News headlines
‘Red Alert’ 2018 – Global Unity, Media & Humanitarian Action
- Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Jan 05 (IPS) - "Unity is the path. Our future depends on it," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as he issued an unequivocal global ‘Red Alert' in his New Year message on December 31, 2017.
Disasters Bring Upheaval to Sri Lanka’s Rural Economy
- Inter Press Service
PERIYAKULAM/ADIGAMA, Jan 05 (IPS) - Last year was an annus horribilis for 52-year-old Newton Gunathileka. A paddy smallholder from Sri Lanka's northwestern Puttalam District, 2017 saw Gunathileka abandon his two acres of paddy for the first time in over three and half decades, leaving his family almost destitute.
Argentine Soldiers Who Died in the Malvinas/Falkland Islands Rest in Peace
- Inter Press Service
In the Wake of the Millennium Migration
- Inter Press Service
SEATTLE, Jan 04 (IPS) - A century ago, Italian immigrants told a joke: "Before I came to America, I thought the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I learned three things: one, the streets were not paved with gold; two, the streets were not paved at all; and three, they expected me to pave them."
Marooned in Bangladesh, Rohingya Face Uncertain Future
- Inter Press Service
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan 03 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugee women from Myanmar are currently living in the cramped camps along Bangladesh Myanmar border. Victims of sexual and physical violence in the Rakhine state, women have been disproportionately affected by this crisis and these women's perils are far from over in the host country as they continue to face multifaceted challenges.
Uncertainty Surrounds Renegotiation of NAFTA and Its Consequences for Mexico
- Inter Press Service
MEXICO CITY, Jan 03 (IPS) - The first few months of 2018 will be key to defining the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), whose renegotiation due to the insistence of U.S. President Donald Trump has Mexico on edge because of the potential economic and social consequences.
Religion: Between ‘Power’ and ‘Force’
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 03 (IPS) - In 1994, Dr. David R. Hawkins wrote a book positing the difference between power and force (Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior - the latest revised version came out in 2014).
Trade Multilateralism Set Back yet Again
- Inter Press Service
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 03 (IPS) - As feared, the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 10-13 December 2017, ended in failure. It failed to even produce the customary ministerial declaration reiterating the centrality of the global trading system and the importance of trade as a driver of development.
Moralist Upsurge in Brazil Revives Censorship of the Arts
- Inter Press Service
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 02 (IPS) - It is not yet an official policy because censorship is not openly accepted by the current authorities, but de facto vetoes on artistic expressions are increasing due to moralistic pressures in Brazil.
Billionaires, Fiscal Paradise, the World’s Debt, and the Victims
- Inter Press Service
ROME, Jan 02 (IPS) - Among Bloomberg's many profitable activities is a convenient Bloomberg Billionaires Index that has just published its findings for 2017. It covers only the 500 richest people, and it proudly announces that they have increased their wealth by 1 trillion dollars in just one year. Their fortunes went up by 23% to top comfortable 5 trillion dollars (to put this in perspective, the US budget is now at 3.7 trillion). That obviously means an equivalent reduction for the rest of the population, which lost those trillion dollars. What is not widely known is that the amount of the circulation of money stays the same; no new money is printed to accommodate the 500 richest billionaires!
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