News headlines in August 2020, page 3

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (IPS) - The World Bank leadership must urgently abandon its ‘Maximizing Finance for Development' (MFD) hoax. Instead, it should resume its traditional multilateral development bank role of mobilizing funds at minimal cost to finance developing countries.

Mexico City, Aug 25 (IPS) - Mayan anthropologist Ezer May fears that the tourism development and real estate construction boom that will be unleashed by the Mayan Train, the main infrastructure project of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will disrupt his community.

LA JOLLA, California, Aug 24 (IPS) - Just over five years ago, a major oil discovery occurred on the northeastern coast of South America. There have been a series of additional discoveries ever since. But this time it was not Venezuela. It was Guyana.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Aug 24 (IPS) - Oluwaseun Sangoleye's son developed rickets after rejecting baby formula. So she started a business to make natural baby cereal from locally-sourced ingredients in Nigeria.

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (IPS) - There is not much good news for President Donald Trump of the United States these days.

If electoral polls have any credibility, he is staring at the face of almost certain defeat in the elections come November. So, when the so-called Abraham Accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was sealed in a telephone call between him and the leaders of Israel and the UAE, signalling a sliver of silver lining in the otherwise hovering dark clouds over him, Trump was ecstatic.

A Trump twitter called it a "HUGE breakthrough among "three GREAT friends!".

BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 24 (IPS) - The COVID 19 Pandemic continues relentlessly. Deaths approaching a million globally, 22 million infected and growing. Brazil, India, the US and Russia accounting for almost 50% of the total cases in the world.

"I feel it coming, a series of disasters created through our diligent yet unconscious efforts. If they're big enough to wake up the world, but not enough to smash everything, I'd call them learning experiences, the only ones able to overcome our inertia" - Denis de Rougemont, 1977

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 (IPS) - >Nearly three quarters of respondents in a survey across 18 African countries have claimed that their countries' COVID-19 responses are gravely lacking in addressing the ageing population.

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Aug 21 (IPS) - It is becoming increasingly common to be transfixed by the idea that character is reflected by appearances and thus many individuals become obsessed with obtaining, or maintaining, an aesthetically pleasing appearance. An entire business has developed around our cult of bodily beauty, as well as the youth, glamour and success assumed to be connected to it. Beauty contests, fashion shows, cosmetic surgery, fitness studios, make-up products and a host of other phenomena profit from this craving for human beauty.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 (IPS) - As it continues to vociferously preach the virtues of equality—advocating equal rights for all, irrespective of race, sex, language or religion-- the United Nations has been quick to condemn racism and racial discrimination worldwide.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 21 (IPS) - There is an intimate connection between corruption and COVID-19. This pandemic is making everyday life more desperate, especially in poorer communities, and that means more opportunities for those preying on vulnerable people.