News headlines in November 2017, page 2

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (IPS) - What would life be like without access to a toilet? What if our waste was not properly disposed of?

BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (IPS) - In the run-up to the fifth EU-Africa summit in Côte d'Ivoire, the future of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between Europe and its former colonies looks bleaker than ever. While most of Europe's trade partners around the world keep refusing to sign the deals, the African Union's Commissioner for Trade will most likely announce a moratorium on all EPAs.

INDIA/CAMEROON, Nov 26 (IPS) - Sally Mboumien remembers the day she pressed a steaming hot stone against her chest. In Bawock, the rural community of western Cameroon where she grew up, young girls often had their young, sprouting breasts flattened with a hot iron or a hammer or spatulas that had been heated over burning coals.

HAVANA, Nov 25 (IPS) - "Maybe many of us thought that this project was a dream six years ago, but not anymore. The geography has completely changed, because of everything that has been built and the investments that have been approved," said Nathaly Suárez, director of Construction Management at the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).

BONN, Germany, Nov 24 (IPS) - Land restoration is not a "glamorous subject even when you give all the numbers," admits Monique Barbut, the Executive Secretary of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD). But she also stresses that by 2050, the world population will reach 10 billion. To feed that extra 2.4 billion, current food production would need to be increased by 75 percent.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 24 (IPS) - The United Nations is fighting a losing battle against the widespread – and continued – sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by UN peacekeepers and civilian staff resulting in relatively few convictions amidst daunting problems in tracking abusers and nailing down paternity claims.

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 23 (IPS) - A "conservative and fundamentalist onslaught" in Latin America against a supposed "gender ideology" is jeopardising advances in the fight against violence towards women, feminist activists complain.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23 (IPS) - Despite a few victories, the UN's annual climate change conference ended without achieving its goals or injecting a sense of much needed urgency.

LONDON, Nov 23 (IPS) - An estimated seven million refugees – about one-third of the global refugee population – are between 10 and 24 years old, yet this demographic is often overlooked in humanitarian and development responses. At a critical time in their lives, these young refugees experience the stress of displacement, which can impact their future development and success.

NEW DELHI, Nov 23 (IPS) - The statistics are chilling. As many as 2.24 million crimes against women were reported over the past decade: 26 crimes against women are reported every hour, or one complaint every two minutes. As chilling as these statistics are, they don't reflect the gory details.