News headlines in 2019

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 31 (IPS) - Happy New Year, Kenya. 2020 marks a decade of action towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Peace and development are inextricably linked, with each making the achievement of the other far more likely. This puts the conflict-prevention and development work of the UN at the heart of the agenda in East Africa, but in a multi-agency and programme environment, making meaningful progress is challenging.

NEW YORK, Dec 23 (IPS) - "When I think about Bangladesh, I think about everybody. Not everybody is enjoying Rabindranath and the great literature and culture that Bangladesh has. But I think everybody has got the right to have this experience", deeply felt by late Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC (Building Resources Across Communities), a unique, integrated development organization that many have hailed as the most effective anti-poverty organization in the world; who passed away December 20, 2019 at the age of 83.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Dec 20 (IPS) - From Dec 11-12 the plight of people with Leprosy took centre stage during the National Conference on Zero Leprosy Initiative 2030 and at the historic and the first-ever the Conference of Organizations of persons affected by Leprosy- in partnership with the Nippon Foundation.

LONDON, Dec 20 (IPS) - Plastic pollution is currently the largest global threat to marine life. Each year, 10-20 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans, killing approximately 100,000 marine mammals and over a million seabirds.

DENVER, Colorado, Dec 20 (IPS) - When I decided to become a US citizen in 1990s, it was a deliberate decision to spend my life fighting for preserving and deepening democratic freedoms at a place where I have spent all my adult life.

Having struggled against a brutal military dictatorship while I was a teenager, I knew that democracy is something you have to fight hard for.

ISLABAMAD, Dec 20 (IPS) - It will take around 100 years for the world to reach gender parity according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 just published by World Economic Forum.

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Dec 19 (IPS) - Around 3 pm on 16 October 2017, Daphne Caruana Aruna Galizia was returning home when her Peugeot suddenly exploded 80 metres from her house outside of Bidnjia, a small town 15 km from Malta´s capital Valletta. Her son Matthew heard the violent blast and rushed out to find the smoldering wreck of the car on a field by the road: "I looked down and there were my mother's body parts all around me". Her scattered body had hit the ground 10 metres from the demolished vehicle.¹

ROME, Dec 19 (IPS) - As we prepare to bid farewell to 2019, we must take a clearsighted look at the global situation and the new challenges we face. Our world is undergoing a shift. It is no longer bipolar or unipolar. But it is not yet truly multipolar. Balances of power are changing, creating new and dangerous risks.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 19 (IPS) - Food security holds a special place among Russia's priorities in its efforts to achieve sustainable development globally. We believe that this task, which is reflected in Sustainable Development Goal 1, requires a comprehensive and multidimensional approach.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 19 (IPS) - Nearly seven years ago, garment workers in Bangladesh were victims of one of the gravest man-made disasters in history -- a factory collapse that left more than 1,100 workers dead, and rendered thousands with injuries -- in many cases lifelong ones. 

For many of the workers of Rana Plaza, the trauma remains real even to this day.