News headlines in October 2019, page 8

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 10 (IPS) - The UN's smoldering cash crisis, which has threatened staff salaries and payments to vendors, has triggered strong reactions and rattled the over 6,400 staffers who work in the 39-storeyed Secretariat building in New York.

TOKYO, Japan, Oct 09 (IPS) - Currently, the topic of abortion as human rights leaves the world bustling. When the state of Alabama¹ in the United States enacted a very strict ban on abortion, it shocked the world. This prompted so-called conservative movements, led by female business owners, to make a full-scale advertisement in the New York Times claiming abortion is a human right² ; hence the global debate between pro-life and pro-choice.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 09 (IPS) - Last month 195 world leaders once again met in New York for big speeches and grand events. But on inequality, when all is said and done, more has been said than done.

KATHMANDU, Oct 09 (IPS) - The nutritious grain that mountain peoples of the Americas and high Asia cultivated were displaced by wheat and rice, but they are staging a comeback thanks to growing public consciousness about health.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 09 (IPS) - The Secretary-General wrote to Member States about the worst cash crisis facing the United Nations in nearly a decade. The Organization runs the risk of depleting its liquidity reserves by the end of the month and defaulting on payments to staff and vendors.

GENEVA, Oct 08 (IPS) - A staggering 2.2 billion people already suffer from eye conditions and visual impairment today, but the global need for eye care is set to increase "dramatically", with lack of exercise a key factor, the UN health agency said on Tuesday, unveiling its first ever report on vision across the world.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct 08 (IPS) - Two decades into the 21st century, all too many people still associate being ‘overweight' with prosperity, health and wellbeing, mainly because being thin has long been associated with being emaciated due to hunger, undernourishment and malnutrition.

Overweight and obesity can easily be assessed by anthropometric measures, including the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. But BMI thresholds for overweight and obesity may differ by ethnic group or country.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 08 (IPS) - New York's diplomatic community has continued to be enriched by a record number of women Permanent Representatives (PRUNs)—50 in all, as of October 2 – compared with about 15 to 20 back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

INCHEON, South Korea, Oct 08 (IPS) - Good news: the graph depicting climate investments has been steadily increasing. Climbing from the 2012 figure of $360 billion in climate investments across the world to close to $600 billion currently.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 08 (IPS) - Movie star Cate Blanchett and businessman Richard Branson spoke up this week for the millions of people around the world who cannot get passports and other papers because they lack an official nationality.