Articles by IPS
We found 512 results.
VIP Memo: The French Road to Nuclear War
VIPS Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity | Information Clearing House - TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2024
France could be leading the USA down a path toward a nuclear conflict decidedly not in its interests–or of humanity itself, VIPS warn President Joe Biden.
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International Inertia Follows Israeli Assault on Jenin in the West Bank
Catherine Wilson | IPS - TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jul 2023
28 Jul 2023 – The likelihood of further confrontations remains high following a major Israeli military assault on an impoverished camp of more than 23,500 Palestinian refugees in Jenin in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.
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David Miranda, Campaigner and Former Brazilian Congressman, Dies Aged 37
Tom Phillips | The Guardian - TRANSCEND Media Servivce,
15 May 2023
9 May 2023 – Pres. Lula celebrates ‘extraordinary trajectory’ of favela-born politician and Guardian columnist who played key role in Snowden leaks with husband Glenn Greenwald.
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World Hunger Doubles
IPS | Pressenza - TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 May 2023
29 Apr 2023 – Some 345 million people are acutely food insecure worldwide, more than twice as many as before the covid-19 pandemic, said a new report by the UN World Food Programme.
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War Criminals & Military Aggressors Who Occupy Seats in the UN Security Council
Thalif Deen | IPS/Globetrotter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Apr 2023
3 Apr 2023 – On 1st Apr, a post-Ukraine Russia started presiding over the UNSC in a month-long presidency. But Russia is not the first or the only country—accused of war crimes or charged with violating the UN charter—to be either a member or preside over the most powerful body in the UN.
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Brazil Protests: Lula Vows to Punish ‘Neo-Fascists’ after Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Congress
Tom Phillips and Andrew Downie | The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jan 2023
9 Jan 2023 – President tours scene of riot and orders federal government to take control of policing in capital Brasília as extremists refuse to accept his presidency.
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A World of 8 Billion, Yes, but the Unseen, Untold Story of the 50% (Part 2)
Baher Kamal | IPS - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2022
8 Jul 2022 – While women and girls enjoy some of their rights in Western high-income countries, the overwhelming majority of teen and adult women in the impoverished regions of the world’s 8-billion population suffer all kinds of inequalities.
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WHO: Omicron in 38 Countries, No Deaths Reported
Jack Phillips | The Epoch Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2021
The World Health Organization on Friday [3 Dec] said the COVID-19 omicron variant is now in 38 countries, up from 23 two days ago. No deaths have been reported so far in connection to the COVID-19 strain, another WHO spokesperson told reporters.
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Od Ebra do Dunava (Music Video of the Week)
Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 May 2021
Live in Vilnius, Lithuania (Click on Watch on YouTube)
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Yemen: World’s Worst Humanitarian Disaster Triggered by Deadly Weapons from US and UK
Thalif Deen | IPS/Human Wrongs Watch - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Mar 2021
It is caused by air attacks on Yemeni civilians by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Rarely has the world denounced the primary arms merchants, US and UK, for the more than 100,000 killings since 2015 due mostly to air strikes on weddings, funerals, private homes, villages and schools. Over 130,000 have died from shortages of food and medical care.
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[Obscenity] World Bank Urges Governments to Guarantee Private Profits even if Investors Fail Contractual Agreements
Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury | IPS/Human Wrongs Watch - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Nov 2020
24 Nov 2020 – The World Bank has been leading other multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to press developing country governments to ‘de-risk’ infrastructure and other private, especially foreign investments. Governments have little choice but to accede to their private partners’ demands. Thus, WB guidance further undermines governments.
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Never Has So Little Done So Much Harm to So Many
Scott C. Tips | The National Health Federation - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Apr 2020
4 Apr 2020 – The Latest Coronavirus Attack Is A Cover for Restricting Our Health Freedoms
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The Ignoble Fall of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner: Aung San Suu Kyi
Thalif Deen | IPS - Human Wrongs Watch,
16 Dec 2019
12 Dec 2019 – Appearing before 17 judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto civilian leader of Myanmar, became a public apologist for the military government of Myanmar which has long been accused of genocide and forcing over 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since a 2017 crackdown.
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Inequality and Its Many Discontents
Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram | IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Dec 2019
3 Dec 2019 – Much recent unrest, such as the ‘yellow-vest’ protests in France and the US ‘Abolish the Super-Rich’ campaign, is not against inequality per se, but reflects perceptions of changing inequalities. Most citizens resent when they are not only unacceptably high but also rising. Excessive inequality is widely seen as fundamentally unfair. Even President Obama described “dangerous and growing inequality” as “the defining challenge of our time”.
