Archive for Global News
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
A number of global forums have taken place to address various aspects of the global financial crisis, from immediate measures to discussion on long-term reforms and changes. However, it appears that rich nations are blocking meaningful reform and resisting calls from developing countries for fundamental changes that would democratize the international order and give more voice to developing countries to have a say in their own economic affairs. This update includes a description of this in further detail.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
AIDS in Africa is said to be killing more people than conflicts. It causes social disruption as children become orphaned. It affects already-struggling economies as workforces are reduced. As an enormous continent, various regions are seeing different results as they attempt to tackle the problem. Numerous local, regional and global initiatives are slowly helping, despite significant obstacles (such as poverty, local social and cultural norms/taboos, concerns from drug companies about providing affordable medicines, and limited health resources of many countries that are now also caught up in the global financial crisis). This update includes a couple of videos on different aspects off this issue as well as some further background information on how the issue is being addressed and what problems are being faced.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
Through corporate crime, tax havens, transfer pricing and many other policies — both legal and illegal — wealthy individuals and multinational companies manage to avoided billions of dollars from being taxed. The much-needed money would helped developing (and developed) countries provide important social services for their populations. In light of the current global financial crisis, the issue of tax havens have come to the fore and even rich countries (who in the part were reluctant to do anything about it) are now contemplating measures to address some of the problems. But it seems like strong words in public are not necessarily translating into actual meaningful deeds. The update to this page includes further information and videos on this theme.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
Energy security concerns raise a variety of issues, including geopolitics and power play, as well as practical concerns such as environmental degradation, climate change and sustainable development. This update includes a look at Bolivia, which has half the world’s lithium, a mineral that will power the next generation hybrid and electric cars, while already being used in smaller batteries today. Bolivia is concerned that others will exploit its resources and it will not benefit. This has typically been the case for resource-rich nations, exploited during the colonialism era and in poverty partly as a result of that. A video about this is included in this update.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
According to the UN, inequality in cities around the world is increasing. Almost half of humanity lives in urban areas. In the developing world, 1 in 3 city dwellers live in urban slums. At the same time, some American cities are as unequal as African and Latin American cities. For example, New York was found to be the 9th most unequal in the world. The most unequal cities were in South Africa, Namibia and Latin America. Europe has generally more equal societies, but amongst the most unequal European countries is UK, which is one of the wealthiest.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
The Haiti page has been updated to include some of the effects of poverty and environment on each other. Haiti is suffering from the effects of recent hurricanes. The immense poverty and deforestation of much of Haiti has led to massive top soil loss and erosion making it harder for the environment to withstand and recover from hurricanes and flooding. Growing food has also been tougher. On top of that, cheap food imports are undermining whatever local farmers can produce. As more people move to the cities, crime and instability increases. These issues unfortunately repeat themselves in a number of other poor nations. A combination of lack of democracy, outside influence/interference preventing local democracy and development, environmental degradation and poverty make it incredibly difficult to resolve.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
Biodiversity loss and species extinction is on the increase. It is generally understood that the high species loss rate is in large part due to human activity. This update includes updated sections on declining amphibian species, more about dwindling fish stocks and declining shark numbers, and a video about ocean biodiversity.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
Over 25,000 children die every day around the world. That is equivalent to: 1 child dying every 3.5 seconds or 17-18 children dying every minute. It is like a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 1.5 weeks, or an Iraq-scale death toll every 16–38 days. It means over 9 million children dying every year. For latest figures available, some 70 million children died between 2000 and 2007. The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. Although the number of children dying each year is being reduced (some half a million less deaths in 2007 than 2006, for example), the rate of reduction is slow. Furthermore, it is feared that the global financial crisis will undo some of that annual reduction, with an extra 200,000 to 400,000 children dying from the knock-on effects of the economic downturn. And yet, despite the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage. This update includes updated numbers, charts and graphs.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
This update includes notes and a chart on how much the global financial crisis has cost, in context. For example, plummeting stock markets have wiped out 33% of the value of companies, $14.5 trillion. Taxpayers will be bailing out their banks and financial institutions with large amounts of money. US taxpayers alone will spend some $9.7 trillion in bailout packages and plans. The UK and other European countries have also spent some $2 trillion on rescues and bailout packages. These values are staggering. Such money has been made readily available, yet could have wiped out developing world debt (much of it unjust debt) many times over, though arguing for the small amount of debt relief that has been delivered has required enormous energy. The bailouts also dwarf world military spending, which itself is quite high. The US package almost covers the total value of US home mortgages, though mortgage payers are not the ones being bailed out.
Global NewsPublished September 11, 2010 at 4:05 am No Comments
World military spending has topped $1.2 trillion annually and is back to Cold War levels. This is based on latest data available, from 2007, before the global financial crisis hit. Updated graphs and charts provide some additional information.
