News headlines in August 2017, page 4

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (IPS) - Following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and the Great Recession in its wake, the ‘new normal' in monetary policy has been abnormal. At the heart of the unconventional monetary policies adopted have been ‘asset purchase' or ‘quantitative easing' (QE) programmes. Ostensibly needed for economic revival, QE has redistributed wealth – regressively, in favour of the rich.

BHOLA, Bangladesh, Aug 22 (IPS) - Visitors might be confused after arriving in Char Chatkimarai, a tiny island of eight square miles situated in the extreme south of Bangladesh close to the Bay of Bengal. Many might think they have just landed in an amazing part of a big national park of buffalo.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 (IPS) - Last month at the High Level Political Forum in New York, more than 40 countries - 11 from Latin America and the Caribbean - shared their progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), within the new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (IPS) - "The internet for journalism is now like the air you breathe," said Befeqadu Hailu, an Ethiopian journalist and a member of the Zone 9 blogger collective who was arrested in April 2014 and charged with terrorism. "Without the internet, modern journalism means nothing." Yet, the internet is something that journalists in multiple African countries are often forced to do without.

RUSTENBURG, South Africa, Aug 21 (IPS) - It was two thirty at night. Inside his home, the telephone rang. Sibongile Nota's brother's life drew nearer its end. A few minutes passed, the telephone rang again. His brother was now dead.

ROME, Aug 21 (IPS) - Imagine a world with as many as one billion people facing harsh climate change impacts resulting in devastating droughts and/or floods, extreme weather, destruction of natural resources, in particular lands, soils and water, and the consequence of severe livelihoods conditions, famine and starvation.

DHAKA, Aug 20 (IPS) - Aid agencies warn of a serious unfolding humanitarian crisis as floodwaters continue to inundate new areas of three South Asian countries, forcing millions of people to flee their homes for shelters.

GENEVA, Switzerland, Aug 18 (IPS) - The war in Syria has now entered its 6^th year and is becoming the world's worst man-made disaster.

DHAKA, Aug 18 (IPS) - When one thinks of Bangladesh, its political leadership naturally comes to mind as the leaders of the country's major parties are women, including the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the National Parliament.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 17 (IPS) - "Our wealth lies in the climate, not in the land," said Antonio Galván, president of the Rural Union of Sinop, a municipality created just 37 years ago, which has prospered due to the continued expansion of soy in Brazil.