News headlines in October 2019, page 2

KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Oct 29 (IPS) - Industrial policy refers to the promotion of new investments and technology by governments to encourage the growth and development of specific economic sectors. However, scepticism persists about the feasibility and desirability of using industrial policy, especially of the ability to ‘pick winners', often accused of leading to ‘propping-up failing industries'.

Oct 29 (IPS) - Children sit in a circle experimenting with different colours on palettes at a shelter in Godavari one morning this week. Some design flowers in bright colours, others draw homes nestled below mountains. Many of the children are survivors of rape or domestic violence, from rural parts of Nepal. The one thing they have in common is mental trauma.

MUMBAI, India, Oct 29 (IPS) - A majority of India's water problems are those relating to groundwater—water that is found beneath the earth's surface. This is because we are the largest user of groundwater in the world, and therefore highly dependent on it.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (IPS) - More women are entering the workforce across Latin America, with an increase in 11 per cent in the last 30 years, putting the region ahead of the curve when it comes to growth in female labour force participation, according to new data published by the United Nations on Monday. 

Abu Dhabi, UAE, Oct 28 (IPS) - Nearly 50 million people in west Africa rely on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood but the land available for pastoral use has been rapidly shrinking.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (IPS) - Last week, a too-familiar human tragedy captured news headlines. 39 people were found dead inside a shipping container on an industrial estate in Essex in Southeast England; 31 men and 8 women from China whose individual identities, for now, remain anonymous, as authorities begin to investigate one of Europe's worst people-trafficking cases.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 25 (IPS) - The tobacco industry's new rhetoric that smoking is harmful and that its so-called less risky products will reduce the global tobacco epidemic, should see the industry stop opposing or fighting government efforts to reduce tobacco use. However, this is not the case.

GENEVA, Oct 25 (IPS) - By the time of publication, representatives, senior officials, and Heads of State and Government of 120 countries from around the world will have converged on Baku in Azerbaijan for the XVIIIth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

ACCRA, Ghana/BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Oct 25 (IPS) - There is evident correlation between countries with high levels of children under five years of age who are stunted or wasted and the existence of political instability and/or frequent exposure to natural calamities, experts say.

But current food systems in Africa are not addressing nutrition because of the combination of poor investment in the agriculture value chain, inadequate policies and lack of accountability in addressing malnutrition.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (IPS) - In a "historic achievement for humanity", two of three wild poliovirus strains have been eliminated worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday, following the conclusion by a group of experts that WPV3, type three of the disease, has been eradicated completely.