The Week With IPS 7/18

BRICS Forges Ahead With Two New Power Drivers – India and China Shastri Ramachandaran The Sixth BRICS Summit which ended Wednesday in Fortaleza, Brazil, attracted more attention than any other such gathering in the alliance’s short history, and not just from its own members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Two external groups defined by divergent interests closely ... MORE > >
	BRICS Build New Architecture for Financial Democracy Mario Osava The BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) launched the New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) during its sixth summit, institutionalising a new financial architecture for the emerging powers. Two other agreements, one for Cooperation among ... MORE > >
	Big Business Opportunities Seduce BRICS Entrepreneurs Mario Osava The growing vitality of the group of countries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), which is beginning to formalise its institutions even as it tries to bridge very disparate realities, seems to be partly cemented by increasing links between its companies. The ... MORE > >
	U.N.'s New Development Goals Must Also Be Measurable for Rich Thalif Deen The United Nations is on the verge of releasing a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - perhaps 17 or more - to replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which will run out by the end of 2015. The proposed new SDGs, which will make amends for the shortcomings of the MDGs, ... MORE > >
	If You Cut One, Plant Two Amy Fallon Olga Mugisa, 11-years-old, takes to the microphone in front of her peers, the Ugandan flag proudly draped behind her and green plants framing the stage. She has an important message to share with her fellow students: “If you cut one, plant two.” “I tell all of you here you to plant trees at ... MORE > >
	South Sudanese Children Starving While Aid Falling Short Julia Hotz Even as aid workers are warning that children in South Sudan are falling victim to mass malnutrition, international agencies are said to be missing their fundraising goals to avert a looming famine in the country. On Monday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the international medical relief ... MORE > >
	OPINION: Why Asia-Europe Relations Matter in the 21st Century Shada Islam Hopes are high that the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting – or ASEM summit – to be held in Milan on October 16-17 will confirm the credibility and relevance of Asia-Europe relations in the 21st century. ASEM has certainly survived many storms and upheavals since it was initiated in Bangkok in 1996 and ... MORE > >
	From Tigers to Barbers: Tales of Sri Lanka’s Ex-Combatants Amantha Perera People are willing to wait a long time for a few minutes in the hands of Aloysius Patrickeil, a 32-year-old barber who is part-owner of a small shop close to the northern town of Kilinochchi, 320 km from Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. Old men with bushy moustaches sit on chairs alongside ... MORE > >
	New Palestinian World Heritage Site Under Threat of Defacement Ido Liven The Palestinian village of Battir, just six kilometres southwest of Jerusalem and a similar distance from Bethlehem, is the latest to be trapped in the gap between international recognition and Israel's policies in the West Bank. The village's agricultural terraces covering the surrounding hill ... MORE > >
	Time to “Drop the Knife” for FMG in The Gambia Saikou Jammeh Women’s rights activists in the Gambia are insisting that more than 30 years of campaigning to raise awareness should be sufficient to move the government to outlaw female genital mutilation (FMG). The practice remains widespread in this tiny West African country of 1.8 million people, but ... MORE > >