The Week With IPS 2/24/2017

2017/2/24	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Merkel Under Pressure for Refugee Policy in Germany Wolfgang Kerler Internationally, German chancellor Angela Merkel was praised for her humanitarian decision to open the countries’ border to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and Iraq. But the decision has considerably reduced her support among Germans. Chances are real that Merkel could lose the ... MORE > >
	UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic Baher Kamal The available data is enough for the United Nations to literally declare war on oceans plastic: more than 8 million tonnes of leaks into their waters each year – equal to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least ... MORE > >
	Humankind’s Ability to Feed Itself, Now in Jeopardy IPS World Desk Mankind’s future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to intensifying pressures on natural resources, mounting inequality, and the fallout from a changing climate, warns a new United Nations’ report. Though very real and significant progress in reducing global hunger has been achieved ... MORE > >
	The Rise of One-Person Households Joseph Chamie A significant global demographic change having far-reaching consequences yet receiving scant attention is the rise of one-person households. Of the world’s two billion households, approximately 15 percent - or 300 million - are one-person households (OPHs). As is often the case with global ... MORE > >
	Shrinking and Darkening, the Plight of Kashmir's Dying Lakes Umar Shah Mudasir Ahmad says that two decades ago, his father made a prophecy that the lake would vanish after the fish in its waters started dying. Three years ago, he found dead fish floating on the surface, making him worried about its fate. Like his father, Ahmad, 27, is a boatman on Kashmir’s famed ... MORE > >
	Trump Marks the End of a Cycle Roberto Savio Let us stop debating what newly-elected US President Trump is doing or might do and look at him in terms of historical importance. Put simply, Trump marks the end of an American cycle! Roberto SavioLike it or not, for the last two centuries the entire planet has been living in an ... MORE > >
	South Sudan Declares Famine, Other Countries May Follow Warns UNICEF Lyndal Rowlands South Sudan Monday became the first country to declare famine since 2012, as UNICEF warned that 1.4 million children are at risk of dying from starvation with famine also imminent in Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Protracted conflict is the root cause of the food crises in all four countries, ... MORE > >
	Tax Evasion Lessons From Panama Jomo Kwame Sundaram Unlike Wikileaks and other exposes, the Panama revelations were carefully managed, if not edited, quite selective, and hence targeted, at least initially. Most observers attribute this to the political agendas of its main sponsors. Nevertheless, the revelations have highlighted some problems ... MORE > >
	Humanitarian Crisis, Result of Decades of Globalization with No Concern for Social Justice Dr. Hanif Hassan Al Qassim The distressing images of desperate people making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans to escape armed conflict, social tensions, discrimination and poverty harm the preconditions to achieve social harmony. Dr. Hanif Hassan Al QassimThis humanitarian crisis is ... MORE > >
	Red Tape Snarls Nepal’s Ambitious Poverty-Alleviation Plans Renu Kshetry Juna Bhujel of Sindupalchowk District, 85 kilometres northeast of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, lost her daughter-in-law in the Apr. 25, 2015 earthquake. Fortunately, she managed to rescue her two-year-old grandson, who was trapped between her mother’s body and the rubble. Soon after the ... MORE > >
	Palestinian Rejection Underscores Limits of UN Chief’s Powers Thalif Deen Pointing out an example of the hierarchy of political power at the United Nations, a former Nigerian ambassador once told a group of reporters of an encounter at an international gathering in Africa when he ran into one of his friends who had returned from a visit to New York. “I met your ... MORE > >
	Confusion over U.S. Travel Ban Grounds Foreign Correspondents Tharanga Yakupitiyage New restrictions on immigrants and refugees coming to the United States are also posing challenges for foreign correspondents covering news in the United States. Some have had to indefinitely postpone plans to report on conflicts in the Middle East while others have found an unfriendly reminder ... MORE > >
	Of Arabs and Muslims and the Big Ban Baher Kamal Now that President Donald Trump’s decision to ban citizens of seven Muslim majority countries from entering the United States continues to drift into legal labyrinths about its legality–or not, it may be useful to clarify some myths that often lead to an even greater confusion regarding the ... MORE > >
	Making the Deep Blue Sea Green Again Lyndal Rowlands Kids growing up in the Seychelles think of the ocean as their backyard, says Ronald Jean Jumeau, Seychelles' ambassador for climate change and SIDS. “Our ocean is the first and eternal playground of our children, they don’t go to parks they go to the ocean, they go to the beach, they go to the ... MORE > >
	Alternative Mining Indaba Makes Its Voice Heard Mark Olalde “Comrades, we have arrived. This cherry is eight years awaited. We have made it to this place,” Bishop Jo Seoka told the crowd, pausing to allow for the whistles and cheers. Seoka, the chairman of a South African NGO called the Bench Marks Foundation, presided over the crowd of protesters that ... MORE > >
	Expansion of Renewable Energies in Mexico Has Victims, Too Emilio Godoy The growing number of wind and solar power projects in the southern Mexican state of Yucatán are part of a positive change in Mexico’s energy mix. But affected communities do not see it in the same way, due to the fact that they are not informed or consulted, and because of how the phenomenon ... MORE > >
	Still in Limbo, Somaliland Banking on Berbera James Jeffrey Crossing African borders by land can be an intimidating process (it’s proving an increasingly intimidating process nowadays in Europe and the US also, even in airports). But crossing from Ethiopia to Somaliland at the ramshackle border town of Togo-Wuchale is a surreally pleasant ... MORE > >
	Beware of the New US Protectionist Plan, the Border Adjustment Tax - Part 1 Martin Khor A new and deadly form of protectionism is being considered by Congress leaders and the President of the United States that could have devastating effect on the exports and investments of American trading partners, especially the developing countries. The plan, known as a border adjustment tax, ... MORE > >
	Improved Cookstoves Boost Health and Forest Cover in the Himalayas Athar Parvaiz Mountain communities in the Himalayan region are almost entirely dependent on forests for firewood even though this practice has been identified as one of the most significant causes of forest decline and a major source of indoor air pollution. Improper burning of fuels such as firewood in ... MORE > >