News headlines
Supporting Informal Workers During the COVID-19 Crisis
- Inter Press Service

HYDERABAD, India, Mar 30 (IPS) - Farmers, agricultural labourers, and informal sector workers are the worst hit by COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns. Here are some steps that the government and banks can take to help them cope financially.
Slums, Camps, Terrorism: Experts Worry about Coronavirus Hitting South Asia
- Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 30 (IPS) - As coronavirus makes its way through different continents, countries, and communities around the world having claimed more than 23,000 lives, experts are ringing alarm bells about the implications of the disease as it hits South Asia, which hosts almost 2 billion of the world's population.
Saluting IPS Journalists and Supporters during Covid19 Pandemic
- Inter Press Service

ROME, Mar 30 (IPS) - As the coronavirus pandemic shifts around the world, now stretching even the developed health services of richer nations to breaking point, here at IPS our dedicated journalists in developing countries are standing strong in giving a voice to the Global South.
Zimbabwe's Afforestation Challenge
- Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Mar 27 (IPS) - "I have never planted a tree in my life," laughs Jairos Saunyama, a tobacco farmer, revelling at the absurdity of the question of whether he is involved in the country's afforestation efforts. Sawunyama is one of thousands of farmers who are blamed by local conservationists for turning the country's forests into deserts and dust bowls.
India’s Trinity of Challenges
- Inter Press Service

NEW DELHI, Mar 27 (IPS) - The exigencies of combatting the coronavirus pandemic on a war-footing -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a nationwide stay-at-home lockdown for 21 days to break the chain of transmission -- has certainly deflected attention from equally pressing challenges confronting India.
The nation's capital witnessed horrific communal violence when the US President was visiting India, triggering international outrage, including from the South. The economy also deserves attention as growth has been decelerating since 2016-17. With the virus shock, the pace of expansion will contract as the economy shuts down and slides into recession.
Coronavirus & Early Lessons from China
- Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON DC, Mar 27 (IPS) - The impact of the coronavirus is having a profound and serious impact on the global economy and has sent policymakers looking for ways to respond. China's experience so far shows that the right policies make a difference in fighting the disease and mitigating its impact—but some of these policies come with difficult economic tradeoffs.
Chinese vs. Western governance: The case of COVID-19
- Inter Press Service

LONDON, Mar 26 (IPS) - During January the onslaught in the Western media, notably the US and the UK, against the Chinese government's handling of the Covid-19 epidemic, was merciless. The Chinese government stood accused of an inhumane attitude towards its people, secrecy, a cover-up, and an overwhelming concern for its own survival above all other considerations.
Can Eswatini’s Traditional Healers Encourage HIV Testing Among People Not Accessible via Routine Healthcare Systems?
- Inter Press Service

MBABANE, Mar 26 (IPS) - Doctor Khalishwayo is a traditional healer based in Nhlangano, a town in the Shiselweni Region, in southern Eswatini. His clients are people who consult him when they are suffering from different ailments. And he in turn diagnoses them using divine methods.
Far From Home During a Pandemic
- Inter Press Service

KATHMANDU, Mar 26 (IPS) - Nepali workers in Qatar who have been quarantined in a camp that has been closed off for two weeks say that aside from concerns about jobs and health, they are now also worried about their families back home.
Coronavirus Worsens Yemen’s Long Tale of Woe
- Inter Press Service

SANA’A, Yemen, Mar 26 (IPS) - Abdul Mohammed is a humanitarian worker for Oxfam Yemen In every room in Yemen's Al-Saba'een hospital, patients in critical condition waited on chairs, and still others laid on the bare ground. I saw women and girls sharing beds in pairs, and children laying close together being treated.
Global Issues