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Amazon Rainforest ‘Close to Irreversible Tipping Point’
Dom Phillips – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2019
23 Oct 2019 – Soaring deforestation coupled with the destructive policies of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, could push the Amazon rainforest dangerously to an irreversible “tipping point” within two years, a prominent economist has said. Forecast suggests rainforest could stop producing enough rain to sustain itself by 2021.
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UN’s 75th Anniversary Shadowed by Right-Wing Nationalism, Widespread Authoritarianism and Budgetary Cuts
Thalif Deen | IPS - Human Wrongs Watch,
21 Oct 2019
17 Oct 2019 – Perhaps the most politically-significant event in 2020 will be the 75th anniversary of the United Nations amidst continued threats against multilateral institutions, rising right-wing nationalism, growing authoritarianism and widespread disinformation–in the shadow of one of UN’s worst financial crises. SG Guterres warned: “The situation remains dire; without immediate action, I can no longer guarantee the smooth functioning of the Organization.”
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Privatization Increases Corruption
Jomo Kwame Sundaram | IPS/Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jul 2019
23 Jul 2019 – International financial institutions (IFIs) have typically imposed wide-ranging policy reforms – called ‘conditionalities’ – in exchange for country governments to secure access to financial assistance. IFI policy conditionalities, such as the privatization of state-owned enterprises, can create new rentier opportunities, undermining government will and capacity to curb corruption.
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US Takes Back Signature on Arms Trade Treaty
Thalif Deen | IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 May 2019
29 Apr 2019 – The United States dropped a political bombshell when President Donald Trump announced his administration would withdraw from the historic Arms Trade Treaty which the former Obama administration signed in September 2013. The US, in effect, joins three other “rogue states” – North Korea, Iran and Syria – who voted against the treaty along with 23 countries that abstained on the voting, including China, Russia, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
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Wealth Concentration Drives a New Global Imperialism
Peter Phillips – Global Research,
25 Mar 2019
14 Mar 2019 – Regime changes in Iraq and Libya, Syria’s war, Venezuela’s crisis, sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Russia, and North Korea are reflections of a new global imperialism imposed by a core of capitalist nations in support of trillions of dollars of concentrated investment wealth. This new world order of mass capital has become a totalitarian empire of inequality and repression.
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Syrian Crisis Enters Ninth Year with 11 Million Refugees Overseas & 6 Million Home
Herve Verhoosel | IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
This Friday [15 Mar] marks the ninth anniversary of the start of the Syria crisis. For most of us, it is difficult to understand what it must feel like to be uprooted by conflict. To flee bullets and bombs and leave behind a life, a house, a job, a family, friends, school…. In the meantime, we need to maintain the vital lifeline of food assistance on which millions of vulnerable Syrians depend.
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The Rohingya – The Forgotten Genocide of Our Time
Leila Yasmine Khan and Daud Khan | IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
9 Jan 2019 – The violence towards the Rohingya, and their displacement from their homes and villages, is likely to wipe out their traditions, culture and lifestyle as well as their mental and cultural constructs. This combination of physical and psychological violence is likely to lead to the elimination of the Rohingya’s identity.
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New Cold War & Looming Threats: Interview with John Pilger
Jipson John and Jitheesh P.M. – Frontline,
31 Dec 2018
John Pilger, investigative journalist and documentary film-maker, talks about the U.S.’ aggression in the Asia-Pacific region and the decline of its global dominance and says that a “new Cold War beckons isolation for the U.S. and danger for the rest of us”.
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Of Cockroaches and Humans
Roberto Savio | IPS - Human Wrongs Watch,
17 Dec 2018
16 Dec 2018 – Rita Levi-Montalcini, the Italian Nobel laureate honoured for her work in neurobiology, once gave a splendid conference with the title “The imperfect brain”. There she explained that man has a brain that is not used completely, while the reverse is true for the cockroach.
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Migrants: A UN Conference Undermined by 11th Hour Withdrawals
Thalif Deen | IPS News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2018
7 Dec 2018 – When the long-awaited UN conference focusing on the rights and safety of migrants and refugees takes off in Morocco [10-14 Dec], it will be a rare, if not an unprecedented meeting, for one reason: the withdrawal of at least seven member states almost at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour.
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Complicating the Narrative on Nicaragua
James Phillips | NACLA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
Many reports on the situation in Nicaragua have failed to capture the complexity of the crisis, a product of many decades of dictatorship, revolution, youthful hope, counterrevolution, popular empowerment, compromise with hard realities, struggles for national sovereignty, and ongoing U.S. intervention.
