News headlines in 2019, page 73

CANBERRA, Australia, May 02 (IPS) - Meryl Williams, Chair, Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society

In my years in fisheries research in Australia, few researchers were women, all fishers were assumed to be men, "girly" calendars were occasionally pinned on the office, lab or tea room wall at work and the workplace rules of engagement for women were still being worked out by trial and error. I vividly remember when my colleague, "Jessie", the only woman technician in our research agency, was assigned to go into the field for a week to support a fish tagging project run by men scientists. The men took umbrage and went to the Union to protest this affront to their work conditions. The Union warned them that they could be sacked for discriminating against a woman. So change was at hand - or so it seemed.

UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (IPS) - LIU Zhenmin is Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

For most of the 7 billion people on the planet, global institutions are remote, far removed from their day to day existence. Yet, our global institutions matter.

NAIROBI, May 02 (IPS) - Muthoki Mumo is the Sub-Saharan Africa representative for the Committee to Protect Journalist.

Speaking in parliament recently, Tanzania's information minister, Harrison Mwakyembe, wondered why people were still concerned about the whereabouts of Azory Gwanda, a freelance journalist who went missing in November 2017 in the country's Coast Region.

UNITED NATIONS, May 01 (IPS) - IPS correspondent Tharanga Yakupitiyage speaks to WHO's Coordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation DR. ANN LINDSTRAND on the challenges of immunisation and the way forward.

Since the introduction of vaccines, diseases such as measles and polio were quickly becoming a thing of the past. However, the world's progress on immunisation is now being threatened.

UNITED NATIONS, May 01 (IPS) - The United Nations has estimated a hefty $466 billion as remittances from migrant workers worldwide in 2017—and perhaps even higher last year.

NEW YORK, Apr 30 (IPS) - Nisha Varia is the women's rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

I have been working to protect the rights of women workers for 25 years, and whether I speak to domestic workers, election workers, farmers, or activists, their experience of sexual harassment and violence has been a common thread. The other commonality? The almost complete absence of redress in any of those cases, spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States.

COTONOU, Benin, Apr 30 (IPS) - Théophile Houssou, a maize farmer from Cotonou, has spent sleepless nights lying awake worrying about the various disasters that could befall any farmer, often wondering, "What if it rains heavily and all my crops are washed away?" or "What if the armyworms invade my farm and eat up all the crops and I'm left with nothing?"

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 30 (IPS) - Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director at Arms Control Association.

Smart U.S. leadership is an essential part of the nuclear risk reduction equation. Unfortunately, after more than two years into President Donald Trump's term in office, his administration has failed to present a credible strategy to reduce the risks posed by the still enormous U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, which comprise more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.

STOCKHOLM, Apr 30 (IPS) - Maduro or Guaidó? Neither, according to José Bodas. He is the former General Secretary of the FUTPV, Venezuela's main oil workers trade union, and according to him, neither the president nor the challenger from the opposition has the people's best interests in mind.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Apr 30 (IPS) - Tisaranee Gunasekara is a political commentator based in Colombo*

"Unmindful are the walking dead
The known way is an impasse."
-- Heraclitus (The Fragments)

We have been here before. This blooded precipice is familiar, this looming abyss. What is unfamiliar, what renders the Easter Sunday massacre most vile and truly nightmarish is the total absence of any knowable rationality.