News headlines in 2018, page 98

LIMA, Jan 25 (IPS) - Potatoes were first taken out of Peru, where they originated, 458 years ago to feed the world. Half a millennium later, potatoes have spread throughout the planet but there are challenges to preserve the crop's biodiversity as a source of food security, as well as the rights of the peasants who sustain this legacy for humanity.

NAIROBI, Jan 24 (IPS) - Urban development is one of our greatest challenges. While the world is highly urbanizing, our cities are transforming the nexus for the social, economic, environmental and political realities of our times.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (IPS) - Though 2017 was marked by stories of humanitarian disasters around the world, many crises remain under the radar with devastating consequences for those affected, a new report says.

DHAKA, Jan 23 (IPS) - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2013.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (IPS) - As the ‘masters of the universe' gather for their annual retreat at Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has just published its Inclusive Development Index (IDI) for the second time.

WASHINGTON DC, Jan 23 (IPS) - China's mass-market adoption of mobile payments in recent years has stunned observers. In 2016, more than 500 million Chinese used mobile payments and transacted 97 billion times on nonbank mobile apps.

BRATISLAVA, Jan 22 (IPS) - A landmark programme to combat drought set to be implemented in the small Central European country of Slovakia could be an inspiration for other states as extreme weather events become more frequent, the environmental action group behind the plan has said.

NANKAR, Bangladesh, Jan 20 (IPS) - Wahid Haider talks about his son's departure to Italy almost seven years ago without regret or hesitation. Haider has not seen Nayeem, now 30 years old, since he left Nankar in search of better economic prospects, travelling through Romania, where he spent several months, before entering Italy.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 (IPS) - International organizations have criticized the United States' decision to cut more than half of planned funding to a UN agency serving Palestinian refugees.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 18 (IPS) - As the elite in the world of finance gather in the Swiss luxury town of Davos, rallies are taking place around the world as citizens demand for solutions to rising inequality.