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Global Wealth Concentration: The Global Power Elite Drive Amazon Share Value to a Trillion Dollars
Peter Phillips | Global Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2018
Exciting news for capitalism was the recent achievement of trillion-dollar value for both Amazon and Apple, making them the first corporations to obtain such a lofty status. Amazon’s skyrocketing growth makes its CEO, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person with a $160 billion net worth.
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Indigenous Peoples Least Responsible for the Climate Crisis
Jamison Ervin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Aug 2018
9 Aug 2018 – Indigenous peoples have the world’s smallest carbon footprint and are the least responsible for our climate crisis. Yet because their livelihoods and wellbeing are intimately bound with intact ecosystems, they disproportionately face the brunt of climate change, which is fast becoming a leading driver of human displacement.
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Human Trafficking for Organs: Ending Abuse of the Poorest
Maged Srour – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 May 2018
30 Apr 2018 – Organ trafficking, also defined as ‘illegal organ trade’, ‘transplant tourism’ or ‘organ purchase’ describes the phenomenon of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal, a grim reality in the 21st century. “People who are rich are able to buy organs and it’s the poor who end up being the source of these organs.”
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The Nowhere People: Rohingyas in India
Neeta Lal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Apr 2018
25 Apr 2018 – Persecuted in their country of origin, Rohingyas — the largest stateless population in the world at three million — have found shelter across vast swathes of Asia including in India. “Rather than resent their presence, India should accept the Rohingyas as it has other migrants. As a big regional player, the refugee crisis presents India with a unique opportunity to set an example and work out a long-term resolution to this humanitarian crisis which will usher in peace and stability in the region.”
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Ten Reflections on Today’s Crisis
Roberto Savio – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Apr 2018
10 Apr 2018 – It is now clearly evident that we are in a period of transition, even though we remain uncertain as to its outcome. The political, economic and social system that has accompanied us since the end of the Second World War is no longer sustainable. The exponentially growing inequalities have taken us back to levels seen in Victorian times.
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Yemen the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis, Says UN Chief
António Guterres | The United Nations – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 Apr 2018
4 Apr 2018 – Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As the conflict enters its fourth year, more than 22 million people – three-quarters of the population – need humanitarian aid and protection. Some 18 million people are food insecure. And a horrifying 8.4 million of these people do not know how they will obtain their next meal. Millions of Yemenis do not have access to safe drinking water. Last year, 1 million people suffered from watery diarrhea and cholera. Half of all health facilities are shut or not working properly, meaning there is a high risk of another cholera epidemic.
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India: Dowry Death or Murder?
Geetika Dang, Vani S. Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2018
19 Mar 2018 – Dowry deaths rose from about 19 per day in 2001 to 21 per day in 2016. As dowry deaths are embedded in archaic community and family norms, and in a corrupt and ineffective judicial and police system, curbing of this heinous crime remains a daunting challenge.
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Male Survivors of Sexual Violence Suffer in Silence Due to Stigma
Zack Baddorf – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Mar 2018
“I was first abused and beaten and weakened,” recounted Theodore, who fishes and farms for subsistence. “After five days of detention, I no longer had strength to resist so they took advantage of my powerlessness and had sex with me like a woman.”
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Merchants of Death Ultimate Winners in Escalating Military Conflicts
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Servicel-IPS,
19 Mar 2018
13 Mar 2018 -The world’s five major arms suppliers include the four permanent members of the UN Security Council: USA, Russia, France and China–plus Germany. Together, these five biggest exporters have accounted for about 74 per cent of all arms exports during 2013–17.
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Wake Up and Stop Rohingya Abuses
The Daily Star, Bangladesh | IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2018
27 Feb 2018 – No one would realise better than a woman how it feels when a child is snatched away from the arms of a mother and slaughtered, a man is murdered before the eyes of his wife, or a girl is raped. That is what happened to countless Rohingya women back in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
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Wealth Concentration Continues to Increase
Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 Jan 2018
23 Jan 2018 – 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.
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US Faces Collective Defiance at UN over Jerusalem
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Dec 2017
22 Dec 2017 – Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said: “We will remember it (the voting against the US), when we are called upon once again to make the world’s largest contribution to the UN”. The final tally on the vote was 128 in favour to 9 against (Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo, United States), with 35 abstentions.
