Dubbed the “Swiss Machine” for his daring speed climbs in the Himalayas, Ueli Steck was on Mount Everest to acclimatize before attempting to summit the world’s tallest peak next month. He wanted to take a rarely-used route. Mingma Sherpa of…
Category: Op-Ed
Why Muslims are marching for climate
By Nana Firman (CNN) — From the cropless farmer to the beleaguered first responder to the person forced to evacuate their flooded home, we all have our reasons for caring about climate change. As an Indonesian-born Muslim living in California,…
Marching for a green and just future
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, Apr 28 (IPS) – People around the world will be banding together to fight one of the world’s most pressing problems: climate change. Thousands are set to gather at the People’s Climate March in Washington, D.C.…
Worlds greenest terminal launches at Oslo Airport
Dhaka – Designed by Oslo-based practice Nordic-Office of Architecture, the 115,000 sqm expansion to Oslo Airport sets new standards in sustainability. The competition-winning design, which uses snow as a coolant, has achieved the world’s first BREEAM ‘Excellent’ sustainability rating for…
UK slides to 40th in press freedom index
Journalists in the UK are less free to hold power to account than those working in South Africa, Chile or Lithuania, according to an index of press freedom around the world. Laws permitting generalised surveillance, as well as a proposal…
India blocks social media in Kashmir as abuse videos uploaded
Srinagar, Apr 27(AP/UNB) — India has ordered internet service providers in Indian-controlled Kashmir to block Facebook, Twitter and 20 other social media sites and online applications for one month, after several videos and photos depicting alleged abuses of Kashmiris by…
Worrying about fake news has become all the rage
By Farhana Haque Rahman Rome, Apr 26 (IPS) – Rogue interests, perhaps even foreign, are said to be trying to interfere with the electoral process in the U.S. and European Union members. Senior government officials glibly endorse what they themselves…
IPS journalists who perished in the line of duty
By Thalif Deen UN, Apr 26 2017 – In the politically-risky world of professional journalism, news reporters are fast becoming an endangered species. The numbers are staggering: some 1,236 journalists have been killed since 1992, according to the New York-based…
Agroecology in China’s new ‘Ecological Civilization’
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in 2014 and three regional symposia throughout 2015. Building on the recommendations of these symposia, a multistakeholder International Symposium…
Indigenous peoples – Best allies or worst enemies?
By Baher Kamal Rome, Apr 25 (IPS) – 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…
Challenge against Gilead’s hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir in China
Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai Close on the heels of filing four patent challenges in India, two on daclatasvir, one on velpatasvir and another on sofosbuvir, the international NGO– Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), in association with other NGOs, has…
Manulife starts global partnership with World Heart Federation
Hong Kong, China – Media OutReach – 25 April – Today, Manulife has announced the commencement of a new global partnership with the World Heart Federation (WHF) to bolster awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and to increase CVD prevention efforts.
Reclaiming the Bandung Spirit for shared prosperity
By Noeleen Heyzer and Anis Chowdhury Bangkok and Sydney, Apr 24 (IPS) – “The despised, the insulted, the hurt, the dispossessed—in short, the underdogs of the human race were meeting. … Who had thought of organizing such a meeting? And…
Fate of Earth must not be decided by US & fellow nuclear states
By Joan Russow Victoria, BC, Canada, Apr 24 (IPS) – When the United Nations continues its negotiations in June for an international treaty against nuclear weapons, there must be a treaty that should cover every single aspect of the devastating…
In a world of worst case scenarios
The tiny island-nation of Antigua and Barbuda has made an impassioned plea for support from the international community to deal with the devastating impacts of climate change. Urging “further action”, Environment Minister Molwyn Joseph said the Paris Climate Agreement must…
Reducing European inequality: Cohesion through convergence
by Michael Dauderstädt When founded in 1957, the then European Economic Community comprised six relative prosperous countries, albeit including a very poor region, the Italian Mezzogiorno. With the first enlargement in 1972, poor Ireland joined the Community, bringing a start…
The ugly side of getting rich
In one photograph, the German-born, Harvard-educated hedge fund manager Florian Homm, who made and lost a personal fortune of more than $800 million, poses in a German brothel that he once co-owned. In another, Imelda Marcos, the former first lady…
Ershad off to India to visit ancestral home
Rangpur – Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad went to his ancestral home in India’s Cooch Behar on Sunday on a five-day visit. “Our chairman left Bangladesh through Burimari Land Port for Dinhata in Cooch Behar district in India around 2pm,”…
Floods never kill fishes or birds: No more hasty remarks
by Mostafa Kamal Majumder Dhaka – The deaths of fishes that breed and grow, and water birds that feed and roost in the haors (depressions) of greater Sylhet region on the northeastern part of Bangladesh, following a flash flood just…
‘The ocean is not a dumping ground’
By Nasseem Ackbarally Port-Louis, Mauritius, Apr (IPS) – An internationally renowned scientist, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim became Mauritius’s sixth president on June 5, 2015 – and one of the few Muslim women heads of state in the world. Her nomination constituted a major…
Journalism as propaganda
by Simon Wren-Lewis A few days ago I took part in a Royal Economic Conference session on the implications of the Brexit vote. There is no need for me to describe how it went, as there is a good write…
International collaboration to end violence
Robert J. Burrowes While much of the world is engulfed in violence of one sort or another (whether violence in the home or on the street, exploitation, ecological destruction or war), a global network of individuals and organizations is committed…
70 pc buildings to collapse if 7-8 magnitude quake hits Ctg
Chittagong – About 70 percent of high-rise buildings in the port city will collapse if an earthquake of 7-8 magnitude on the Richter scale hits the city, says a new study of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUST). UNB…
Culprits injure mother, daughter in Gaibandha acid attack
Dhaka, Apr 21 (UNB) – A woman and her young daughter suffered burn injuries in an acid attack by miscreants at Tarafsadulla village in Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha, in northern Bangladesh, on Thursday night.
Can Europe converge on what ‘Convergence’ should mean?
by Lukáš Veselý 2017 is the year of choices: after important elections in several Member States, the European integration process can be reinvigorated in the autumn with a renewed sense of purpose, or it can continue to decline in a…
Is there a future for social democracy in Europe?
by Sebastían Royo The response to the Great Recession from European social democratic/centre-left parties, with some notable exceptions like Portugal’s, was largely to implement the austerity policies of the right: they bailed out the banks and the bondholders, and they…
Sanitation is a human right
A high-level international meeting on sanitation should address barriers to realizing the human right to sanitation with privacy and dignity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United Nations and Sanitation and Water for All, a global…
Teesta remains a litmus test for India Bangladesh
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit this weekend will be her first bilateral visit in seven years. The two sides are expected to announce a slew of agreements on connectivity, energy and trade, but former High Commissioner of Bangladesh to…
Org to help those serving long jail terms sans trial urged
Dhaka – Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee Chairman High Court Division Justice M Enayetur Rahim yesterday said that a specific law is needed to rehabilitate those people who were released from jail after long terms incarceration without any trial.
Stopping deforestation: ‘Indigenous people are the best park rangers’
Trees soak up greenhouse gases, so how do we ensure their protection? Our experts offer seven ideas for the conservation and restoration of forests s1 | Stop subsidising agriculture that harms forests Countries need to stop using outdated fiscal policies…