News headlines in 2020, page 43

Aug 15 (IPS) - In 1918, the Spanish Flu, a deadly influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, decimated the world. Over the course of four successive waves, it infected 500 million people, about a third of the world's population at the time, resulting in 50 million deaths.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 14 (IPS) - A group composed by women and men, called Nuevo Curso de Desarrollo (New Course for Development) based at the National University of Mexico recently published a document to propose a set of measures to change the current economic policy in Mexico.

This proposal responds to a diagnosis of the current situation: at this point of the year, the serious social damage inflicted by the health and economic crisis can already be observed.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 14 (IPS) - There is no love lost between the United Nations and US President Donald Trump.

When he addressed the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly in September 2018, Trump falsely told delegates that "in less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country"

HYDERABAD, India, Aug 14 (IPS) - 15-year-old Humaira* sits on the mud floor of her hut in Ukhiya camp, Cox's Bazar, listening as the rain beats down on the tarpaulin roof.

MUMBAI, Aug 14 (IPS) - Basant Lal Chaudhary migrated from his village of 1,200 people in Madhya Pradesh, to a city of 90,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016. He last worked as a construction worker, before the COVID-19 lockdown forced him out of employment."I used to earn a daily wage of INR 350. That was my only source of income," he shares. During the lockdown, he along with others who worked with him, are finding it difficult to make the ends meet."I don't know whether I will be able to find work here anytime soon."

KAILALI, Nepal, Aug 14 (IPS) - Across Nepal, it is the already under-served and vulnerable who have been affected by the prolonged lockdowns. But it is the Dalit returnees from India who have tested positive and their families who face double discrimination.

Aug 13 (IPS) - The catastrophic explosion in Beirut's port is a manifestation of the Lebanese political elite's predation and dysfunction. Among the country's long-suffering citizens, shock is quickly yielding to fury. It may be the last chance for those in power to effect long-overdue structural reforms.

Aug 13 (IPS) - Most young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in South Africa continue to be denied access to information and communications technology because of poor infrastructure and the digital divide.

MBABANE, Aug 13 (IPS) - "Not being able to go to school is not something I'd wish on any child in this world," said 21-year-old Nujeen Mustafa, a young advocate for refugees who fled the Syrian war with her sister. Mustafa, who now lives in Germany, is also the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) high profile supporter.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (IPS) - Developing country debt has continued to grow rapidly since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC). Warnings against debt have been reiterated by familiar prophets of debt doom such as new World Bank chief economist, Carmen Reinhartonce dubbed the ‘godmother of austerity'.