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A Responsibility to Prevent Genocide
Tharanga Yakupitiyage – Inter Press Serice-IPS,
18 Dec 2017
12 Dec 2017 –70 years since the Genocide Convention was adopted, we still face a continued and growing risk. “Genocide does not happen by accident; it is deliberate, with warning signs and precursors,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Often it is the culmination of years of exclusion, denial of human rights and other wrongs, and it can take place in times of war and in times of peace.”
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Trump-Mideast: Much More than a ‘Kiss of Death’ to Palestinians
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Dec 2017
7 Dec 2017 – US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not represent only a ‘kiss of death’ to the two-State solution, but also a strong blow in the face of 57 Muslim countries, let alone igniting fire in this easily inflammable region, providing more false arguments to criminal terrorist groups to escalate their brutal attacks, in addition to taking a step further in Washington’s new conflict with Iran and the ‘restructuring’ of the Middle East.
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South-South Cooperation Key to a New Multilateralism
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Dec 2017
4 Dec 2017 – South-South and triangular cooperation can contribute to a new multilateralism and drive the revitalisation of the global partnership for sustainable development… Solutions and strategies created in the South are delivering lasting results around the world.
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Six ‘Signature Solutions’ – New Development Plan for a New Era
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
4 Dec 2017
30 Nov 2017 – ‘The new challenges that have emerged show the need to adapt the actions necessary to face them’–is the key rationale behind the 21 century development plan, which identifies six “signature solutions”: poverty, governance, energy access, gender equality, resilience and environmental sustainability.
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Good to Know (Perhaps) That Food Is Being ‘Nuclearised’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Nov 2017
16 Nov 2017 – It might sound strange, very strange, but the news is that scientists and experts have been assuring, over and again, that using nuclear applications in agriculture –and thus in food production—are giving a major boost to food security. So how does this work?
→ read full articleFourth Industrial Revolution & Its Dramatic Impact on Society
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Nov 2017
Based on an address on Web Summit Day, 6 Nov 2017, Lisbon, Portugal – I am an engineer and, for the time being, I am also Secretary-General of the UN and we are all here because we believe in the force of Science, Innovation and Technology. From my perspective, what is important is to combine innovation and technology, innovation and public policy to make sure that innovation works for the good of humankind.
→ read full articleClimate Change Summit a Step Further, Yes… But Where To?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Nov 2017
6 Nov 2017 – The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn is the next step for governments to implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The central aim should definitely be to prevent the growing everyday human dramas such as the loss of food security and means of survival, the forced need to abandon their homes and families to face death and brutality at the hands of smugglers and human traffickers, to be exploited as “modern” slaves, and to prevent the world’s seas and oceans from being home to more plastic than fish.
→ read full articleNations without Nationality – An ‘Unseen’ Stark Reality
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Nov 2017
10 Nov 2017 – Here’s another ‘unseen’ stark reality—that of millions of people around the world who are deprived of their identity, living without nationality. Their total number is by definition unknown and their only ‘sin” is that they belong to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in the country where they have often lived for generations.
→ read full articleSlave Labour, another Setback for the Government of Brazil
Mario Osava – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Nov 2017
31 Oct 2017 – The wave of conservativism is testing its limits in Brazil, as reflected by a Labour Ministry decree that seeks to block the fight against slavery working conditions. The powerful “ruralist” parliamentary bloc that represents agribusiness has been chalking up victories, such as keeping Michel Temer in the presidency, despite the disapproval of more than three-quarters of the population who see him as corrupt and are calling for his resignation.
→ read full articleHistoric Resolution on Women & Peacekeeping Remains Mostly Unimplemented
Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Nov 2017
30 Oct 2017 – Seventeen years since the passage of resolution 1325, our own implementation remains too often ad hoc. We need to understand that 1325 envisages a broad-based conceptual transformation of the existing international policies that deny women’s equality of participation, basically as a result of the Security Council’s support of the existing militarized inter-state security arrangements.
→ read full articleBangladeshis Open Their Hearts, Homes to Rohingya Refugees
Hala Jaber – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Oct 2017
26 Oct 2017 – An estimated 603,000 refugees have arrived in Cox’s Bazar since Aug 25, joining some 200,000 others already sheltering in the settlements. They come with nothing but the clothes on their back, often having walked for days without food or water. Many have experienced devastating physical and emotional trauma.
→ read full articleEnding the Male Monopoly on Peace: Women Still Need More Seats at the Table
Shaheen Chughtai – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Oct 2017
26 Oct 2017 – Whether targeted for sexual violence, oppressed by ideological extremists or bombings of hospital maternity units, women often bear the brunt of violent conflicts. In a world frayed by growing divisions with record numbers of people forced from their homes, the continued male monopoly on resolving and preventing conflicts is not just anachronistic – it is a danger to us all.
