News headlines in 2020, page 50

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 27 (IPS) - When the coronavirus pandemic delivered a mortal blow to the United States, grounding the country to a virtual standstill and throwing its economy into a deep recession, hundreds and thousands were forced to work "remotely" while offices remained shuttered, beginning late March.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 24 (IPS) - Rohingya women are coming together to feature their own work, plight and stories in mainstream conversations about their community — a space they say they've been left out of.

"If we think of revolutions or liberty or think of any ways to liberate ourselves from the shackle of suffering and being dubbed as 'the most persecuted minority on earth', women have to be part of it," Yasmin Ullah, president of the Rohingya Human Rights Network, told IPS.

KAMPALA, Jul 24 (IPS) - There is no shortage of technological innovations designed to boost animal agriculture in Africa. These range from GPS tracking systems which identify and trace pastoralists' herds to livestock vaccine SMS services that alert farmers to disease outbreaks.

GENEVA, Jul 24 (IPS) - Dr David Nabarro is Special Envoy to the World Health Organisation on COVID-19 and Strategic Director of 4SD. He sets out his challenge to leaders to use COVID-19 as an opportunity for radical change that responds to the needs and the interests of all of humanity.

1. Countries must work together
2. Focus on equity
3. Effective local action

NEW YORK, Jul 24 (IPS) - I, like many of my fellow Americans, am extremely concerned about Trump's dictatorial tendencies. Given his behavior – what he said and did over the past four years – he may well act on some of these tendencies, especially if he loses the election by a narrow margin.

SYDNEY, Australia, Jul 24 (IPS) - Sixteen-year-old Suhana Khan had just completed her grade 10 exams in March, when India imposed a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Since then, she has been spending her mornings and evenings doing household chores, from cooking and cleaning to fetching drinking water from the tube well. 

NEW YORK, Jul 23 (IPS) - The Charter of the United Nations has been a constant presence in my life.

PORT OF SPAIN, Jul 23 (IPS) - Could indiscriminate hunting lead to an outbreak of another zoonotic disease in Trinidad and Tobago. In this Voices from the Global South podcast our correspondent Jewel Fraser finds out.

ROTTERDAM/THE HAGUE, Jul 23 (IPS) - At last week's 2020 High Level Political Forum (HLPF), UN member states discussed how to get back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. They focused on a dire need for "accelerated action and transformative pathways to realize the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development."

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 23 (IPS) - Re-opening economies is a tough balancing act between keeping people safe from the virus while ensuring they can still make a living.

Some four months after the first COVID-19 case in Africa was reported in Egypt, countries on the continent are beginning to ease public health and social measures, such as lockdowns and curfews, imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic.