By Roberto Savio Rome, Sep 29 (IPS) – Generally, media have failed to analyse why the result of German elections is the worst possible. Merkel is not a winner, but a leader now in a very fragile position, who will…
Category: Op-Ed
Falling off the health-care radar
By Vani S. Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha Philadelphia and New Delhi, Sep 28 (IPS) – Care for the elderly needs to be better targeted by the health system and social networks.
Bali volcano triggers memories of deadly 1963 eruption
Kagangasem, Indonesia, Sept 28 (BSS/AFP) – The last time Bali’s Mount Agung volcano erupted, a stream of molten lava flattened teenage Gusti Nyoman Dauh’s home, while cascading ash, rocks and hot gas killed 1,600 of his neighbours.
Public-private partnerships as the answer . . . what was the question?
By Manuel F. Montes New York, Sep 26 (IPS) – In discussions at the UN about achieving Agenda 2030, it has become de rigueur to highlight the role of the private sector. It is often introduced as the discovery of…
Where do 50 million tonnes a year of toxic e-waste go?
By Baher Kamal ROME, Sep 27 (IPS) – Each year, the electronics industry generates up to 41 million tonnes of e-waste, but as the number of consumers rises, and the lifespan of devices shrinks in response to demand for the…
Gandhi’s truth: Ending human violence one at a time
Robert J. Burrowes Gandhi Jayanti – 2 October, the date of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s birth in 1869 and the International Day of Nonviolence – offers an opportunity to reflect on human violence and to ponder ways to end it. There…
ASEAN at 50. What’s Next?
– Jayant Menon and Anna Cassandra Melendez The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has just turned 50. Now well into middle age, it has some significant achievements under its belt.
G77 a key partner in reform of the UN system
By Miroslav Lajcak UN, Sep 25 (IPS) – When the Charter of Algiers was adopted 50 years ago, it marked the unity of the Group of 77. This unity has not wavered since then. The G77 is the biggest group…
World hunger increasing for first time since turn of the century
A United Nations study found that war and climate change were the driving forces of an increase in malnutrition worldwide in 2016. By Shelley Connor The number of people suffering from malnutrition worldwide rose to 815 million in 2016, rising…
Do people really need interlinking of rivers?
SANDRP Report In the detailed piece, Himanshu Thakkar rightly says that the river interlinking project will adversely affect land, forests, biodiversity, rivers and the livelihood of millions of people. On the other hand it would not be helpful for irrigation,…
The urbanization of malnutrition
By Manipadma Jena New Delhi – India, Sep 25 (IPS) – Rapid urbanization is increasingly shifting the impacts of malnutrition from rural to urban areas. One in three stunted under-five children out of 155 million across the world now lives…
Witness to carnage in Myanmar
Hasina is a soft-spoken 20-year-old Rohingya woman from Rakhine State in Burma. She asked us to use her picture and tell her story so the world knows what is happening there. Her village, Tula Toli, was attacked in late August…
Milan fashion meets global crises with lightness
Milan, Sep 22 (AP/UNB) — The Milan fashion world is responding to global crises with transparency and lightness. Designers are choosing diaphanous textiles to create airy looks, often layering sheer trench coats and anoraks over form-fitting knit dresses or jumpsuits…
Stones to drones: A short history of war on earth
Gar Smith War is humanity’s deadliest activity. From 500 BC to AD 2000 history records more than 1000 [1,022] major documented wars. In the 20th Century, an estimated 165 wars killed as many as 258 million people — more than…
Key myths and facts about the atomic bombings of Japan
By Robert J Barsocchini In 1945, US president Harry Truman (who had dictatorial control over the atomic bomb) and his advisor James Byrnes intentionally prolonged the US war with Japan until, and apparently so that, they could target Japanese civilians,…
Maria destroys Puerto Rico homes, knocks out power
San Juan, Sep 21 (AP/UNB) — The strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years destroyed hundreds of homes, knocked out power across the entire island and turned some streets into raging rivers Wednesday in an onslaught…
Balanced approach to food security underscored
GreenWatch Report September 19, Dhaka: Speakers at a training workshop in Dhaka on Tuesday underscored the need for a balanced approach to meet the food security needs of Bangladesh.
The night one Russian officer saved the world
He was often called “the man who saved the world,” and in some sense, he did. On the night of Sept. 26, 1983, in a period of Cold War tension, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel on duty at a missile…
Rohingya: A misfortune of persecution
By Farid Ahmed Cox’s Bazar, Sep 18 (IPS) – Forsaken and driven out by their home country Myanmar, tens of thousands of Rohingyas are struggling to survive in Bangladesh’s border districts amid scarcities of food, clean water and medical care,…
‘Asia will be home to 60% of world’s over 65s by 2030’
Demography — the fundamental driver of all economies — is shifting the balance of power in Asia, according to Deloitte’s Voice of Asia report: By 2042 there will be more over-65s in Asia than the populations of the Eurozone and…
When primary education receive due attention?
Masum Billah Dhaka – Out of about sixty-four thousand government primary schools, twenty-one thousand have been running without their head teachers. A Bengali daily has highlighted this news making it much enriched with many relevant data and information. Though the…
Rohingya Muslim persecution in the pages of history
Nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled renewed violence in Myanmar, crossing the border in Bangladesh in waves following a military crackdown the UN says amounts to ethnic cleansing. It is the latest chapter in a long and tumultuous history of…
UNHCR appeals for $30m to support swelling Rohingya refu
UN refugee agency UNHCR has sought an initial emergency aid of US$ 30 million for Rohingyas, two days after it jointly launched with UN’s migration organization IOM an appeal for enhanced global assistance as surges of refugee continued to hit…
More Co2 in atmosphere produces food crops short of nutrients
Atmospheric CO2 levels of 550 parts per million (ppm), expected to become the global norm by 2050, will shrink the protein, iron and zinc content in wheat and rice, putting 50 million more Indians at risk of deficiency.
Nations closer to unlocking over 200GW geothermal energy
Florence, Italy, 12 Sept —Governments have agreed to work together to identify and implement measures that will significantly increase the speed of geothermal energy development around the world, following a milestone meeting between public and private leaders Florence this week.…
Capacity development for climate compatible development
By Juliane Nier, Rachel Phillips and Russell Cook Accelerating the shift to climate compatible development is CDKN’s business and improving the lives of the most climate-affected people is our mission. A multi-year, £130 million programme funded by the British and…
10 things to know about the future of water and sanitation
Nathaniel Mason and Miriam Denis Le Sève The world is transforming in many different ways. These shifts – from climate change, o migration, to new technology and urbanisation – will have a significant impact on the management of water resources…
Food loss and waste focus of Food Tank’s NY summit
On September 13, Food Tank will host a one-day summit at the WNYC Greene Space in New York City, titled “Focusing on Food Loss and Waste,” in partnership with Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data (ReFED) and with support…
Egypt announces 3500-year-old tomb discovery
Egypt has announced the discovery in the southern city of Luxor of a pharaonic tomb belonging to a royal goldsmith who lived more than 3,500 years ago during the reign of the 18th dynasty. The tomb is located on the…
Pressure Burma to stop Rohingya killings – SUJAN
Dhaka – Leaders of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN) on Thursday drew the attention of international community including the United Nations to continue pressure on Myanmar government to immediately stop the mass killing and persecution of Rohingya people in the Rakhine…