→ read full articleWhat Do You Really Eat When You Order a Steak, Fish or Chicken Filet?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Oct 2017
18 Oct 2017 – The world is running out of antibiotics to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization warned. This was not the first time UN agencies have sounded the alarm about the misuse and abuse of antibiotics both in humans and animals.
→ read full articleHow to Eradicate Rural Poverty, End Urban Malnutrition – A New Approach
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Oct 2017
9 Oct 2017 – Population growth, increasing urbanisation, modern technologies, and climate change are transforming the world at a fast pace. But what direction are these transformations headed in? “Unless economic growth is made more inclusive, the global goals of ending poverty and achieving zero hunger by 2030 will not be reached,” warned FAO head Graziano da Silva.
→ read full articleNuclear Weapons Ban Treaty a Significant Milestone
Jonathan Granoff – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 Oct 2017
Since 20 Sep 2017, 53 nations have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, popularly known as the Ban Treaty. It will enter into force after it is ratified by 50 states. UN Secretary General Guterres opened the signing of what he referred to as a “milestone” worthy of celebration.
→ read full articleWhere Do 50 Million Tonnes a Year of Toxic E-Waste Go?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 Oct 2017
27 Sep 2017 – Each year, the electronics industry generates 41 million tonnes of e-waste, but as the lifespan of devices shrinks in response to demand , that figure could reach 50 million tonnes this year. A staggering 60-90 per cent of that –worth nearly 19 billion dollars– is illegally traded or dumped, often with the involvement of transnational criminal gangs.
→ read full articleAlert: Nature, on the Verge of Bankruptcy
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Sep 2017
12 Sep 2017 – Pressures on global land resources are now greater than ever, as a rapidly increasing population coupled with rising levels of consumption is placing ever-larger demands on the world’s land-based natural capital, warns a new United Nations report.
→ read full articleFloods, Hurricanes, Droughts… When Climate Sets the Agenda
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Sep 2017
11 Sep 2017 – When officials and experts from all over the world started the first-ever environmental summit hosted by China, they were already aware that climate and weather-related disasters were already seriously beginning to set the international agenda – unprecedented floods in South Asia, strongest ever hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and catastrophic droughts striking the Horn of Africa, among the most impacting recent events.
→ read full articleDear Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
Farhana Haque Rahman - Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Sep 2017
11 Sep 2017 – So far, you have warned against “fake information” and “terrorists”. We have not, however, heard a word of support or even comfort for the people that, as amply documented by international organizations and media, are subject to a campaign leading to death, widespread suffering and desperate escapes over the border. The 1991 Nobel Prize was given to honor your heroic and unflagging efforts for peace and prosperity in your country and, let’s remember, to support efforts to achieve “ethnic conciliation by peaceful means.”
→ read full articleClimate Migrants Might Reach One Billion by 2050
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Aug 2017
21 Aug 2017 – Currently, forecasts vary from 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants by 2050, moving either within their countries or across borders, on a permanent or temporary basis, with 200 million being the most widely cited estimate, according to a 2015 study carried out by the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University.
→ read full articleQuantitative Easing for Wealth Redistribution
Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Aug 2017
22 Aug 2017 – Following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and the Great Recession in its wake, the ‘new normal’ in monetary policy has been abnormal. At the heart of the unconventional monetary policies adopted have been ‘asset purchase’ or ‘quantitative easing’ (QE) programmes. Ostensibly needed for economic revival, QE has redistributed wealth – regressively, in favour of the rich.
→ read full articleMinamata Convention, Curbing Mercury Use, Is Now Legally Binding
IPS-Inter Press Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Aug 2017
16 Aug 2016 – The Minamata Convention — a legally-binding landmark treaty, described as the first new environmental agreement in over a decade – entered into force today. The primary aim of the Convention is “to protect human health and the environment” from mercury releases, which are considered both environmental and health hazards, according to the United Nations.
→ read full articleMillions of Women and Children for Sale for Sex, Slavery, Organs…
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Aug 2017
28 Jul 2017 – It is happening now. Millions of humans are forced to flee armed conflicts, climate change, inequalities, and extreme poverty. They fall easy prey to traffickers lurking anyone who can be subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labour and even sell their skin and organs.
→ read full articleChina Seeks to Export Its Green Finance Model to the World
Daniel Gutman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Jul 2017
26 Jul 2017 – Hand in hand with UN Environment and the Inter-American Development Bank, the People’s Bank of China disembarked in the Argentine capital to prompt this country to adopt and promote the agenda of so-called green finance, which supports clean or sustainable development projects and combats climate change.
