Global Issues
News headlines
Iran/Israel: What the West can and should do
- Inter Press Service
The overall picture has turned much worse over the last few months. In particular, the Western demands to Iran made public prior to the Istanbul consultations on April 14, bodes ill for the next round of talks in Baghdad. Everyone has stated views, used rhetoric and taken concrete steps that bring us all closer to the abyss called ‘War on Iran’. While it is easy and dangerous to escalate a conflict, it is difficult ­without losing face­ to de-escalate and make peace, writes Jan Oberg, director and co-founder of the Transnational Foundation (TFF) in Lund, Sweden.
Indonesian Farmers Burned in Biofuel Drive
- Inter Press Service
Dreams of sending his children to quality schools have vanished for 40-year-old farmer Muslikin, as the father of three now struggles to repay the bank loan he took out to finance his jatropha plantation in 2006.
Speaking Out in Defence of UNCTAD
- Inter Press Service
The reason the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is under attack is that rich countries do not want an organisation that carries out independent analysis, Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD secretary general from 1995 to 2004, told IPS.
Canadian Budget Cuts Ripple Overseas
- Inter Press Service
The Canadian development community is concerned that the government's international assistance commitment to poor nations is waning in the interest of fiscal responsibility and that Ottawa instead prefers to forge ties with middle-income nations for commercial purposes.
Tired of Odd Jobs in the City, He Is Farming in His Old Guinean Village
- Inter Press Service
Like many rural youth, Abdoulaye Soumah spent a few years in Conakry, trying his hand at various jobs in the big city. But he has since returned to his home village, transforming a seven-hectare plot of land inherited from his parents into a model of success.
Gas Extraction Fuels Abuse in Papua New Guinea
- Inter Press Service
Papua New Guinea’s infamous track record on gender-based violence — with an estimated 75 percent of women and children experiencing some kind of violence, primarily domestic abuse — is poised to worsen.
War on Terror Traumatises Pakistani Women
- Inter Press Service
Collateral damage caused by the ‘war on terror’, prosecuted by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan since 2001, may well extend to psychological trauma sustained by thousands of women in the bordering areas of northwestern Pakistan.
World Bank Supports Harmful Water Corporations, Report Finds
- Inter Press Service
Water privatisation has been proven not to help the poor, yet a quarter of all World Bank funding goes directly to corporations and the private sector, bypassing both governments and its own standards and transparency requirements in order to do so, says a new report released Monday.
Unwelcome in Israel, Activists Still Make a Point
- Inter Press Service
That 'Welcome to Palestine' isn’t ‘Welcomed to Israel’ couldn’t be clearer. Wishing to land in Israel and to protest the 45-year occupation of Palestine in Bethlehem, most ‘Fly-tilla’ activists were treated by Israel’s authorities as a 'strategic menace', questioned, interned and deported.
Last Summit of the Americas Without Cuba
- Inter Press Service
'What matters at this summit is not what is on the official agenda,' said Uruguayan analyst Laura Gil, echoing the conventional wisdom in this Colombian port city, where the Sixth Summit of the Americas ended Sunday without a final declaration.
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