News headlines in July 2018

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 (IPS) - At the High-Level Political Forum, which concluded mid-July, world leaders from 46 countries show-cased their progress in achieving the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2030.

All 46 countries produced voluntary national reviews (VNRs) aimed at facilitating the sharing of their experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 SDG Agenda.

BELMOPAN, Jul 31 (IPS) - By the end of September 2018, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) would have installed the last of five new data buoys in the Eastern Caribbean, extending the regional Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) network as it continues to build resilience to climate change in the Caribbean.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Jul 31 (IPS) - Counting is underway today across Zimbabwe as the country voted in an historic election on Jul. 30, which many expect will bring political and economic transformation. It is a long-awaited change for many after autocratic leader, Robert Mugabe, was ousted in a soft coup in November last year after 37 years in power.

MAPUTO, Jul 30 (IPS) - IPS correspondent Elisio Muchanga spoke to the World Health Organisation goodwill ambassador for leprosy elimination, Yohei Sasakawa, during a recent visit to Mozambique to evaluate the country's progress in treating leprosy patients.In the first six months of this year, the southern African nation of Mozambique has already registered 300 more cases of leprosy, some 951 cases, than it registered for the whole of 2017.

SYDNEY & KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 30 (IPS) - Ten years ago, deteriorating confidence in the value of US sub-prime mortgages threatened a liquidity crisis. The US Federal Reserve injected considerable capital into the market, but could not prevent the 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC).

The 2008 meltdown exposed the extent of finance-led international economic integration, with countries more vulnerable to financial contagion and related policy ‘spillovers' exacerbating real economic volatility. It also revealed some vulnerabilities of the post-Second World War (WW2) US-centred international financial ‘architecture' – the Bretton Woods system – modified after its breakdown in the early 1970s.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - When Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was asked about the legality of the UN's much-ballyhooed Global Compact for Migration, he was initially evasive in his response.

"I'm not a lawyer", he told reporters July 12, "and I presume that this question might be better asked from a lawyer".

Jul 30 (IPS) - Voters in Pakistan's general election outrightly rejected political parties with extremism records and candidates linked to banned terrorist groups, opting instead to back liberal forces in a support for peace.

GENEVA, Jul 30 (IPS) - Maria Grazia Giammarinaro* is UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in personsStates around the world must act now to strengthen their efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings, including by ensuring that victims and potential victims are considered and treated as rights holders.

Many people who fall prey to traffickers are migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, who have decided to leave their country for various reasons, such as conflict, natural disaster, persecution or extreme poverty.

NAMPULA PROVINCE, Mozambique, Jul 28 (IPS) - It takes Faurito António, 42, from Lalaua district, Nampula Province, two hours to reach his nearest health centre in order to receive the drugs necessary for his treatment of leprosy. António, whose foot has become affected by the muscle weakness that occurs when leprosy goes untreated, says this long walk while ill is the reason why many don't continue treatment - which can take between six to 12 months.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 28 (IPS) - The rescue earlier this month of 12 Venezuelan and three Colombian women from a prostitution network that recruits migrants in Peru is an example of the complex web where migration and human trafficking often involve victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation.