News headlines in March 2019, page 2

HARARE, Mar 28 (IPS) - It was one of the worst tropical cyclones hit Southern Africa in recent times. Cyclone Idai, which has been characterised by heavy rains and flooding including mudslides in some parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, has left more than 750 dead, with thousands marooned in remote rural areas, whilst others are still unaccounted for. More than 1,5 million people are affected by the cyclone in the region.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Mar 28 (IPS) - Fishers in Anguilla saw posted on Youtube this week a video they helped produce that depicts the impacts of climate change on their industry. Titled "Anguilla's Fishing Dilemma", the four-and-a-half minute video highlights some of the main challenges Anguilla's 92 licensed fishers face in earning a living.

MAJURO, Mar 28 (IPS) - Meretha Pierson has been a nurse for the past seven years, working in the government-run leprosy clinic in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands. Her patients come in all ages, from different economic backgrounds and different professions. But, aside from their diagnosis, they all have something else in common: everyone wants to keep their illness a secret.

CHICAGO, Illinois, Mar 27 (IPS) - KAZUO YAMAGUCHI is the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago*.

Japan is not making progress in gender equality, at least relative to the rest of the world. Despite the Japanese government's attempts in recent years to pass legislation promoting the economic activity of women, Japan ranked a miserable 110 out of 149 in the World Economic Forum's 2018 Gender Gap Indexwhich benchmarks countries on their progress toward gender parity across four major areas.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 27 (IPS) - Consider this. One million Kenyans fall into poverty every year due to catastrophic out of pocket health expenditures.

For the almost four in every five Kenyans who lack access to medical insurance, the fear that they are just an accident or serious illness away from destitution.

NEW DELHI, Mar 27 (IPS) - Richard Mahapatra is Managing Editor, Down To Earth, Asia's premier fortnightly on politics of environment and development published by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on January 16 declared that 2018 was the sixth- warmest year in the last 117 years or since 1901, when recording started. Pointing towards changing weather and climate parameters, it also noted that the last monsoon rainfall was the sixth-lowest since 1901.

SAN CARLOS LEMPA, El Salvador, Mar 27 (IPS) - For nearly three decades, several communities in southeastern El Salvador have collectively and efficiently managed the water they consume, but monoculture production and climate change put their water at risk.

GEORGETOWN, Mar 26 (IPS) - In 2008, the then president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, established within the Ministry of the Presidency the Office of Climate Change. Guyana became the first country in the region to do so. A year later, Jagdeo set out a vision to forge a new low carbon economy in the Caribbean nation over the following decade.

PARIS, Mar 26 (IPS) - Amid the morass of Brexit and continuous debates on immigration, a French museum has launched a thought-provoking exhibition about music and migration.

SEATTLE, United States/MUMBAI, India, Mar 26 (IPS) - Restrictions on the movement of people impedes Africa's development, limiting economic integration and trade between African countries. Using a systems-thinking approach, champions and decision-makers have led the charge towards a visa free Africa.