News headlines in August 2018, page 3

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 23 (IPS) - Dr Ayodele Odusola is Chief Economist, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa.

The best time to invest in Africa is now. However, foreign investors have not moved into the continent as quickly as expected because foreign investment decisions are often methodically over-structured. One of the major factors cited is too much risk. But risks and profits are inseparable twins: high-risk ventures are frequently associated with higher profits.

OSLO, Aug 22 (IPS) - Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Aid funding for refugee relief is running out while conditions are still not in place for the safe return of over 700,000 people forced to flee Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh after violence broke out one year ago.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 22 (IPS) - This article is part of a series of stories on disability inclusion.

Even though over six billion people—nearly one billion of whom will have disabilities— are expected to live in urban centres by 2050, many of the world's major urban cities have a long way to go before their infrastructure becomes inclusive for people with disabilities.

PORT VILA, Aug 21 (IPS) - Op-ed by Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vanuatu.

Cradled in the South Pacific, my home country Vanuatu is made mostly of ocean.  The Pacific covers 98% of the national jurisdiction. Here, some 280,000 Ni-Vanuatu like myself live simply off the land and sea.  We view the ocean as a living ‘bridge' that connects islands and continents while sustaining life in all its forms. Where we come from, the ocean has a heartbeat.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (IPS) - Protracted economic stagnation in rich countries continues to threaten the development prospects of poorer countries. Globalization and economic liberalization over the last few decades have integrated developing countries into the world economy, but now that very integration is becoming a threat as developing countries are shackled by the knock-on effects of the rich world's troubles.

GEORGETOWN, Aug 21 (IPS) - Guyana is forging ahead with plans to exploit vast offshore reserves of oil and gas, even while speaking eloquently of its leadership in transitioning to a green economy at a recent political party congress addressed by the country's president.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 (IPS) - Rangita de Silva de Alwis is Associate Dean of International Affairs, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Global Adviser, UN SDG Fund & UN Women High Level Working Group on Women's Access to Justice.

Recent developments around the world give support to the idea of the #MeToo movement's transformative potential. A postmodernist claim was that the feminist movement was essentialist and that no one expression of feminism can be applicable to women of different ethnicity, cultural, or class identity. The #Me Too movement has found expression in different cultural traditions and helped to challenge this theory. 

NEW DELHI, Aug 21 (IPS) - The swift descent of the elderly in India into non-communicable diseases could have various disastrous consequences.Old age morbidity is a rapidly worsening curse in India. The swift descent of the elderly in India (60 years+) into non-communicable diseases (NCDs e.g. cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) could have disastrous consequences in terms of impoverishment of families, excess mortality, lowering of investment and consequent deceleration of growth.

SOUSA, Brazil, Aug 21 (IPS) - "We want to make history," agreed the teachers at the Chiquinho Cartaxo Comprehensive Technical Citizen School. They are the first to teach adolescents about generating power from bad weather in the semi-arid Northeast region of Brazil.

GARU and TEMPANE, Ghana, Aug 20 (IPS) - In the scorching Upper East Region of Ghana, the dry seasons are long and for kilometres around there is nothing but barren, dry earth. Here, in some areas, it is not uncommon for half the female population to migrate to the country's south in search of work, often taking their young children with them.