News headlines in 2015, page 51

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (IPS) - A group of international scientists, designated as advisers to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has conveyed a significantly timely message to him: science, technology and innovation (STI) can be "the game changer" for the U.N.'s future development efforts.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (IPS) - Barely 10 months ago, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the refugee population from Syria had reached the three million mark. Today, the latest data from the field show that the number has passed four million.

CARACAS, Jul 09 (IPS) - More women could be elected to the Venezuelan legislature, but the new rule on gender parity for the upcoming parliamentary elections has been caught up in the political polarisation that has had this country in its grip for years.

NEW YORK, Jul 09 (IPS) - Civil society representatives attending the board meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in Songdo, South Korea expressed strong disappointment Thursday with the board's decision to accredit Deutsche Bank - one of the world's largest financiers of coal - to receive and distribute GCF funds.

NEW YORK, Jul 09 (IPS) - Lack of ambition and consensus in the New York negotiations begs the question of whether governments in Addis Ababa will salvage or further dilute the outcome of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development from July 13-16.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (IPS) - Implementation of the ambitious post-2015 development agenda which will be adopted in September 2015 at the United Nations depends to a large extent on funding.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (IPS) - As Nepal's monsoon rains approach, some humanitarian aid remains tied up in the capital Kathmandu and there are concerns that a rush to build shelters could lead to the same shoddy construction that collapsed during the Apr. 25 earthquake, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 08 (IPS) - A woman is stopped at a checkpoint; she gives birth, and dies. Another is sold in a slave market. A boy is killed by a tank. A young man drowns at sea, trying to reach a haven safe from oppression and poverty.

MANILA, Jul 08 (IPS) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) started as a cooperation bloc in 1968. Founded by five countries - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines - ASEAN has since evolved into a regional force which is slowly changing the landscape in global politics.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 08 (IPS) - "The action of the private sector can make or break the post-2015 development agenda," Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said in his opening remarks at a side event hosted in the context of a high-level political forum at the U.N. on Tuesday.