News headlines for “Consumption and Consumerism”, page 8
When Democracy Freezes, Autocrats Rise
- Inter Press Service

VIENNA, Austria, January 5 (IPS) - Consider our political systems not merely as battlegrounds of passions, ideologies and economic interests, but as systematically functioning arrangements of interactions, akin to game theory. In recent decades, we have witnessed the dissolution of large homogeneous groups into numerous subgroups — a patchwork of minorities.
Skyrocketing Military Spending Undermines Development Aid to World’s Poor
- Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, January 5 (IPS) - The statistics are staggering: while military spending keeps skyrocketing, Official Development Assistance (ODA) – from the rich to some of the world’s poorer nations – has been declining drastically.
Sudan’s Crisis: Mass Killings Continue While the World Looks Away
- Inter Press Service

LONDON, December 30 (IPS) - Satellite images show corpses piled high in El Fasher, North Darfur, awaiting mass burial or cremation as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia tries to cover up the scale of its crimes. Up to 150,000 El Fasher residents remain missing from the city, seized by the RSF in November. The lowest estimate is that 60,000 are dead. The Arab militia has ethnically cleansed the city of its non-Arab residents. The slaughter is the latest horrific episode in the war between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces, sparked by a power battle between military leaders in April 2023.
Living with nature, the climate lesson from Brazil’s caatinga
- Inter Press Service

USERRA DAS ALMAS, Brazil, December 29 (IPS) - “The work of collecting seeds saved me from depression,” caused by her daughter’s suicide at the age of 29, said Maria do Desterro Soares, 64, who lives in the poor rural community of Jatobá in northeastern Brazil.
‘Zambia Has Environmental Laws and Standards on Paper – the Problem Is Their Implementation’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses environmental accountability in Zambia with Christian-Geraud Neema, Africa editor at the China Global South Project, an independent journalism initiative that covers and follows China’s activities in global south countries.
‘People Reacted to a System of Governance Shaped by Informal Powers and Personal Interests’
- Inter Press Service

CIVICUS discusses Generation Z-led protests in Bulgaria with Zahari Iankov, senior legal expert at the Bulgarian Centre for Not-for-Profit Law, a civil society organisation that advocates for participation and human rights.
Development cooperation agreement marks new phase in UN-Iraq partnership
- UN News

Better access to education, the protection of the environment and good governance are some of the areas in which the United Nations helps countries improve.
First Person: Felipe Paullier, the youngest ever senior UN official, charged with giving a voice to young people around the world
- UN News

A paediatrician by training, Felipe Paullier has long been an advocate for youth. Formerly Director of the Uruguayan Government's Youth Institute, a role which involved several joint actions with various UN agencies, he was appointed to run the UN Youth Office in 2023, the youngest senior appointment in United Nations history.
The Bitter Sweet Future of Cocoa Showcased During COP30, Belém
- Inter Press Service

BELÉM, Brazil, December 24 (IPS) - Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena among locals in Combu Island, welcomed hundreds of people from around the world during the recent climate conference in Belém.
A Grim Year for Democracy and Civic Freedoms – but in Gen Z There Is Hope
- Inter Press Service

NEW YORK, December 24 (IPS) - 2025 has been a terrible year for democracy. Just over 7 per cent of the world’s population now live in places where the rights to organise, protest and speak out are generally respected, according to the CIVICUS Monitor, a civil society research partnership that measures civic freedoms around the world. This is a sharp drop from over 14 per cent this time last year.

