places: Damascus, Dêrîk – a city in the Kurdish-controlled northern part of Syria – and Riyadh, the Saudi capital, respectively.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 16 (IPS) - "We aren't happy here but cannot go back to our country because the situation there was extremely bad," Ghareeb Gul, Afghan refugees told IPS.

PARIS, Dec 15 (IPS) - As the festive season begins, some farmers say that consumers should be asking about the origins of their food, and thinking about who produces it, especially in light of the historic accord reached at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) on Dec. 12 in Paris.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Dec 15 (IPS) - Successive poor harvests have diminished Ndodana Makhalima's household food stocks and the family's nutrition status.

A subsistence farmer in Lupane, about 110 kilometres north of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, 56 year-old Makhalima has learnt to live with hunger on his door step.


YOUNDE, Cameroon, Dec 15 (IPS) - Farmers and activists in Cameroon say a jail sentence handed down on an environmentalist who exposed land-grabbing by a multinational agro-industrial company, sends a dangerous signal to communities trying to protect their land and resources.

BAJOS DE HAINA, Dominican Republic, Dec 15 (IPS) - Rubbish covers the beaches and clutters the rivers, the garbage dump is not properly managed, and more than 100 factories spew toxic fumes into the air in the city of Bajos de Haina, a major industrial hub and port city in the Dominican Republic.

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (IPS) - A new public opinion survey undertaken in six Arab countries, Iran, and Turkey finds that people are more likely to blame "corrupt, repressive, and unrepresentative governments" and "religious figures and groups promoting extremist ideas and/or incorrect religious interpretations" for the rise of violent groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State than they are to blame "anger at the United States."

ROME, Dec 14 (IPS) - The US once led the post-war global effort against hunger and food insecurity, but corporate influence on government trade negotiators now seek to prevent other countries from using some of the very measures it pioneered.

KOROR, Palau, Dec 14 (IPS) - President Tommy Remengesau Jr. of the Pacific island nation of Palau has cemented a legacy as the world's most effective protector of marine life by creating a giant marine reserve that will directly benefit his people through increasing tourism and securing its food supply, scientists say.