Global Issues
News headlines for “Free Trade and Globalization”, page 267
The World Has Lost Its Compass
- Inter Press Service
ROME, Jun 03 (IPS) - The terrible feeling I had on waking up and seeing the Italian voting results at the recent European elections was that my country was suddenly full of strangers. How could the majority of Italians reconfirm a government which has been the most inefficient in history, quarrelling on everything every single day and looking with total indifference to the looming problem of how to establish the next budget without clashing with the European Union or squeezing Italian citizens? Its irresponsible debate on the Italian finances has now led to a spread (difference of value) of 290 points with the Germans.
Limited Knowledge of Plant Biosecurity Increases Biological Threats
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 03 (IPS) - The plant-life on the Pacific Islands is currently under threat as protections against diseases and pests are left in the hands of under-trained personnel with limited facilities.
Watch Out: Your Money Is Being Used to Destroy the World!
- Inter Press Service
MADRID, Jun 03 (IPS) - How governments spend taxpayers money to subsidise fossil fuels that cause deadly air pollution – A reminder to mark 5 June World Environment Day.
Perhaps the most direct way to introduce this tough issue is what the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated just one week ahead of the 5 June World Environment Day, which focuses this year on air pollution, caused chiefly by the use of fossil fuels both in transport, industry and even household cooking, heating, etc.
Lost in Globalisation
- Inter Press Service
MADRID, May 31 (IPS) - Do not panic! This is not about telling you how bank accounts and pension funds have been used to finance the production of nuclear bombs (they call it ‘investment').
These Aliens Are Here to Stay (And They Are Dangerous)
- Inter Press Service
MADRID, May 29 (IPS) - No, no, no. Nothing to do with what US and Europe's far-right fanatics now use to vociferate, saying once and again that "migrants come here to destroy our democracy, our civilisation, and our life-style".
Asia-Pacific Region Viewed as Engine of the World Economy
- Inter Press Service
BANGKOK, Thailand, May 28 (IPS) - Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana * is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Since this Commission first met in 1947, our countries have travelled a long journey. Our economies are expected to become larger than the rest of the world combined, measured by purchasing power parity. It is often said the Asia-Pacific region is the engine of the world economy.
Finance’s New Avatar
- Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR and PENANG, May 28 (IPS) - Over recent decades, the scope, size, concentration, power and even the purpose and role of finance have changed so significantly that a new term, financialization, was coined to name this phenomenon.
Financialization refers to a process that has not only transformed finance itself, but also, the real economy and society. The transformation goes beyond the quantitative to involve qualitative change as finance becomes dominant, instead of serving the needs of the real economy.
Zimbabwe’s Resettled Farmers Hawking Cigarettes to Survive
- Inter Press Service
MARONDERA, Zimbabwe, May 28 (IPS) - For subsistence farmer Rogers Hove, who proudly brandishes a worn out letter for his five hectare piece of land he obtained from government following the chaotic land seizures from white commercial farmers over two decades ago, what matters to him, "is to see my piece of land in my possession".
Within a Parallel Universe – Monsters of the Dark Web
- Inter Press Service
STOCKHOLM / ROME, May 27 (IPS) - Human existence includes dreams, thoughts, ideas, music, stories, religion, and other immaterial "things". They constitute an important part of our habitat, i.e. the dwelling place of any living organism, consisting of both organic and inorganic surroundings. I learned this when I many years ago found myself among the undulating heights of Cordillera Central, which rise diagonally across the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Public-Private Partnerships Fad Fails
- Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 21 (IPS) - After the failure and abuses of privatization became apparent, public-private partnerships have since been promoted ostensibly to mobilize private finance for the public purpose. In all too many cases, PPPs have socialized costs and losses while ensuring private financial gains.After the failure and abuses of privatization and contracting-out services from the 1980s, there has been renewed appreciation for the role of the state or government. Earlier promoters of privatization have taken a step backward, only to take two more forward to instead promote public-private partnerships (PPPs).
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