→ read full articleYemen Records 400,000 Cholera Cases
Roshni Majumdar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Jul 2017
27 Jul 2017 – The directors of the UN Children’s Fund, World Food Programme and World Health Organization released a joint statement today shedding light on a deadly cholera epidemic engulfing war-torn Yemen. More than 400,000 cases of cholera are suspected, and nearly 1,900 people have died from associated cases in the last three months alone.
→ read full articleLawmakers in Europe Want the UN to Debate a Parliamentary Assembly. When Will Governments Follow?
Andreas Bummel – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Jul 2017
20 Jul 2017 – The document pointed out that the EU “should play a proactive part in building a United Nations that can contribute effectively to global solutions, peace and security, human rights, development, democracy and a rule-of-law-based international order.”
→ read full articleNuclear Ban Approved, Now What?
Tharanga Yakupitiyage – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Jul 2017
12 Jul 2017 – More than seven decades after the deployment of deadly atomic bombs in Japan, the UN has passed a historic treaty banning nuclear weapons around the world. Though it has sparked hope for a future without nuclear weapons, uncertainty in the success of the treaty still lingers.
→ read full articleClimate Change-Poverty-Migration: The New, Inhuman ‘Bermuda Triangle’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Jul 2017
7 Jul 2017 – World organisations, experts and scientists have been repeating it to satiety: climate change poses a major risk to the poorest rural populations in developing countries, dangerously threatening their lives and livelihoods and thus forcing them to migrate.
→ read full articleTop 300 Cooperatives Generate 2.5 Trillion Dollars in Annual Turnover
Inter Press Service-IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
3 Jul 2017 – The top 300 cooperatives alone generate 2.5 trillion dollars in annual turnover, more than the GDP of France. Cooperatives help to build inclusive economies and societies, and can help to eliminate poverty and reach the other Sustainable Development Goals, the head of the UN Labour Agency said on 1 July, marking the International Day of Cooperatives.
→ read full articleThe ‘Water-Employment-Migration’ Explosive Nexus
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Jun 2017
30 May 2017 – Water–everybody talks about it, warns against its growing scarcity, excessive waste, the impact of climate change, the frequent severe droughts and so on. Now, a global action network with over 3,000 partner organisations in 183 countries comes to unveil the dangerous nexus between water, employment and migration, in particular in the Mediterranean region.
→ read full articleA Grisly Tale of Children Falling Easy Prey to Ruthless Smugglers
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 May 2017
22 May 2017 – Among a raft of alarming statistics, a new UN report has just found that children account for around 28 per cent of trafficking victims globally. And that Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America and the Caribbean have the highest share of children among detected trafficking victims, at the rates of 64 and 62 per cent, respectively.
→ read full articleGenetically Engineered Disappointments
Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Tan Zhai Gen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 May 2017
16 May 2017 – Advocates of genetically engineered crops have long claimed that it is necessary to raise crop yields and reduce human exposure to agrochemicals. GE promised two major improvements: improving yields affordably to feed the world, and making crops resistant to pests to reduce the use of commercial chemical herbicides and insecticides. There has been little compelling evidence to this effect after two decades.
→ read full articleAgony of Mother Earth: The Unstoppable Destruction of Forests (I)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 May 2017
The world’s forests are being degraded and lost at a staggering rate of 3.3 million hectares per year. While their steady destruction in many Asian countries continues apace, deforestation of the world’s largest tropical forest – the Amazon – increased 29 per cent from last year’s numbers. And some of the most precious ecosystems in Africa are threatened by oil, gas and mineral exploration and exploitation.
→ read full articleAfrican Migrants Bought and Sold Openly in ‘Slave Markets’ in Libya
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 May 2017
9 May 2017 – Hundreds of migrants along North African migration routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day ‘slave markets’ in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports “can be added to a long list of outrages” in the country. The International Criminal Court is now considering investigating.
→ read full articleGrowing Inequality under Global Capitalism
Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
8 May 2017
4 May 2017 – Income and wealth inequality has increased in recent decades, but recognition of the role of economic liberalization and globalization in exacerbating inequality has never been so widespread. The guardians of global capitalism are nervous, yet little has been done to check, let alone reverse the underlying forces.
→ read full articleIntel Vets Voice Doubts on Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack
VIPS-Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity – Consortium News,
1 May 2017
26 Apr 2017 – Two dozen former U.S. intelligence professionals are urging the American people to demand clear evidence that the Syrian government was behind the April 4 chemical incident before President Trump dives deeper into another war.
