News headlines in 2020, page 17

LONDON, Nov 03 (IPS) - You cannot change the wind; but you can bend the sail - a favourite African proverb of Kofi Annan

Let me begin with an appeal to our venerable friend, the UN: get down on the ground with the grandchildren. Just having celebrated its 75th birthday, we can hear your knees creak! The UN, for as long as I have known it up close - since its thirties - has often seemed prematurely old.

NAIROBI, Nov 03 (IPS) - The corona virus pandemic is impacting Africa's population in quite differentiated ways and is significantly entrenching inequality. At the greatest risk are lives and livelihoods of the poor.

NEW YORK, Nov 02 (IPS) - The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will become binding law for participating states on January 22, 2021. Entry into force was triggered on October 24, the date marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, when Honduras become the 50th state to ratify the TPNW, reaching the threshold set by the treaty.

SANTO DOMINGO, Nov 02 (IPS) - When President Luis Abinader arrived at his inauguration in an electrically driven car as a symbolic gesture of his Government's intentions to make sustainable development one of its main objectives – he signalled the start of addressing climate change commitments in the country.

HYDERABAD, India, Nov 02 (IPS) - Shabnam*, a young woman from Northern India's Haryana state, is two years away from becoming a law graduate. She sees parallels between her own rape and that of the 19-year-old Maha Dalit woman whose brutal rape and torture by a group of men from a "dominant" or "higher" caste in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh triggered nationwide protests.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, US, Nov 02 (IPS) - "If things could talk, then I'm sure you'd hear a lot of things to make you cry, my dear. Ain't you glad, glad that things don't talk." – Ry CooderIt sits stolidly, bolted onto a concrete base outside the Maricopa County Recorder's office in Phoenix, Arizona. Weighing in at around 600 pounds,  it sports "anti-tampering features" and "heavy-duty, all-weather construction". Security agents check it periodically and it appears to be watched by a camera. As I scrutinize it, a man in an SUV pulls up and deposits a ballot in its slot. He tells me he votes this way every election, then drives off.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 02 (IPS) - US third quarter GDP numbers released two weeks ago delighted stock markets and President Trump. Output had picked up by 7.4%, annualised as 33.1%, the largest quarterly economic growth on record, almost double the old record of 3.9% (annualised as 16.7%) in the first quarter of 1950, seven decades ago.

Nov 01 (IPS) - It has been nine months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a "public health emergency of international concern". Since then, more than 44 million cases have been recorded and over one million lives lost. Economic costs measure in trillions of dollars. Global recovery will take years.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 (IPS) - Women need to be given roles as negotiators, not just offered representation through advisory groups, Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos from the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) told IPS.

MONTEVIDEO, Oct 30 (IPS) - Half a dozen US Christian right groups have poured millions of dollars into Latin America and have promoted misinformation about COVID-19 and other health and rights issues, openDemocracy can reveal today.