News headlines in February 2016, page 4

MADRID/CAIRO, Feb 22 (IPS) - In Egypt more than 1,500 public and private business delegates and state leaders agreed on 20-21 February to mobilise massive investments for the implementation of Africa's largest trading bloc whichwas created last year by 26 African countries with a total of 620 million consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearing 1,2 trillion dollars.The agreement crowned the "Africa 2016" investment forum held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh with the participation of business leaders together with government officials and heads of international organisations to discuss trade and investment as engines of progress. African heads of state and government from Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and the, Sudan took part in the forum.

OXFORD, Feb 22 (IPS) - Iran will hold two crucial elections on February 26, 2016, which could decide the fate of the Islamic Republic for many years to come. Earlier this month, Iranians celebrated the 37th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. During that period, the country experienced revolutionary upheavals, a disastrous eight-year war with Iraq that killed and wounded nearly a million Iranians, eight years of populist rule by a hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and crippling Western sanctions.

SRINAGAR, India, Feb 22 (IPS) - Maryam Yousuf, 50, gently washes her hands under a common tap outside her house in Saida Kadal, a grassy middle-class locale encircled by the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir's capital. She puts on a Pheran, the traditional long loose gown, and holding a large steel bucket walks towards a dimly-lit cowshed, made up of wooden shingles, in a corner of her home backyard. Nearby, children are playing cricket, flaunting wooden sticks as bats, and a flock of chicken cluck and nibble at left-over vegetables.

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia, Feb 20 (IPS) - The police cut down trees at six different points to block the road to the spot in northeast Colombia where priest-turned-guerrilla Camilo Torres was killed 50 years ago, and local residents protested the attempt to pay homage to him.

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (IPS) - Children of alcoholics are the forgotten victims of someone else's alcohol use. All too often they do remain invisible and alone, neglected by their parents, overlooked by teachers, down prioritized and ignored by governments and authorities.

BERLIN, PARIS AND BRUSSELS, Feb 19 (IPS) - The day, 12 December 2015 was historic. Following decades of negotiations, countries agreed to sign the first global, legally binding climate agreement.

"Every government seems to recognize now that the fossil fuel era must end and soon", said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. Two months after the deal was reached at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties 21 (COP21), it is time to see to which extent these words have translated into concrete action.

NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (IPS) - China's strength in South-South Cooperation (SSC) lies in its carrying out big-ticket infrastructure projects in diverse developing countries. It is remarkable in terms of project scale, speed and cost-effectiveness and has been playing a positive role in promoting partner's nation-building, economic development and social progress. However, the swift completion of China's infrastructure projects also has its sets of problems like little or no paper-work leading to lack of transparency, oversight and post-project monitoring. The backlash against Chinese labourers employed by Chinese companies in developing countries has been routinely highlighted by the international media with allegations of skirmishes with the local population, corruption coupled with resource theft.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (IPS) - Ban Ki-moon maybe fighting a losing battle to resolve one of the biggest humanitarian problems facing the world body – even as he completes his last 10 months as UN Secretary-General.

KAMPALA, Uganda, Feb 18 (IPS) - Mayimuna Monica* has been living with HIV for over 10 years and wants to have a baby. But she can't because her uterus was removed against her will at a government hospital where she had gone to deliver her last child now aged eight. "My uterus was removed in 2007. When I got pregnant and went for medical check-up, the doctor asked me why I was pregnant. I told him I want to have a third child. The doctor said, you people living with HIV at times annoy us because you understand your situation but you come to disturb us." Mayimuna narrates.

ROME, Feb 17 (IPS) - It is not coincidental that Boutros Boutros-Ghali (BBG) was the only Secretary General, in the history of the United Nations, that was able to serve only one period, instead of the two that have always been allowed. United States did veto his re-election, in spite of the favourable vote of the other members of the Security Council.