News headlines in January 2019

NEW YORK, Jan 31 (IPS) - Stephanie Sugars is North America Research Assistant at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Since announcing his candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections to the end of his second year in office, U.S. President Donald Trump has sent 1,339 tweets about the media that were critical, insinuating, condemning, or threatening.

GEORGETOWN, Jan 31 (IPS) - In parts of the world where the gender gap is already wide, land degradation places women and girls at even greater risk.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan 31 (IPS) - Jenny Ricks is the global convenor at Fight Inequality Alliance.

They said they cared about climate change but they flew in on private jets in record numbers. They said they cared about inequality but laughed off the idea of higher taxes for the rich. They spoke about democracy and human rights but they dined with a far-right populist. If there was ever any doubt about Davos representing the epitome of duplicity, then 2019 has firmly laid that to rest.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30 (IPS) - The steady decline in multilateralism—accompanied by a rise in unilateralism-- is beginning to threaten democratic norms, including press freedom, global governance, civic participation and human rights across Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

GEORGETOWN, Jan 30 (IPS) - The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has debunked the notion that there is no funding available for countries to prevent, reduce or reverse land degradation.

GEORGETOWN, Jan 30 (IPS) - A group of youngsters in the Caribbean who promote environmental protection in the region is on a drive to empower other youth to address some of the big issues facing their generation.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 30 (IPS) - The crusade against comprehensive sex education by conservative and religious sectors undermines progress in Latin America and could further drive up rates of teen pregnancy, communicable diseases and abuse against girls and adolescents.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 29 (IPS) - Owing to our varied circumstances and experiences, there are contradictory tendencies to either exaggerate or underestimate the power and importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary society.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29 (IPS) - Benjamin Tetteh is a writer for Africa Renewal published by the United Nations.

In the heart of Accra, Ghana's capital, just a few meters from the United States embassy, lie the tombs of W. E. B. Du Bois, a great African-American civil rights leader, and his wife, Shirley.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 29 (IPS) - Paul Tacon is Social Affairs Officer, Social Development Division at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

When 164 UN member states adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (the Marrakech Compact on Migration) on 10 December last year, I read on social media that they had decided to give up control over migration to the UN.