News headlines in 2020, page 68

ROME, Jun 04 (IPS) - Landless farmers who produce rice for the landlords of big "haciendas" can't get more than a little pocket money from their harsh work—not enough to provide diverse and healthy food for their families. Seasonal workers on sugar-cane plantations know that they can count on only six months of earnings. When summer arrives, those whose irrigation facilities have been destroyed by typhoons, or those who never had any, struggle while waiting for the rain.

GENEVA, Jun 04 (IPS) - In these difficult times for the Palestinian people and for justice, the Government of Israel is proposing to add further to the turmoil by unilaterally absorbing large swathes of the Palestinian West Bank of the Jordan River. It might therefore be fitting to remind the world of the chronology of the events leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948.

MILAN, Italy, Jun 04 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inherent fragility of food systems, Marta Antonelli told an international video conference organised by the Barilla Center for Food Nutrition (BCFN).

NEW YORK, Jun 04 (IPS) - The United States has been a story of broken dreams and broken glass this past week.

Once again, an unarmed black man died at the hands of a white police officer, with George Floyd being pinned to the ground under a lawman's knee in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as stunned passersby made cell-phone videos of the incident to post on social media.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 04 (IPS) - "Before there can be truth there must be a true man"-- Chuang-TzuIn the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, the much-anticipated 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) of the WHO concluded without any major controversies or disagreements.

BERLIN and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 04 (IPS) - The world economic contraction so far this year is largely due to measures, especially at the national or local level, to contain or prevent Covid-19 contagion, particularly those restricting business operations, thus reducing economic activity, output, incomes and spending.

Jun 04 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic is crippling the economies of rich and poor countries alike. Yet for many low-income and fragile states, the economic shock will be magnified by the loss of remittances—money sent home by migrant and guest workers employed in foreign countries.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, Jun 03 (IPS) - I can't breathe, please! Let me up, please! I can't breathe! I can't breathe!

These words are not the words of George Floyd or Eric Garner. They weren't uttered on the streets of Minneapolis or New York. These are the final words of a 26-year-old Dunghutti man who died in a prison in south-eastern Sydney.

NEW YORK, Jun 03 (IPS) - With very weak health systems and overall capacity constraints to effectively respond to the deadly coronavirus disease, Africa's fate against the invisible enemy, was going to be nothing short of catastrophic according to early predictions. Although Africa is yet to reach its peak, many countries are not seeing the exponential growth in case numbers, or in mortality rates as seen in other regions of the world. So far, the continent has the lowest mortality rates with higher recovery rates globally.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 03 (IPS) - World leaders gathered on Tuesday to pledge $1.35 billion in aid for Yemen, which currently undergoing what many is the world's "worst humanitarian crisis", with Saudi Arabia announcing a contribution of $500 million.