News headlines for “Free Trade and Globalization”
Cleaning Up the Fields: Across Africa and Asia GEF is Helping Farmers Rewrite Their Pesticide Story
- Inter Press Service

LILONGWE & VIENTIANE, May 7 (IPS) - For decades, pesticides have been a quiet pillar of Malawi’s agriculture, guarding crops against pests, improving yields, and sustaining millions of livelihoods. But beneath this success story lay a troubling reality: weak regulation, unsafe handling practices, and growing threats to human health and the environment.
Keep Inputs Moving to Keep Food Affordable
- Inter Press Service

ROME, May 6 (IPS) - Across Europe, winter wheat is already in the ground. What farmers apply in the coming weeks will determine the size of this year’s harvest. Those decisions are now being made under a sudden surge in costs that did not exist when seeds went in.
UN leads call to prepare ‘for when digital systems fail’
- UN News

It can be annoying when the wifi signal is cut, but what about if everything digital we rely on were to crash suddenly – from satellites to life-support systems in hospitals?
Pacific Ocean Under Pressure — Now a Region Finally Armed With Evidence
- Inter Press Service

SUVA, Fiji, May 4 (IPS) - For generations, Pacific people have understood the ocean not as a resource but as identity, sustenance, and survival. Today, that relationship is being tested in ways science is only just beginning to fully capture.
African Countries Up Efforts to Tax High-Income Individuals
- Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, May 4 (IPS) - African countries are exploring ways to tax high-earning individuals as the continent seeks to expand its revenue collection amid what experts say is a growing gulf between rich and poor.
World Press Freedom Day, 2026
- Inter Press Service

On May 3rd, the world marks World Press Freedom Day – a United Nations observance dedicated to the fundamental principles of press freedom.
Famine in South Sudan Projected to Worsen Without Humanitarian Intervention
- Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (IPS) - In 2026, the humanitarian situation in South Sudan has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with widespread food shortages, ongoing disruptions to food production systems, and rising rates of malnutrition affecting over half of the population. Compounded by the vast scale of needs and an overwhelming lack of access to basic services, humanitarian experts warn that nationwide levels of hunger are projected to worsen to catastrophic levels if urgent intervention is not secured.
Press Freedom: A Story of Lives Lost, Budgets Slashed, Status Eroded
- Inter Press Service

TORONTO, Canada, May 1 (IPS) - Press freedom is on the retreat across much of the world. As documented by recent global surveys authored by the UN and media institutes, the erosion of an independent, fearless and diversified press is a trend that has worsened for well over a decade.
Clean Energy, Digital Technologies Are Coming at a Human Cost, UN Report Warns
- Inter Press Service

SRINAGAR, India, April 30 (IPS) - A newly released United Nations report has raised urgent concerns that the world’s push toward clean energy and digital technologies is driving a hidden crisis in some of the planet’s most vulnerable regions, where mining for critical minerals is depleting water supplies, damaging health, and deepening inequality.
Hormuz crisis strangling global economy, Guterres warns, demanding solutions to end stalemate
- UN News

The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world towards recession, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday.

