News headlines in 2016, page 20

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (IPS) - When Antonio Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal, takes office as the new UN Secretary General on January 1, his top management team is likely to be dominated by nominees from the five big powers, namely the US, Britain, France, China and Russia (P5).

NEW DELHI/BONN, Oct 18 (IPS) - One of the critical challenges facing the world today is that emerging migration patterns that are increasingly rooted in the depletion of natural resources.

QUITO, Oct 17 (IPS) - Urban development ministers, mayors from all over the world, city planners, architects and municipal authorities, civil society and private sector will meet in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, for Habitat III, the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (17-20 October, 2016), to adopt the New Urban Agenda as well as to strategize and agree on its implementation.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct 17 (IPS) - Why do people go hungry? Mainly because they do not have the means to get enough food, whether by producing it themselves or by purchasing it. There is more than enough food to feed the world. All those who currently go hungry can be adequately fed with about two percent of current food production, much more of which is wasted or lost. The main problem is one of distribution or access, rather than production or availability.

CAIRO, Oct 17 (IPS) - The Pan African Parliament (PAP) concluded its session in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh Monday with initiatives on PAP's identity, counter-terrorism challenges in the continent and joint development plans, particularly the question of food security.

Oct 17 (IPS) - Secure indigenous land rights not only bring environmental benefits, they can also foster economic development, according to a new report released by the World Resources Institute.

ROME, Oct 16 (IPS) - The first Sustainable Development Goal calls for us to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. The goal and the deadline are ambitious - and they need to be. We do not have the luxury of time.

NEW YORK, Oct 16 (IPS) - When the water in FlintMichigan was found to be eroding the engines of cars at a General Motors' (GM) factory, government officials agreed to change the factory's water source, yet the same water source continued to poison the residents of Flint for another year.

BASEL, Oct 15 (IPS) - "Humiliation and exclusion" – what a fascinating thematic twist to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty! Too often, discussion of poverty focuses entirely on material resources. Those play an important role, but are only part of the story. We all know people who seem happy with very little, and others who are definitely unhappy with riches. However, having children publicly sent home from school because of unpaid fees is just one of the many humiliations faced by small farmers and other resource-poor people around the world. The resulting exclusion from education and the society of their peers is a terrible burden to force upon children. Poverty brings many others as well.

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (IPS) - Of the world's 2.3 billion children 14 percent - or 320 million - are living in single-parent households, most often headed by single mothers. Those children aged 0 to 17 years and their single mothers and single fathers face special challenges, including economic hardships, social stigma and personal difficulties, that require society's attention and assistance.