News headlines in September 2018, page 7

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 07 (IPS) - Mona Ali Khalil, PassBlue*It is entirely the United States' prerogative to cut off its voluntary contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.

Eastern Cuba has suffered drought since time immemorial. But the western and central regions of the island used to be almost free of the phenomenon, until the latest drought that plagued this country between 2014 and 2017.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 07 (IPS) - After several years of preliminary discussions, the United Nations has begun its first round of inter-governmental negotiations to draft the world's first legally binding treaty to protect and regulate the "high seas"—which, by definition, extend beyond 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) and are considered "international waters" shared globally.

Sep 07 (IPS) - Migrants as Messengers is a peer-to-peer messaging campaign where returning migrants share with their communities and families the dangers, trauma and abuse that many experienced while attempting irregular migration. The stories are candid and emotional testimonials about the difficulties they faced. Here are the discussion around irregular migration with hip-hop singer Matar Khoudia Ndiaye–aka Big Makhou Djolof and Ramatoulaye Diene, a legal migration activist and radio personality.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 05 (IPS) - Miroslav Lajčák, President of the current 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, in his address to the Forum on a Culture of Peace.

As we open this Forum, I will make three main points. First, I want to ask: what does a culture of peace actually mean?

And, frankly it might be different for every person in this room. But I will share some elements, which have stuck with me.

WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands, Sep 05 (IPS) - "This season, the month of May was particularly hot and dry," says Leo De Jong, a commercial farmer in Zeewolde, in Flevopolder, the Netherlands. Flevopolder is in the province of Flevoland, the largest site of land reclamation in the world. Here a hectare of land costs up to 100,000 Euros. "At the moment, we are spending between 20,000 and 25,000 Euros per week on irrigation."

Sep 05 (IPS) - The Philippines has been ranked one of the world's ten worst countries for workers' rights. Arbetet Global reports from a country which labour union activists brand as fascist.

"Isn't it cool? I get some hostile looks when I walk around in it, but other people come up asking where they can buy one,"  Josua Matas says of his T-shirt, which reads "Resist dictatorship".  He is the Secretary General of the labour union umbrella organisation Sentro and does not hold back when he speaks about the Philippines' hard-line president, Rodrigo Duterte.

LIMA, Sep 04 (IPS) - This article is published ahead of the International Day of Indigenous Women, celebrated September 5, which marks the execution of indigenous guerrilla leader Bartolina Sisa.

"At the age of 18 I was the first female leader in my organisation, my grandfather who was a male chauvinist demanded that I be beaten because I was sitting among men," said Teresita Antazú, an indigenous leader of the Yanesha people in Peru's Amazon region.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 04 (IPS) - Advocates made exaggerated claims that privatization would reduce governments' fiscal problems while ensuring more efficient, productive and competitive economies by promoting private entrepreneurship, innovation and investments.

Several arguments have been advanced to justify privatization since the 1980s. Privatization has been advocated as an easy means to:

1. Reduce the government's financial and administrative burden, particularly by undertaking and maintaining services and infrastructure;
2. Promote competition, improve efficiency and increase productivity in providing public services;
3. Stimulate private entrepreneurship and investment to accelerate economic growth;
4. Help reduce the public sector's presence and size, with its monopolistic tendencies and bureaucratic support.

WASHINGTON DC, Sep 04 (IPS) - Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director, Arms Control Association.

Five long years have passed since U.S. President Barack Obama proposed and Russian President Vladimir Putin unfortunately rejected negotiations designed to cut their excessive nuclear stockpiles by one-third below the limits set by the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).