The Week with IPS 8/14

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	Fresh Leadership at IPS: Turning a New Leaf IPS The newly-elected Board of IPS-Inter Press Service, chaired by former Austrian ambassador Dr Walther Lichem, has appointed a new Director-General by acclamation. Farhana Haque Rahman At its meeting on Aug. 10, the Board unanimously selected and appointed Ms. Farhana Haque Rahman, a ... MORE > >
	U.N. to Unleash “Power of Education” to Fight Intolerance, Racism Thalif Deen The United Nations is planning to launch a global campaign against the spread of intolerance, extremism, racism and xenophobia -- largely by harnessing the talents of the younger generation. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointedly says education is the key. “If you want to understand the power ... MORE > >
	Widowhood in Papua New Guinea Brings an Uncertain Future Catherine Wilson It has only been six months since Iveti, 37, lost her husband of 18 years, but already she is facing hardship and worry about the future. Similar to many married women in the rural highlands region of Papua New Guinea, a southwest Pacific Island state of seven million people, she stayed at home ... MORE > >
	Caribbean Artists Raise Their Voices for Climate Justice Kenton X. Chance Award-winning St. Lucian poet and playwright Kendel Hippolyte thinks that Caribbean nationals should view the Earth as their mother. “For me, the whole thing is so basic: the earth that we are living on and in is our mother and there are ways that we are supposed to treat our mother and relate ... MORE > >
	Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors Plead for a Nuclear Weapons Free World Ramesh Jaura Seventy years after the brutal and militarily unwarranted atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, a nuclear weapons free world is far from within reach. Commemorating the two events, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made impassioned pleas for heeding ... MORE > >
	Money, Knowledge and Controversy in Brazil’s Development Bank Mario Osava Brazil’s rush to build hydroelectric dams, refineries, railways, ports and other megaprojects since the last decade, not only at home but in other countries as well, has been fueled by the sheer volume of financing from its development bank. The state development bank, BNDES, lent 187.8 billion ... MORE > >
	Obama Takes Lead on Climate Change Ahead of U.N. Talks in Paris Nora Happel This week, U.S. President Barack Obama formally unveiled the details of his Clean Power Plan (CPP), a comprehensive carbon-cutting strategy he described as “the biggest and most important step…ever taken to combat climate change” in a prior video address posted on Facebook. As set down in the ... MORE > >
	Unique Alliance Between Gauchos and Environmentalists Protects Argentina’s Pampas Fabiana Frayssinet The traditions of Argentina’s gauchos or cowboys have joined together with modern agricultural technology in a unique alliance between stockbreeders and environmentalists aimed at preserving biodiversity in the pampas, boosting productivity, and enhancing the flavour of this South America’s ... MORE > >
	U.N. Post-2015 Development Agenda Adopted Amidst Closed-Door Deals Bhumika Muchhala At about a quarter to seven on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 2, the member states of the United Nations adopted the post-2015 development agenda outcome document, titled "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda." As governments endorsed the 29-page product resulting from almost two years of ... MORE > >