News headlines in 2019, page 65

PENANG and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 04 (IPS) - Finance has not stopped at dominating the real economy. The tentacles of finance have reached into significant, if not most parts of society.

Gerald Davis characterises modern society, where finance is dominant, as a ‘portfolio society', in which aspects of social life have been securitized and transformed into a kind of capital or investment to be managed.

LILONGWE, Malawi, Jun 04 (IPS) - Mercy Masoo is Country Director, WaterAid Malawi

Giving birth is a life changing moment for women. It can be - when women have a safe and caring environment, positive and empowering - a moment to find a previously untapped inner strength.

ROME, Jun 03 (IPS) - The terrible feeling I had on waking up and seeing the Italian voting results at the recent European elections was that my country was suddenly full of strangers. How could the majority of Italians reconfirm a government which has been the most inefficient in history, quarrelling on everything every single day and looking with total indifference to the looming problem of how to establish the next budget without clashing with the European Union or squeezing Italian citizens? Its irresponsible debate on the Italian finances has now led to a spread (difference of value) of 290 points with the Germans.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 03 (IPS) - Abortion has long been a contentious issue across the world, and the debate is only heating up, prompting women to stand up and speak out for their reproductive rights.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 03 (IPS) - The plant-life on the Pacific Islands is currently under threat as protections against diseases and pests are left in the hands of under-trained personnel with limited facilities.

MADRID, Jun 03 (IPS) - How governments spend taxpayers money to subsidise fossil fuels that cause deadly air pollution – A reminder to mark 5 June World Environment Day.

Perhaps the most direct way to introduce this tough issue is what the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated just one week ahead of the 5 June World Environment Day, which focuses this year on air pollution, caused chiefly by the use of fossil fuels both in transport, industry and even household cooking, heating, etc.

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jun 03 (IPS) - And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, or I'm right.
Where I belong I'm right,
where I belong.
-- The Beatles: Fixing a hole

There are several means to make profitable use of other human beings, an endeavour that tends to turn others into tools by depriving them of their roots and self-respect. This happened in concentration - and work camps, where individuals were reduced to mere numbers.

TORONTO, Jun 03 (IPS) - Siva Sivapragasam is Executive Editor, Toronto-based "Monsoon Journal"

The boy who sold tea at railway platforms for a living has become the Prime Minister of world's largest democracy for the second time. Narendra Dhamodaradas Modi, incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the BJP secured a second chance to be the Prime Minister at Indian elections which took place recently. The election was perhaps the largest held in any part of the world with 39 days of polling and involving as many as 900 million voters.

NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 31 (IPS) - Caroline Gluck is Senior Regional Public Information Officer, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand

Thirteen-year-old Bariea, a Pakistani asylum seeker in Sri Lanka, is taking shelter at a mosque in the city of Negombo, where an uneasy mix of high anxiety and extreme boredom hover over the room.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 31 (IPS) - Claudia Sadoff is Director General, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Global biodiversity loss has reached critical levels. One million species of plants and animals are now estimated to be at risk of extinction. The window for action is closing, and the world needs to urgently take note.