UNITED NATIONS, May 14 2019 (IPS) – The power of sport can help make global sustainable development a reality, and such power transcends cultural, linguistic and even physical barriers. In recent years, disabled athletes have gained greater visibility—an essential step in…
Geneva, May (Kanaga Raja) – The global food import bill is set to decline by 2.5 percent in 2019 to USD 1.472 trillion, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has projected. In its latest Food Outlook…
Jomo Kwame Sundaram Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 14 2019 (IPS) – Privatization has not provided the miracle cure for the problems (especially inefficiencies) associated with the public sector. The public interest has rarely been well served by private interests taking over…
In 2017, aid to education totaled US$ 13.2 billion, down 2% or US$288 million compared to 2016. The figures, released by the Global Education Monitoring Report, published by UNESCO, show the levels of aid to education continue to stagnate, growing…
Dhaka, May 13 – Bangladesh’s poverty rate came down to 21.8 percent and the extreme poverty rate to 11.3 percent in 2018, according to the latest data of the official Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The rates were calculated based…
Dhaka, May 13, – Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday last launched G. Japan Sunpower Auto Limited, a joint venture of Grameen Distribution Ltd and Rabbani Auto-mechanic Shop of Bangladesh and Sunpower Corp of Japan. Ashraful Hassan, Managing Director…
Dhaka, May 13 (UNB) – Projections by Standard Chartered Bank estimate that Bangladeshis will be better off than their neighbouring Indians on a per capita basis by 2030. The 2020s are set to be the Asian decade, with the continent…
Dhaka, May 13 (UNB)- Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is going to procure 55 dredgers in the coming days, aiming to increase navigability of the country’s rivers and ensure smooth waterway communication. According to an official document obtained by…
Dhaka, May 13 – The government is setting up three power hubs to boost Bangladesh’s power generation capacity over the next two decades. The hubs will be constructed at three locations as part of the Power System Master Plan 2016.…
A Vietnamese boy has been awarded £85,000 in compensation from the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice after he was illegally detained at Morton Hall immigration center and sexually assaulted. Known as H, the boy had been trafficked by…
Dhaka, May 12 – In the wake of the death of dozens of Bangladeshis in Friday’s boat capsize in the Mediterranean Sea in Tunisia, Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain on Sunday said it is shameful for the nation that people…
Dhaka, May 10 – The revenue collection target for the 2019-20 fiscal has been set at Tk 3.97 lakh crore to reduce dependency on foreign aid and grants. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been tasked with collecting Tk…
SRINAGAR, India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, May 9 2019 (IPS) – Mubeen Ahmad was nine years old when his mother sold him into service to a mechanic for the petty sum of few thousand Indian rupees. His mother had found it hard to support…
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a website collating the sources of data on inequality across the European Union and exploring evidence-based policy prescriptions? Now there is. Why is human labour remunerated so differently? Do opportunities in life have…
Dhaka, May 9 (UNB) – Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Thursday said the instability in the media, especially in TV channels, over the insecurity of journalists’ jobs will be over soon as the government is taking various steps in…
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, May 7 2019 (IPS) – Over the last four decades, growing concentration of market power in the hands of oligopolies, if not monopolies, has been greatly enabled by ostensibly neo-liberal reforms, worsening wealth concentration and gross inequalities in the…
NEW DELHI, May 6 2019 (IPS) – Communities are treated as passive recipients, giving them no say in the functioning of their schools. Here’s why this needs to change. During our work with people living around the Ranthambhor National Park…
PARIS, May 7 2019 (IPS) – An alarming report about the massive loss of biodiversity around the world warns that future generations will be at risk if urgent action isn’t taken to protect the more than one million species of plants…
The world’s oceans are running out of breath. In the past 50 years, we have lost nearly half our coral reefs and mangrove forests and the size of marine populations has halved. A third of global fish stocks are already…
By Ashif Shaikh DEWAS, India, May 3 2019 (IPS) – No external force can bring about real change in society. Only the community itself can. There are 650 districts in India. However, most nonprofits work only in a few districts.…
by Karin Pettersson Karin Pettersson says we can have Big Tech’s market domination, business models and democracy—just not all at the same time. Last week Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage in San Jose, California, and presented his vision…
by Liam Kennedy Soaring income inequality inevitably raises discussion of more progressive taxation. But a more fundamental focus on the ownership of capital is needed. ‘Taxes, taxes, taxes … All the rest is bullsh*t in my opinion.’ The now much-travelled…
by Fran Darlington-Pollock A close look at how the austerity practiced in the UK since 2010 has affected women’s health shows a gender lens must always be applied to see the full picture. Where you live can kill you—and, in…
DHAKA, May 1, 2019 (BSS) – The historic May Day was observed today in the country like elsewhere across the world through various programmes with a pledge to establish the rights of workers. The theme of day this year was…
The president of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament reflects on her retirement at the forthcoming elections and on the battles to come. On May 1st we celebrate the achievements of workers throughout the world and renew our commitment…
Mayday, mayday: the leader of the European trade union movement warns of the threat from the populists in the coming EP elections. May Day is workers’ day—and for trade unionists that means celebrating the solidarity we manifest towards each other…
Dhaka, Apr 30 (UNB) – The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) on Tuesday proposed raising the tax-free income tax celling for individual taxpayers to Tk 3.5 lakh from existing Tk 2.5 lakh considering the increased living…
KINGSTON, Apr 29 2019 (IPS) – Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are embracing renewable energy as part of their plans to become decarbonised in the coming decades. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has committed the island…
Dhaka, Apr 30 (UNB) – The historic May Day will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe on Wednesday with a pledge to establish the rights of workers. May Day, also known as the International Workers’ Solidarity…
Adam Tooze explains how a false exactitude in economics has led to a terrible politics in the EU. Economic ideas, when linked to measurement and policy-making, have power. Knowledge informs decisions and helps to justify policy in public. In the…