→ read full articleMiddle East, Engulfed by a ‘Perfect Storm’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 May 2017
21 Apr 2017 -Reporting to the UN Security Council on the “dire situation across the Middle East region, marked by the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, fractured societies, proliferation of non-State actors and unbelievable human suffering,” Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, reiterated the need for a surge in diplomacy for peace to ease the suffering of innocent civilians.
→ read full articleIndigenous Peoples – Best Allies or Worst Enemies?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 May 2017
25 Apr 2017 – It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia…. The Rome meeting of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus coincided with the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples.
→ read full articleYemen, World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
24 Apr 2017
19 Apr 2017 – With 18.8 million people –nearly 7 in 10 inhabitants– in need of humanitarian aid, including 10.3 million requiring immediate assistance, Yemen is now the largest single-nation humanitarian crisis in the world, the UN informs. According to OCHA, over 17 million people are currently “food insecure,” of whom 6.8 million are “severely food insecure” and require immediate food assistance, and two million acutely malnourished children. The Yemeni population amounts to 27.4 million inhabitants.
→ read full articleDisease Burden Growing as Vector Insects Adapt to Climate Change
Zadie Neufville – Inter Press Service-IPS,
24 Apr 2017
18 Apr 2017 – There were surprised gasps when Prof. John Agard told journalists at an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that mosquitoes were not only living longer, but were “breeding in septic tanks underground”. For many, it explained why months of fogging at the height of Zika and Chikungunya outbreaks had done little to reduce mosquito populations in their various countries.
→ read full articleAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States: One Billion People to Speak to Europe with One Voice
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Apr 2017
14 Apr 2017 – Seventy-nine countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which are home to around one billion people, will speak with one voice as they prepare to negotiate a major partnership agreement with the European Union (500 million inhabitants) in May.
→ read full articleHumanity and Social Justice, a Must for the Future of Work – Ryder
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Apr 2017
10 Apr 2017 – “The future of work must be inspired by considerations of humanity, of social justice and peace. If it is not, we are going to a dark place, we are going to a dangerous place,” said the head of the leading world body specialised on labour issues.
→ read full articleSecret Companies Allow Corrupt Cash to Flood Key Real Estate Markets
IPS World Desk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Apr 2017
30 Mar 2017 – The governments of Australia, Canada, UK and USA need to close legal loopholes to prevent the corrupt elite from laundering the proceeds of grand corruption in their local real estate markets, the Berlin-based Transparency International said on March 29 in a new report, Doors Wide Open: Corruption and Real Estate in Key Markets.
→ read full articleDon’t Understand Clouds? But You Should!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Mar 2017
Today scientists understand that clouds play a vital role in regulating the Earth’s energy balance, climate and weather, says the UN World Meteorological Organization.
→ read full articleClimate Breaks All Records: Hottest Year, Lowest Ice, Highest Sea Level
IPS World Desk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Mar 2017
23 Mar 2017 – Climate has, once more, broken all records, with the year 2016 making history-highest-ever global temperature, exceptionally low sea ice, unabated sea level rise and ocean heat. And what is an even worse– extreme and unusual trends continue in 2017.
→ read full articleResponding to US Budget Cuts for United Nations
Kul Chandra Gautam – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 – Donald Trump’s budget proposing a drastic reduction in US funding for the UN has caused much alarm and anxiety. But instead of lamenting and pleading for restitution of proposed cuts, friends of UN should welcome it as a strong incentive for seriously reducing the UN’s over dependence and vulnerability to blackmail by US and occasionally by some other donors.
→ read full articleNo Water, No Life – Don’t Waste It!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Mar 2017
This story is part of IPS coverage of World Water Day, observed on March 22. “Water is finite. It has to serve the need of more and more people and we only have one ecosystem from which to draw our water,” says the UN-Water’s Chair Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization.
→ read full articleUN Farms to Create One Million Days of Work for Mideast Migrants
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Mar 2017
15 Mar 2017 – The problem is rather complex and often not recognised: in one of the major regions of both origin and destination for migrants and refugees — the Near East and North of Africa, 10 per cent of rural communities is made up of forcibly displaced persons, while more than 25 per cent of the young rural people plan to emigrate.
→ read full article“Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50:50 by 2030”
Lakshmi Puri – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Mar 2017
With the United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day, we celebrate the tectonic shift in the way that gender equality and women’s economic empowerment has been prioritized and valued in the international development agenda and express the resolve that we will all do everything it takes including transformative financing to achieve the ambitious goal of Planet 50/50 in the world of work by 2030.
