News headlines
Myanmar Unlikely to Resolve Rohingya Problem Without International Help
- Inter Press Service
CANBERRA, Apr 25 (IPS) - Trevor Wilson is a retired Australian diplomat who served as Australian Ambassador to Myanmar from 2000-03, and has been Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University since 2003.The lead-up to the Australia-ASEAN Summit in Sydney on 16-18 March 2018 was characterised by widespread and well-publicised protests in Sydney against human rights abuses occurring in several ASEAN member countries – namely Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
From Declaration to Action: Improving Immunization in Africa
- Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 (IPS) - Joyce Nganga is policy advisor with WACI Health, an African regional health advocacy NGO headquartered in Kenya. Inviolate Akinyi, a 46-year-old grandmother, is certain that her grand-daughter needs to get all her vaccines for her to grow up healthy and strong. She uses a mix of private and public clinics in Kibera, one of the largest informal settlement in Nairobi, to get the 15-month-old the shots she needs.
The Nowhere People: Rohingyas in India
- Inter Press Service
NEW DELHI, Apr 25 (IPS) - A devastating fire in a shanty at Kalindi Kunj, a New Delhi suburb, that gutted the homes of 226 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, including 100 women and 50 children, has trained a spotlight on India's ad hoc policy on international migrants.
Five Years After the Disaster: Rana Plaza Victims Still Hurting
- Inter Press Service
DHAKA, Apr 24 (IPS) - Asma saw the roof collapse over her colleagues. Johora was dragged out of the rubble by her hair. Shirin was only 13 years old when her eyes and airways were filled with concrete dust. Five years have passed since the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1 134 people.BANGLADESH. Garment factories lie side by side along the freeway leading into the capital, Dhaka. But between the concrete blocks, a square, uninhabited piece of land is overgrown with greenery. This is where Rana Plaza used to be. Shirin Akhter, 18, turns her eyes away.
Development Prospects for Hundreds of Millions Remain in Jeopardy
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 (IPS) - Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations, addressing the Forum on Financing for DevelopmentThe global economy is strengthening. A broad-based economic upturn has underpinned progress in many areas. But significant weaknesses and medium-term risks in the world economy continue to challenge our efforts. As a result, the development prospects of hundreds of millions of people remain in jeopardy.
Illicit Trade in Oil & Fuel: an Emerging Global Policy Challenge
- Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Apr 24 (IPS) - Jeffrey Hardy is Director General, Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade*Illicit trade in any of its forms—alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, diamonds, timber, ivory and oil—sits at the nexus of two social-economic disorders that challenge global stability.
Can Sustainable Bioeconomy be a Driver of Green Growth?
- Inter Press Service
Apr 24 (IPS) - Dr. Frank Rijsberman is Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)On April 19-20, I attended the second Global Bioeconomy Summit in Berlin. Bioeconomy is currently a hot topic for scientists and policymakers. Rapid advances in molecular biology combined with big data and artificial intelligence have resulted in big jumps in our understanding of living organisms as well as organic matter, the biomass produced by plants and animals, at the level of their DNA. That has gone hand in hand with technologies that allow scientists and industry to manipulate, easily, everything from enzymes to bacteria to plants and animals.
Kidnapped, Abducted and Abandoned…
- Inter Press Service
NEW DELHI, Apr 24 (IPS) - Geetika Dang is an independent researcher; Vani S. Kulkarni is lecturer in Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, USA; and Raghav Gaiha is (Hon.) professorial research fellow, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, England.Kidnappings and abductions have soared since 2001. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that their share in total crimes against women nearly doubled from 10% in 2001 to 19% in 2016. More striking is the fact that 11 women were kidnapped or abducted every day in Delhi in 2016. What these statistics do not reveal are brutal gang-rapes of kidnapped minors and women, multiple sales to husbands who treat them as animals, unwanted pregnancies, police inaction, and frequent abandonment with nowhere to go—not even to their maternal homes—because of the stigma of a being a "prostitute".
From Mega to Micro, a Transition that Will Democratise Energy in Brazil
- Inter Press Service
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 24 (IPS) - An energy transition is spreading around the globe. But in Brazil it will be characterised by sharp contrasts, with large hydroelectric plants being replaced by solar microgenerators and government decisions being replaced by family and community decision-making.
Over to You, Children! Zambia’s ‘Plant a Million Trees’ Takes Root
- Inter Press Service
LUSAKA, Apr 24 (IPS) - Trees are a vital component in the ecosystem—they not only give oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give refuge to wildlife, but also provide materials for tools, shelter and ultimately, food for both animals and human beings.
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