Headlines
A first-time U.S.-hosted summit on protecting the oceans has resulted in pledges worth some 800 million dollars to be used for conservation efforts. During the summit, held here in Washington, the administration of President Barack Obama pledged to massively expand U.S.-protected parts of the southern Pacific Ocean. In an effort to strengthen global food security, […]
New legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would make the rights of sexual minorities a foreign policy priority for the United States. The bill, called the International Human Rights Defense Act, would direct U.S. diplomats to devise a global strategy for preventing and responding to violence against the LGBT community. It would […]
Even though the U.S. economy is now expected to grow – albeit sluggishly – over the coming two years, inequality will not improve without policy reforms, a major grouping of rich countries is warning. President Barack Obama has named income inequality the “defining challenge of our time”, and has tried to make the issue a […]
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has revealed for the first time that Iran has made a detailed proposal to the P5+1 group of states aimed at ensuring that no stockpile of low-enriched uranium would be available for “breakout” through enrichment to weapons grade levels. In an exclusive interview with IPS, Zarif described an Iranian plan, […]
U.S. companies newly operating in Myanmar have until the end of the month to file official reports detailing the actions they’ve taken to ensure that their investments comply with safeguards around land, human rights and other concerns. Such ‘due diligence’ reporting was a key compromise between activists and the U.S. government after Washington lifted sanctions […]
Major donor countries will unveil next week a new initiative aimed at strengthening the ability of developing countries’ governments to negotiate complex contracts, particularly around the extractives sector. The undertaking comes in response to increasing frustration expressed by officials in developing countries over their inability to match the negotiating power of multinational corporations, resulting in […]
Six years after the financial crisis, Wall Street’s housing alchemy engine is revving up again – only this time it’s coming for your rental. Right as housing prices bottomed out around January 2012, large institutional investors began buying distressed properties in regions hit hard by the foreclosure crisis; they’ve purchased at least 200,000 to date. […]
The announcement this week of a new Palestinian unity government was greeted with cautious optimism by most of the world, outside of Israel. In the United States, however, it set off political rumblings that threaten to swell into a storm. The decision by the Obama Administration to maintain its relationship with the Palestinian Authority for […]
- ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENT
IPS Daily Report