News headlines in October 2017, page 4

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 24 (IPS) - 24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948.

In his message to the world the UN Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres remarked"When we achieve human rights and human dignity for all people – they will build a peaceful, sustainable and just world".

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 (IPS) - As the crisis in Myanmar reaches unprecedented levels, frustration is at its peak as the international community remains slow to respond and act cohesively.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 (IPS) - Fashion is not a sector that exists in a vacuum. In fact, the fashion industry is not unlike any other key economic drivers; it is a key component of a global economy and certainly an important sector to consider when thinking about the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 23 (IPS) - Some parts of Kenya are reeling from the effects of probably the worst drought in the last 20 years. With nearly 3.4 million people food insecure, Kenya's food security prognosis looks gloomy, with climate change and natural resource depletion set to pose even greater risks in the long term.

ROME, Oct 21 (IPS) - The Austrian elections show clearly that media have given up on contextualising events. To do that, calls for a warning about Europe's future, as a vehicle of European values is required. Europe has been weakened by all the recent elections, with the notable exception of France. Common to all, France included, were some clear trends, that we will hastily, and therefore maybe imperfectly, examine.

PARANAITA, Brazil, Oct 21 (IPS) - The burning down of the local forest, on Jun. 29, 1979, was the first step towards the creation of the city of Paranaita, in a municipality that is now trying to shed its reputation as a major deforester of Brazil's Amazon rainforest and has named itself "the energy capital."

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (IPS) - On September 29, 2017, Yvette Abrahams, an indigenous religious leader from Cape Town, South Africa who served as the country's Commissioner For Gender Equality for five years, gasped when she learned that South Africa had just voted in favor of United Nations Human Rights Council resolution condemning the death penalty for those found guilty of committing consensual same-sex sexual acts. She could not believe that the United States had not.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 20 (IPS) - The pain and anger of more than a million people who tweeted #MeToo in the last week have crowded social media with personal stories of sexual harassment or assault.

ROME, Oct 20 (IPS) - With 30 countries from Kenya to Indonesia and from Canada to Brazil now involved in the world campaign to beat pollution by countering the torrents of plastic trash that are degrading oceans and endangering the life they sustain, the UN has strengthened its massive efforts to clean up the seas, which are the Earth's main buffer against climate change.

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 20 (IPS) - Index insurance is being promoted as a solution to protect climate affected smallholder farmers in Africa. This type of micro insurance is slowly gaining ground as a way of compensating farmers for lost crops and livestock due to climate change.