Inter Press Service

BARCELONA, Spain, Aug 8 2013 (IPS) – Even in death, people in Spain cannot escape the economic crisis. Funeral services carry the highest VAT (value added tax) rate, alongside entertainment like nightclubs, and luxury products. “I paid over 7,000 euros…

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 2013 (IPS) – Despite global efforts to provide development aid, the world’s poorest are getting poorer, says a new report by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). “What we found through the research with people…

WASHINGTON, Jul 23 2013 (IPS) – There is a real opportunity for peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians, even though the obstacles are more formidable than in the past. That was the assessment of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, speaking…

By Johan Galtung In this column, Johan Galtung, rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University and author of ‘The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What?’, writes that the future holds many possibilities for humankind, from the rise of…

by Carey L. Biron, IPS WASHINGTON, May 3 2013 (IPS) – A major study by the U.S. government’s environment and agriculture agencies has suggested a strong link between the use of certain pesticides and the widespread deaths that have afflicted…

An indefinite struggle continues against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in the southern Indian state Tamil Nadu despite a government crackdown on protests. Idinthakarai, a village in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, has become the hub of a mass agitation…

By Jacques Couvas The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has adopted a new strategy to involve citizens and politicians more actively to push for a global ban on nuclear weapons. The strategy was emphasised at an ICAN conference…

By Roberto Savio The victory of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the recent Japanese elections, with Shinzo Abe coming back as prime minister after five years, will probably mean an escalation of tensions with China. Both countries are embarking…

By Ira Helfand Soon after President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, hundreds of leaders of the global medical community wrote an open letter to him, and to newly elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, urging them to make the abolition…

By Francesca Dziadek With a persistent undercurrent of discrimination against foreigners, ‘Gastarbeiter’ (guest workers) and citizens of colour, despite the fact that 20 percent of its population – roughly 16 million residents – are from an immigrant background, Germany is faced with the…