Pressure Grows on Washington to Pass IMF Governance Reforms
More than 130 scholars, former government officials and policymakers are calling on the U.S. Congress to enact pending legislation enabling broad governance reforms within the International Monetary...
View ArticleU.S. “Rebalancing” to Asia/Pacific Still a Priority
Amidst growing tensions with North Korea and, to a lesser extent, China, the White House Monday insisted that its “re-balancing” toward the Asia/Pacific remained on track and that Washington is fully...
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Child Sexual Exploitation on the Rise in North Kivu
A street in Goma’s city centre, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been nicknamed “the ward of death” because of the brutal crimes that frequently occur there....
View ArticleAt Home, and Not at Home
The influx of hundreds of thousands of war-weary refugees from Syria to Lebanon is putting an almost unbearable strain on many of the communities that have taken them into their homes. A domestic...
View ArticleThailand Negotiating ‘Worrying’ Deal With EU
The negotiations launched this week for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Thailand and the European Union have raised concerns among both Thai and European non-governmental organisations, who fear...
View ArticleChanging Weather, Changing Fortunes
Sri Lanka has paused for breath after the extreme weather conditions last year that many associate with climate change. The reservoirs had hit new lows after a dry spell. That has now changed. “Thank...
View ArticleBrazilian-Made Plastic Solar Panels, a Clean Energy Breakthrough
As part of the country’s growing emphasis on green tech research, Brazilian scientists have developed plastic solar panels that could revolutionise power generation from this clean, renewable energy...
View ArticlePublic Pays for Fukushima While Nuclear Industry Profits
Two years after Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the country faces 100 to 250 billion dollars in cleanup and compensation costs, tens of thousands of displaced people and widespread impacts...
View ArticleFrom Brazil’s Family Farm to the School Lunchroom Table
Separating Maria Gomes Morais’ farm and a school in Rio de Janeiro are fields, hills and dirt roads that are impassable when it rains. But a school meal programme has forged a path linking the fresh...
View ArticleU.S. Intelligence Sees Cyber Threats Eclipsing Terrorism
Cyber threats appear to have largely replaced terrorism as posing the greatest risks to U.S. national security, which also confronts major longer-term challenges from the effects of natural resource...
View ArticleCivil Society Wants Bigger Role in Green Climate Fund Planning
As the new board of the United Nations Green Climate Fund meets in Berlin this week, activist and watchdog groups here and around the world are expressing frustration over proposed rules they say are...
View ArticleWar Over, Now to Secure Peace
As the Malian army and its foreign partners are slowly securing northern cities in the West African nation, it is still unclear how the country will turn its back on the political crisis that led to...
View ArticleRights Crushed in Italy’s Overcrowded Prisons
When Claudio was detained in a prison in the northeastern Italian city of Vicenza, he had to share a 7.6 square-metre cell with two other people. “Once you excluded the space taken up by beds and...
View ArticleDrought Hits Policies
Drought has dramatically increased as a consequence of climate change. Most countries react to it only after it has occurred, but don’t have national policies to prevent it. The high-level meeting on...
View ArticleTime to Democratise Justice in Argentina
In search of a more transparent and agile justice system that is less authoritarian and bureaucratic, judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and legal experts in Argentina are pressing for reforms to...
View ArticlePKK Frees Turkish Hostages in Peace Bid
Kurdish rebels in Turkey have released eight hostages after their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called for a prisoner exchange. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) freed the eight soldiers and civil...
View ArticleGreen Taxes Seek a Spot in Mexico’s Reform Bill
As the Mexican government prepares a broad tax reform bill, experts and activists see it as an opportunity to include new “green taxes” aimed at raising funds for curbing pollution. Fuel consumption,...
View ArticleTrinidad Pressured to Drop Mandatory Hanging
Ruth Dreifuss, the former Swiss president and chancellor of the University for Peace, may never have heard of Dennis Ramjattan, and vice versa, although they occupy opposite sides of a longstanding...
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Q&A: Rise of South “Unprecedented in Speed and Scale”
The world’s 132 developing nations, largely part of the global South, are ascending at a pace “unprecedented in its speed and scale”, according to the latest Human Development Report (HDR) released...
View ArticlePeace Laureate Obama Urged to Back Arms Trade Treaty
Eighteen Nobel Peace Prize recipients called Thursday for President Barack Obama to take a leadership role in supporting a “historic” internationally binding agreement that would regulate the global...
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