News headlines in June 2020, page 4

Jun 22 (IPS) - The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support in the hands of people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has baffled advanced and developing economies alike. Economic lockdowns, physical distancing measures, patchy social protection systems and, especially for low-income countries, the high level of informality, complicate the task. Many governments are leveraging mobile technology to help their citizens.

LONDON, Jun 22 (IPS) - As the world continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation in institutions like prisons or care homes has shown how quickly overcrowded facilities can become a breeding ground for an infectious disease. But what about other congregate facilities like residential institutions for children, such as orphanages? What risks do they face? And how should governments be responding during - and after - this pandemic?

KHARTOUM, Jun 22 (IPS) - Omnia Nabil*, a Sudanese doctor, who worked in one of the largest hospitals in Khartoum, the country's capital, was devastated to witness the deaths of 50 young women who had unsafe abortions during a space of just three months.

LA JOLLA, California, Jun 22 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic and crisis has led to increasing attention and clamor to redouble efforts toward an energy transition that would help the world reduce C02 emissions. In many countries of the region, how to manage hydrocarbons, but with an eye on the energy transition has only been accentuated. We believe clean hydrogen is part of that broader policy and reconstruction debate.

Jun 22 (IPS) - Systemic racism in agriculture is painfully obvious. Why has it taken a new Civil Rights movement to clearly expose the sordid roots and present-day inequalities in food and farming? There has been far less social progress in the United States in the last 155 years than many people would like to believe. In 2020, racism still seeps its way into every aspect of life; from unconscious bias and micro-aggressions in everyday interactions to domestic and international policy and enforcement.

NEW YORK, Jun 22 (IPS) - To realize the concept of ‘build back better,' we need a foundation. That foundation is education. This is an incontestable truth.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jun 22 (IPS) - One of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh exemplifies the triple blow that many emerging market countries have suffered from COVID-19: domestic slowdown caused by the disease and the efforts to contain its spread; a sharp decline in exports, particularly in the ready-made garment sector, and a drop in remittances. Its once robust economy has dramatically slowed in recent months.

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 19 (IPS) - The unfolding US-China power rivalry bears a striking resemblance to the tensions between the US and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War years. Back then, African countries were positioned like pawns on a grand chessboard. Their social and economic progress was hampered because they expended energy aligning themselves with either of the superpowers in the battle for world supremacy between communism and capitalism.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 (IPS) - In marking the sixth annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, experts reiterated how crucial it is to keep accessible services to survivors, as they are being affected in complex ways due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the coronavirus does not discriminate, its impact does. And the needs of survivors of sexual violence in conflict "cannot be put on pause, and neither can the response" during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Jun 19 (IPS) - As she says goodbye to a group of her friends, Esther Ishabakaki asks whether any of them knows a good tailor who might be interested in joining her newly-opened clothing business. It's a venture she started three months ago after quitting her farming venture.