News headlines in August 2016

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 31 (IPS) - It's been almost one year since heads of state and government adopted ‘Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development' - the ambitious agenda which contains 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets during a special session of the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Aug 31 (IPS) - "Why don't the authorities put themselves in our shoes?" asked Cándido Mezúa, an indigenous man from Panama, with respect to native peoples' participation in conservation policies and the sharing of benefits from the protection of forests.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 (IPS) - The high seas - oceans which fall beyond the jurisdiction of any country - make up about two thirds of the world's ocean and half of the total surface of planet earth.

PORT LOUIS, Aug 29 (IPS) - They come from Bangladesh, China, India and Madagascar, mainly to run the machines in the textile industry here. But they do all kinds of other jobs too, from masons to bakers, house cleaners and gardeners.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 (IPS) - As Ban Ki-moon readies to step down after completing his two term, 10-year tenure as UN Secretary-General on December 31he regrets that one of his biggest single disappointments is the "lack of progress on eliminating nuclear weapons."

Aug 29 (IPS) - Why do some countries grow faster than others? How do we engineer an economic miracle? Some economists believe that manufacturing growth is like cooking a good dish—all  the needed ingredients should be in the right proportion; if only one is under- or overrepresented, the ‘chemistry of growth' will be sub-optimal. Rapid economic growth can only happen if several necessary conditions are met at the same time.

KONYE, Cameroon, Aug 28 (IPS) - Tanchenow Daniel fears he will lose more than half a tonne of his cocoa yield during the next harvest at the end of this month.

YANGON/LONDON, Aug 27 (IPS) - Myanmar's government has responded to pressure from the international community to tackle religious tensions and persecution of Muslims in Rakhine State by appointing former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan to head a commission to advise on "a sustainable solution" to the crisis.

NEW YORK, Aug 26 (IPS) - As the reliance on freelance journalists by news organisation has increased, so has the burden of guaranteeing a safe working environment for these journalists, especially when reporting from war-torn areas.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 26 (IPS) - "Go and tell my dad that they're holding me here," Maximiliano Gordillo Martínez told his travelling companion on May 7 at the migration station in Chablé, in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco. It was the last time he was ever seen, and his parents have had no news of him since.