News headlines in 2020, page 18

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (IPS) - In 2010, at the opening session of the civil society forum observing the tenth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women and Peace and Security", I had the honor to declare 1325 as "the common heritage of humanity" indicating the wide-ranging nature of the potential benefits which will flow from the landmark resolution's full and effective implementation by all at all levels.

MEXICO, Oct 29 (IPS) - Greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, international trade can play a key role in the economic recovery, but must overcome obstacles, such as protectionism and commercial disputes, especially between United States and China.

Oct 29 (IPS) - For Europe, the region closest by culture and political tradition to the United States, the mood of the day after the presidential election may be very different from that assumed a priori depending on the verdict.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 (IPS) - Responding to a question, Albert Einstein, the German-born physicist who won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics, predicted rather ominously: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

GENEVA, Oct 29 (IPS) - The meltdown of the Turkish currency that began in 2018 has continued unabated with the decline reaching unprecedented proportions in recent days.  The causes of that turmoil including underlying financial fragilities and political shocks were discussed in a previous piece by this author.  Since then the economy has become even more vulnerable in these respects. 

KATHMANDU, Oct 29 (IPS) - Mohan and Sarita (name changed) studied together in the same school from Grade 6 onwards. They were friends initially, but fell in love and wished to be together, though underage.

ACCRA, Ghana, Oct 29 (IPS) - In 1965, Kwame Nkrumah described the paradox of neocolonialism in Africa, in which "the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa's impoverishment." He captured what continues to be an essential feature of Africa's political economy.

RÍO DE JANEIRO, Oct 28 (IPS) - "Showing solidarity is consuming the energy generated in your own municipality" - this is the motto of a project of distributed electricity generation in one of Brazil's many poor neighbourhoods.

JAKARTA, Oct 28 (IPS) - In West Jakarta, Indonesia, teachers at the private Santo Kristoforus High School are so environmentally conscious they make other schools seem a little bit green when it comes to environmental education.

"We integrate environmental issues into science, especially natural science subjects. At school we teach them to conserve water and electricity. And since we don't have a designated area for students to grow and learn about plants, we organise field trips to botanical gardens in the capital Jakarta and surrounding towns," teacher Senobius Santi told IPS.

LONDON, Oct 28 (IPS) - US Christian right groups, many with close links to the Trump administration, have spent at least $280m in ‘dark money' fuelling campaigns against the rights of women and LGBTIQ people across five continents, openDemocracy can reveal today.