→ read full articleSeven Scary Facts about Widening Gender Gap
IPS World Desk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Mar 2017
Women across the globe are facing new threats, which risk dismantling decades of hard-won rights and derailing the effort to end extreme poverty, an international confederation of civil society organisations has revealed ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8.
→ read full articleAvoid Patent Clauses in Trade Treaties That Can Kill Millions
Martin Khor – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Mar 2017
27 Feb 2017 – Recently a very interesting article on why there are inequalities in access to health care and how medicine prices are beyond the reach of many people was published in The Lancet, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. The authors, who are eminent experts in development and public health, pinpointed trade and investment agreements for being one of the greatest health threats.
→ read full articleSouth Sudan Declares Famine, Other Countries May Follow Warns UNICEF
Lyndal Rowlands – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Feb 2017
South Sudan Monday [20 Feb] became the first country to declare famine since 2012, as UNICEF warned that 1.4 million children are at risk of dying from starvation with famine also imminent in Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Protracted conflict is the root cause of the food crises in all four countries, reflecting the reality that famine is more often than not man-made.
→ read full articleUN Declares War on Ocean Plastic
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Feb 2017
According to estimates, at the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic. Microplastics in oceans outnumber stars in our galaxy by 500 times.
→ read full articleThe Rise of One-Person Households
Joseph Chamie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Feb 2017
The proportion of people who live alone has grown steadily over the recent past. Since the 1960s one-person households in many countries have increased substantially. In many European countries as well as in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, the proportion of one-person households has more than doubled.
→ read full articleIndigenous Peoples Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World’s Biodiversity
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2017
9 Feb 2017 – They are more than 370 million self-identified peoples in some 70 countries around the world. In Latin America alone there are over 400 groups, each with a distinct language and culture, though the biggest concentration is in Asia and the Pacific– with an estimated 70 per cent. And their traditional lands guard over 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity.
→ read full articleWashington Rules Change, Again
Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2017
16 Feb 2017 – Over the last four decades, the Washington Consensus, promoting economic liberalization, globalization and privatization, reversed four decades of active state intervention… More than ever, it will be crucial for developing countries to work together, not only to ensure that South-South and ‘triangular’ (with the North) cooperation represents a progressive alternative to the Washington Consensus and its national chauvinist successors. Such solidarity will determine how well the South — and the world as a whole — will fare during the coming eclipse.
→ read full articleA Dire Vacuum in a World in Crisis
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Feb 2017
The Geneva Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights and Global Dialogue will launch a new initiative during the current session of the UN Human Rights Council: a panel discussion around the theme “Islam and Christianity, The Great Convergence: Working jointly towards equal citizenship.”
→ read full articleKenyans Turn to Wild Fruits and Insects as Drought Looms
Miriam Gathigah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Feb 2017
Too hungry to play, hundreds of starving children sit by the fire, watching the pot boil, in the hope that it is only a matter of minutes before their next meal. Unbeknownst to them, the food cooking inside the pot is actually a toxic combination of wild fruits and tubers mixed with dirty water, as surrounding rivers have all run dry.
→ read full articleInsecurity Fuelling Food Shortages in Lake Chad Basin: UN Coordinator
Lyndal Rowlands – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Feb 2017
“I saw adults sapped of energy who couldn’t stand up, I saw an entire town devoid of two-year olds, three-year olds, four-year olds, and when we asked where the children are – and I get upset when I say this – we were told that they had died, they had starved.”
→ read full articleWant to Prevent Stroke, Diabetes, Cancer? Get Moving… Now!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Feb 2017
2 Feb 2017 – Tired, lazy, bored, laying down long hours watching TV or seated checking your email? Wrong. And dangerous: not enough exercise contributes to cancer, diabetes, depression and other non-communicable diseases.
→ read full articlePlease, Do Not Get Offended, But:
Roberto Savio – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
With the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20, the new leadership of the most powerful nation has signaled it is breaking away from the rest of the world. Here, a few thoughts…
→ read full articleInequality (I): Half of World’s Wealth in the Pockets of These Eight Men
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
Article I of a three-part series focuses on the alarmingly deepening inequality. Part II deals with the staggering impact of inequality on women, and Part III with the future and quality of jobs.
→ read full articleInequality (II): “It Will Take 170 Years for Women to Be Paid as Men Are”
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
Article II of this three-part series on inequality, focuses on the impact of discrimination on women. Part III will tackle the issue of the future and quality of jobs. Part I has dealt with the alarming deepening inequality worldwide.
→ read full article