News headlines in October 2017, page 8

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13 (IPS) - The 16^th of October marks World Food Day, a reminder to the international community of the criticality of treating food security as a 21^st Century priority if sustainable development, peace and security and the realisation of human rights are to be achieved.

GENEVA, Oct 13 (IPS) - The World Food Programme estimates that more than 100 million people worldwide face severe food insecurity. The situation is most severe in countries affected by conflict and violence including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, South Sudan and Yemen affecting more than 40 million people. Another 22 million people in Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Haiti and Mozambique are affected by the adverse impact of climate change and environmental degradation.

Maiduguri City, Nigeria, Oct 13 (IPS) - Haja grabbed her eight children and fled as Boko Haram set her home ablaze two years ago. Today we sit in her hut in a displacement camp, and she wonders how she is going to keep her children fed. I've spoken to many families in Nigeria's north-eastern Monguno town. Their stories paint a horrifically detailed picture of the brutal violence these communities have endured over the past eight years.

Maijdee, Noakhali (Bangladesh), Oct 13 (IPS) - History was made for 400 landless families in the remote char lands of Noakhali district. On October 11, they all received land titles from the government for which they had waited for over two decades. In Bangladesh, as in other countries, the title is a permanent legal ownership document.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12 (IPS) - Over 20,000 girls are married before the age of 18 every day around the world as countries continue to lack legal protections, according to a new study.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Oct 12 (IPS) - Investing in youth by developing their potential through education, job creation and instilling the values that advance the cause of humanity is the most daunting, yet promising challenge facing world leaders.

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, Oct 12 (IPS) - The African rural world is one I know well. I grew out of rural poverty myself and went to a rural school without electricity and lived in a village where we had to walk for kilometers to find water. We had to study after dark with candles or kerosene lanterns. By God's grace, I made it out of poverty to where I am today. But for tens of millions of those in similar situations, especially in rural Africa, the outcomes are not like mine. For most, the potential has simply been wasted.

NEW YORK, Oct 12 (IPS) - There is much to celebrate in the Nobel Peace Prize Committee's decision to award this year's prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

NAIROBI, Oct 12 (IPS) - A growing number of African countries are increasingly becoming food insecure as delayed and insufficient rainfall, as well as crop damaging pests such as the ongoing outbreak of the fall armyworm, cause the most severe maize crisis in the last decade.