Global Issues
News headlines
Promoting Privatization
- Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 12 (IPS) - After discrediting state-owned enterprises, privatization advocates successfully pushed a broad reform agenda under the rubric of privatization from the 1980s, with the support of the Washington-based international financial institutions.Privatization has been central to the ‘neo-liberal' counter-revolution from the 1970s against government economic interventions associated with Roosevelt and Keynes as well as post-colonial state-led economic development.
Many developing countries were forced to accept privatization policies as a condition for credit or loan support from the World Bank and other international financial institutions, especially after the fiscal and debt crises of the early 1980s. Other countries voluntarily embraced privatization, often on the pretext of fiscal and debt constraints, in their efforts to mimic new Anglo-American criteria of economic progress.
UN Pays Homage to Staffers Who Died in Plane Crash
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12 (IPS) - The United Nations headquarters is in mourning – and the UN flag is at half mast.
The deaths of 21 UN staffers March 10, on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight in Addis Ababa, is one of the biggest tragedies in the extended UN family—with a flashback to the deaths of 22 people, mostly UN staffers, who lost their lives in the Canal Hotel bombing in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in August 2003.
The Crisis in Venezuela
- Inter Press Service
GENEVA, Mar 12 (IPS) - My mission to Venezuela in November/December 2017 was the first by a UN rapporteur in 21 years. It was intended to open the door to the visit of other rapporteurs and to explore ways how to help the Venezuelan people overcome the protracted economic and institutional crisis.
The Rising Trend of Zero Waste Lifestyles
- Inter Press Service
MELBOURNE, Mar 11 (IPS) - Leyla Acaroglu is an Australian designer, sustainability innovator, and educator. She is the founder of two design agencies, Disrupt Design and Eco Innovators. Not too long ago, the term "zero waste" was just one of those boring policy directives or catchphrases thrown around by governments.
But in the last few years, ‘going zero waste' has taken on a new direction as a lifestyle trend of the insta-famous, who are helping to make zero waste a movement that anyone can get involved in.
Access to Water Is a Daily Battle in Poor Neighborhoods in Buenos Aires
- Inter Press Service
BUENOS AIRES, Mar 11 (IPS) - "Look at this water. Would you drink it?" asks José Pablo Zubieta, as he shows a glass he has just filled from a faucet, where yellow and brown sediment float, in his home in Villa La Cava, a shantytown on the outskirts of Argentina's capital.
Q&A: Inventor from a Small Fishing Village in Saint Lucia Provides Hope for Water Woes
- Inter Press Service
CASTRIES, Mar 11 (IPS) - Karlis Noel spends his days in his lab in the small, picturesque community of Laborie in St. Lucia. The former fisherman's story might sound like an overnight success, but his present accolades in the field of engineering are the result of years of hard work and an unceasing drive to make life easier for communities in the throes of a water crisis.
Birds of a Feather: Kim Jong-un and Donald J Trump
- Inter Press Service
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 11 (IPS) - After his first meeting with Kim Jong-un Donald Trump declared: "And then we fell in love, okay? No, really – he wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters." Maybe it was a joke, maybe not. At least Trump indicated that he and Kim Jong-un were friends. In his book De Amicitia, written 44 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote "A friend is, as it were, a second self." Are Trump and Kim Jong-un really friends? At least they seem to have many personal traits in common.
Preaching World Peace by Day, Peddling Lethal Weapons By Night
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (IPS) - The Middle East, one of the world's most politically-volatile and war-ravaged regions, has doubled its arms imports during the past five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Nigeria Mourns the Loss of Leading African Academic Who Was in Ethiopian Airlines Crash
- Inter Press Service
LAGOS, Nigeria, Mar 11 (IPS) - Nigeria is mourning along with the rest of the world after the downing of Ethiopian Airlines Flight, which claimed all of the 157 lives onboard. The fatalities included people from 35 countries, 19 United Nations officials and two Nigerians, one of whom was regarded as Africa's leading academic and labelled a genius by many.
Millions of Venezuelans in Need of Protections
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 09 (IPS) - The international community must extend protections for Venezuelans in light of a growing humanitarian crisis with no end in sight.
Human Rights Watch has urged governments in the Americas to provide temporary protection to the millions of Venezuelans fleeing a severe humanitarian crisis.
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