News headlines in March 2016, page 2

ROME, Mar 28 (IPS) - The recent Brussels massacre has created a short term reaction, which ignores a long term projection. All the debate is now about security, police reinforcement, new military strategies, as if terrorism can be solved just as a matter of public order.

GENEVA, Mar 28 (IPS) - African countries have been active in concluding international investment treaties. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as of end 2013, 793 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have been concluded by African countries, representing 27% of the total number of (BITs) worldwide.

LILONGWE, Malawi, Mar 28 (IPS) - The first successful test-flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone was an unhindered 10 km journey from a community health centre to the Kamuzu central hospital laboratory in the capital Lilongwe. Local community members watched with excitement as the drone rose into the sky, after being launched by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and government of Malawi at the area 25 health centre.

GENEVA, Mar 27 (IPS) - Argentina signed an agreement in principle on 29 February 2016 with four "super holdout" hedge funds including NML Capital Ltd, Aurelius Capital, Davidson Kempner and Bracebridge Capital. Buenos Aires would pay them a total of about 4.65 billion dollars, amounting to 75 percent of the principal and interest of all their claims of Argentina's bonds that were defaulted on during the 2001 debt crisis. This deal would allow the return of Argentina to the international capital market after more than 15 years of exclusion.

VILLETA, Paraguay, Mar 26 (IPS) - "I worked in many companies, in construction, fertilisers, chemicals, but none of them were as good as this one," said Dario Cardozo, who works in the Angostura Agroindustrial Complex (CAIASA) grain reception facility.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 (IPS) - When some of the world's major nuclear powers meet in Washington DC next Friday, they will be shadowed by the rising terrorist attacks-- largely in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 (IPS) - The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) - a leading international nonprofit health non-governmental organisation (NGO) – has pledged 500 million dollars to help implement the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-- with a specific focus on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

NAKURU, Kenya, Mar 25 (IPS) - Maurice Kaduka Lukaro, 54, is a farmer in Oljorai, an area with short grasses and small-scattered bushes in Nakuru county in Kenya's Great Rift Valley. Crop production has declined tremendously in this region. Like the rest of the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) in the Sub Saharan region, Kenya hosts a population worst hit by the reality of climate change.

BOGOTA, Mar 25 (IPS) - "It was not possible" to reach a final agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Colombian government's lead negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, announced in Havana on Wednesday Mar. 23 – the deadline set for a peace deal.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 (IPS) - As hundreds of civilians continue to be killed in the ongoing conflict in Yemen, one of the leading human rights organization is calling for an arms embargo – specifically against Saudi Arabia which is leading a coalition of eight countries battling Houthi rebels in the war-ravaged neighbouring country.