News headlines in February 2020, page 4

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (IPS) - When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the 193-member General Assembly last December, he focused on the smoldering climate crisis-- pointing out that the last five years have been the hottest ever recorded.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 18 (IPS) - Zimbabwe is making fresh commitments to open up its airwaves with government promising to issue licences to private television and community radio stations before the end of the year.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (IPS) - In an annual ritual early in the year, most major economic organizations have released forecasts for the global economy in 2020. Incredibly, almost as a reminder of where financial power resides in this day and age, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its forecasts at the World Economic Forum's 50th annual meeting in Davos.

OAKLAND, California, Feb 18 (IPS) - When we were children, a long auto trip would require a stop every hour or so to clean the windshield of the insects that had been intercepted.

Feb 18 (IPS) - Over the last few decades, groundwater has become the major source of irrigation for Indian agriculture. Pumped by millions of privately-owned tube-wells, it contributes 60 percent of the water used for irrigation, having grown by 105 percent since the 1970s.

BEIJING, China, Feb 17 (IPS) - As efforts to contain the Coronavirus epidemic enter a critical stage, it is important to remember that the costs cannot be measured purely in economic terms, as the measures taken will have implications for life expectancy across the entire nation.

NEW YORK, Feb 17 (IPS) - For any riverine country, the state of the water body around big cities and conditions of major rivers hold a leadership position in the overall climate effects and how the water body is protected and preserved impacts the entire economy and living standards of that country.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17 (IPS) - The United Nations Development Programme is leading a climate change effort that might finally address concerns many advocates have: bridging the gap between people and governments. 

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 17 (IPS) - The rise of the services economy around the world represents a profound transformation that offers significant opportunities for countries' sustainable development strategies.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17 (IPS) - When President Saddam Hussein ran one of the world's most authoritarian regimes in the militarily-volatile Middle East during 1979-2003, US newspapers routinely described him as "the strongman of Iraq" — as most journalists rightly view dictators worldwide.