News stories by Maged Srour, page 3

ROME, May 22 (IPS) - According to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in total, countries around the world spent $ 1.739 billion on arms in 2017. Although there was a marginal increase of 1.1 percent rise in real terms on 2016, the total global spending in 2017 is the highest since the end of the cold war.

ROME, May 14 (IPS) -    The end of the oil age In the early 1970's the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was an impoverished desert, with little access to food, water and well-paying jobs. Today, this country looks nothing like it was fifty years ago. Thanks to oil, the UAE has completely transformed and now is one of the most developed economies in the Middle East, if not the world: its per capita GDP is equal to those of highly developed European nations ($68,000 - 2017 est.).

ROME, May 04 (IPS) - Soil pollution is posing a serious threat to our environment, to our sources food and ultimately to our health.The Food and Agriculture Orgaization of the United Nations (FAO) warns that there is still a lack of awareness about the scale and severity of this threat.An FAO released a report titled "Soil Pollution: A Hiddel Reality" at the start of a global symposium which has been taking place 2-4 May, 2018 at FAO headquarters, participated by gathering experts and policymakers to discuss the threat of soil pollution in order to build an effective framework for a cohesive international response.

ROME, Apr 30 (IPS) - Organ transplantation is one of the most incredible medical achievements of the past century. Since the first successful transplants, which took place in the 1950s, organ transplantation has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

ROME, Apr 23 (IPS) - Atik and Said have many things in common. They are both from Bangladesh, both are about the same age , in their thirties and , they are both migrant workers in an Italian restaurant in the heart of Rome, a stone's throw from Saint Peter's Basilica. They are not the only migrants working in the food service industry in Italy, where most of the pizza makers today are Egyptians and most of the Chefs are either Bangladeshis or North Africans. This is an interesting phenomenon in a country known for its cuisine where many of the Chefs today are not locals but foreigners.

ROME, Apr 20 (IPS) - Today the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted an event at its headquarters in Rome, to present a set of eleven books jointly realized in collaboration with the Spanish newspaper El País.

ROME, Apr 04 (IPS) - Khaled left Syria in 2015, when his country was already in its fourth year of war. He is 27 years old and can clearly remember what his life was like then in Damascus: a happy life, with a happy family, in a happy country.

ROME, Mar 08 (IPS) - The Esquilino market, built at the end of the 1800s, is a pillar of Roman traditional daily shopping. It managed to survive the Fascist period and two world wars: it's a veteran of the city.