Everywhere you turn in Budapest these days, there are posters and billboards portraying a grinning George Soros, the Hungarian-born philanthropist billionaire. The government-funded posters say that 99 percent of the public who submitted the May national consultation questionnaires on migration…
On May 25th, the people of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of repealing the 8th amendment of the Irish Constitution – the article that had hitherto made it effectively impossible to legislate for abortion even in the most extreme of…
The last time Mohammed Hashim saw his brother alive, he begged for his life, his arms bound behind his back as soldiers marched the 35-year-old teacher away.
Tribute by Sir Frank Peters It’s hard to believe that Wednesday, June 6, 2018, marks the fourth death anniversary of Mahbubul Alam. Sometimes I find it hard to accept he’s dead, his spirit has such strength and vibrant colours.
By Andrei Soldatov In April, a series of protests hit the Moscow region. They were neither overtly political—citizens were protesting toxic landfills in their neighborhoods—nor very numerous, comprising, at most, a few thousand people in a region of over seven…
Politics, unlike theatre, rarely gets pacing right. Either one spends months waiting for some seemingly inevitable drama, or all hell breaks loose in the space of a few days. The late spring of 2018 falls into the latter category. On…
The global nuclear nonproliferation system has always relied on responsible leadership from the United States and other global powers. The effort to create, extend, and strengthen the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which was opened for signature 50 years ago on…
Kumi Naidoo Johannesburg – Governments around the world are engaged in a series of talks that could fundamentally alter how the movement of people across borders is managed. One dialogue is focused on the protection of refugees; the other on…
Since the populist Five Star Movement and the right-wing League captured a combined parliamentary majority in Italy’s March 4th election, Italian politics has been at an impasse, with the two parties struggling to form a government. But now, with President…
by Haritha John, S. Gopikrishna Warrier • Perambra, a village in Kozhikode district of Kerala has been in the news after illness and death were reported due to Nipah virus infection. • Even while the spread of the infection has…
By Danielle Nierenberg and Emily Payne New Orleans, United States, May 29 (IPS) – Many factors contribute to the cost of a tomato. For example, what inputs were used (water, soil, fertilizer, pesticides, as well as machinery and/or labor) to…
Geneva, 28 May (D. Ravi Kanth) – The United States, Australia, and Brazil attempted last week to hijack the Doha agriculture negotiations from the core ministerial mandates, but the large majority of developing countries, including China, India, Indonesia, and Egypt,…
Geneva, 29 May (D. Ravi Kanth) – China and South Africa have upped the ante for strengthening the flexibilities in the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement based on the repo rt prepared by the…
A disquieting finding of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017, Building resilience for peace and food security, or (SFSN2017), Rome, is that, in 2016, the number of chronically undernourished people in the world increased to…
Liberals across Europe seem happy: President Mattarella has prevented populists from taking over the Italian government and averted another Euro crisis. Their joy will be short-lived, however.
Robert J. Burrowes In a recent article titled ‘Challenges for Resolving Complex Conflicts’, I pointed out that existing conflict theory pays little attention to the extinction-causing conflict being ongoingly generated by human over-consumption in the finite planetary biosphere (and, among…
Discussions over the impact Brexit will have on Germany tend to revolve around economics – about the losses that German carmakers will face, or how Frankfurt may snatch financial services from London. But there is more to the story. Brexit…
Geneva, 25 May (Kanaga Raja) – Rising market concentration and corporate rentierism in core sectors of the global economy are a major driver of growing global income inequality, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
By Dex Agourides May 25, 2018 (IPS) – The vision for a sustainable future in Africa is being realized at a time of great possibilities and this vision is underpinned by a shift in continental focus towards sustainable and inclusive…
By Ahn Mi Young Busan, May 26 2018 (IPS) – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) presented the African model of a National Financing Vehicle in which the governments of Rwanda and Ethiopia have successfully promoted green growth and climate…
By Thalif Deen Stockholm, Sweden, May 28, 2018 (IPS) – The United Nations is continuing to fight a relentless battle to eradicate extreme hunger – particularly in the world’s poorest nations—by 2030.
Governments, employers, and workers from around the world will meet beginning May 28, 2018, to discuss a proposed international treaty on violence and harassment in the workplace, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch has issued a 16-page report…
by Christian Borja-Vega Recent research points out that adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools improves school attendance, health and cognitive development of students, nurtures better WASH habits while addressing gendered dimensions of exclusion. Despite this evidence, operationalizing and…
Monowara Begum Moni “I could possibly eat anything more -unless they had some of those great asparaguses. I should be sorry to leave Paris without having some of them”—A Quotation from the famous writer William Somerset Maugham from his famous story LUNCHEON!…
Kumi Naidoo Not since 1951 has the international community produced a treaty to protect the legal status of the world’s refugees. Now, two agreements are currently under discussion at the United Nations, and each offers a rare opportunity to protect…
Market mechanisms may be efficient, but they may also change the meaning of the goods exchanged.
by Kristalina Georgieva I opened my first bank account as a new student at the London School of Economics in 1987. This seemingly small act meant that I could manage my own finances, spend my own money, and make my…
Climate finance has never been more urgently needed, with massive investments in climate action required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and avoid the devastating effects of a warmer planet.
Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad I have reached the end of my life. I only want to end the remaining part of it by obeying and bowing down to Allah. Nonetheless, I am still able to concentrate on my loneliness when…
National Geographic has Wednesday announced the acquisition of a new documentary Wild Edens: Russia the first in a new series that highlights the issue of climate change. Focused on the flora and fauna in the unique natural habitats of Russia,…