News headlines in November 2017, page 4

NEAR THE OROMIA-SOMALI REGIONAL BORDER, Ethiopia, Nov 21 (IPS) - Ethnic animosity unleashed in Ethiopia has displaced hundreds of thousands as well as rendering all manner of usually sacrosanct loyalties obsolete.

ABU DHABI, Nov 20 (IPS) - The world's nations got together in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd annual Conference of the Parties (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where nearly 200 countries and some 23, 000 delegates met to discuss and influence the negotiations over the rulebook of the Paris Agreement.

WASHINGTON DC, Nov 20 (IPS) - The recent 2017 Finscope Tanzania report shows that while mobile money use in Tanzania continues to grow, the percentage of financially excluded adults has risen in parallel — from 27 percent in 2013 to 28 percent in 2017.

Nov 20 (IPS) - "The present government has taken measures that go beyond anything the previous military juntas did", according to legal expert Sercan Aran of the trade union confederation KESK. The army has previously registered personal data and the private political opinions of suspected dissidents, but always under secrecy.

ROME, Nov 20 (IPS) - Now that the lights of the UN climate change summit's meeting rooms having been turned off in Bonn, after a week of intense negotiations and some partial results, another major environmental event is now schedule in Nairobi, this time to search for ways to halt the world's major killer - pollution.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IPS) - Have demonetisation and the GST aggravated income inequality?

With the Gujarat State elections barely a few weeks away, the debate on the Indian economy has become increasingly polarised. While the official view of demonetisation unleashed in November 2016 elevates it to a moral and ethical imperative, the chaos caused by the goods and services tax (GST) launched on July 1, 2017is dismissed as a short-run transitional hiccup. Both policies, it is asserted, are guaranteed to yield long-term benefits, unmindful of large-scale hardships, loss of livelihoods, closure of small and medium enterprises and slowdown of agriculture. Critics of course reject these claims lock, stock and barrel. Lack of robust evidence is as much a problem for the official proponents of these policies as it is for the critics. Hence the debate continues unabated with frequent hostile overtones.

BONN, Nov 19 (IPS) - As the summit of governments known as COP23 reached its conclusion in Bonn, Germany this week, two clear alliances have emerged in the global energy landscape.

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 18 (IPS) - The IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour,  which drew nearly 2000 delegates from 190 countries to the Argentine capital, left many declarations of good intentions but nothing to celebrate.

BONN, Nov 17 (IPS) - "The Bonn climate talks were foundational, paving the way to finalize the rules that underpin the Paris Agreement next year and setting the stage for countries to commit to enhance their national climate plans by 2020. On both counts, the climate talks in Bonn were a success. However, negotiators have plenty of homework to do to get there.

PHNOM PENH, Nov 17 (IPS) - The government had an almost paranoid fear of protests. A square kilometer around the Supreme Court was barricaded and off limits to the public. In faraway provinces, roadblocks were erected to stop demonstrators. Some opposition members were under temporary house arrest. But it turned out to be unnecessary. Nobody dared to protest.