Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

BIOGAS: Cow Dung Holds the Key to Nepal’s Green Economy Kunda Dixit Nepal’s future may not be in hydropower, as most assume, but actually in the dung heap. A new industrial-scale biogas plant near Pokhara has proved that livestock and farm waste producing flammable methane gas can replace imported LPG and chemical fertiliser. Over the past 30 years, Nepal has ... MORE > >

Women Activists Escalate Demand for “Bodily Autonomy” as 19 Nations Dissent Thalif Deen The United States and 18 other UN member states have come under fire for denying a woman’s legitimate right to “bodily autonomy”—the right to self-governance over one’s own body without coercion or external pressure. The Executive Director of Women’s March Global, Uma Mishra-Newbery, told IPS ... MORE > >

Human Rights Watch Blasts China for Rights Violations at Home and Abroad Samira Sadeque China is currently under heavy scrutiny for its massive human rights violations across different sections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) head Kenneth Roth said on Wednesday. At the launch of World Report 2020, which focuses largely on China’s record of violating human rights for both its citizens ... MORE > >

Genuine Reform Culture Lacking in Zimbabwe Busani Bafana Zimbabwe needs urgent economic and political reforms to transform its economy amidst a growing national crisis, researchers say in a new study that urges swift policy changes and a sound financial framework to attract investment. The country has been reeling from one of the worst droughts in ... MORE > >

Climate Change: A Tale of Weather Extremes with Mixed Fortunes for Zambia Friday Phiri It is early Saturday morning and Planeta Hatuleke, a small scale farmer of Pemba District in Southern Zambia, awakens to the comforting sound of rainfall. As the locals say, the “heavens have opened” and it is raining heavily after a prolonged dry spell. “This is welcome after two weeks of a dry ... MORE > >

Is Iraq Now a Virtual “US-Occupied Territory”? Thalif Deen Pat Buchanan, a senior advisor to three US Presidents and twice candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, once infamously described the United States Congress as “Israeli-occupied territory” -– apparently because of its unrelentingly blind support for the Jewish state. Never mind ... MORE > >

In Dealing With Climate Change: Foresight is Key Esther Ngumbi United Nations World Food Program recently released 2020 Global Hotspots Report. According to the report, millions of citizens from Sub-Saharan African countries will face hunger in the first half of 2020 for several reasons including conflict, political instability and climate-related events such ... MORE > >

Bushfires Hasten the Death Knell of many Australian Native Animals and Plants Neena Bhandari The chatter of cockatoos and lorikeets has given way to an eerie silence in smoke enveloped charred landscapes across south-eastern Australia. The unrelenting bushfires have driven many native animal and plant species to the brink of extinction and made several fauna more vulnerable with vast ... MORE > >

In the Elusive Grip of an Abusive Partner: A Migrant’s Story Fairuz Ahmed To live in a home with family, to have a safe environment, food and basic human necessities, are some of the essentials that most people expect to have without giving it all much thought. When a child is born, parents or caregivers are likely to provide these things. These expectations get renewed ... MORE > >

Australia’s Wildfires Part of a Vicious Cycle of Food & Fire John Leary and Lindsay Cobb “Unprecedented.” “Hell on Earth.” “Catastrophic.” In Australia, these terms are being used to describe 17.9 million acres of burned land so far. While fires of this magnitude are certainly unprecedented, they’re far from unexpected. Climatologists have warned that the changing climate ... MORE > >

U.S. Might Pull Troops from West Africa, but Who Will it Affect? Samira Sadeque While the United States is busy with foreign operations such as killing Qasem Soleimani, a key figure in Middle East Politics, behind the scenes it is reportedly considering a change that experts worry might be of grave concern: a potential withdrawal of troops from West Africa. A December ... MORE > >

India and Japan’s MPs Act Quickly to Implement Sexual and Reproductive Health Plans after ICPD25 Mantoe Phakathi Parliamentarians from India and Japan have hit the ground running by acting soon after the recent Nairobi Summit on International Conference on Population Development (ICPD25). The three-day summit in the Kenyan capital – which was from Nov. 12 to 14 – concluded with partners from 180 ... MORE > >