By Analysis by Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) — The seven-year-old got bored after running here and there for five minutes, amidst a group of a dozen classmates. He eventually stomped off the field because he hadn’t managed to kick the ball even once.“Football is like that, you have to be patient,” he was […]

By Ignacio Ramonet PARIS  (IPS) — It is unlikely that Brazilians will listen to the audacious call made by Michel Platini – a great player in his time and now the politicking president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) – on Apr. 26: “Brazil, make an effort for a month, calm down!”The FIFA […]

By Jill Richardson BOSTON (IPS) — In the past 15 years, China has gone from being a relatively insignificant economic partner in Latin America to the number-one trading partner of some of the largest economies in the region.In many cases, China has unseated the United States in its own backyard. As a whole, Latin American […]

By Muhyadin Ahmed Roble NAIROBI (IPS) – Somalia’s State Minister for Interior and Federalism Affairs Mohamud Moalim Yahye has told IPS that the hasty repatriation and mass deportation of its citizens by Kenya could compromise recent, critical security improvements made by regional governments against the Islamic extremist group, Al-Shabaab.“The unplanned and uncoordinated deportation of people, […]

By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Pakistan  (IPS) — Minority communities in Pakistan have long had a raw deal. Accounting for just 10 percent of this country’s population of 180 million, they are no strangers to marginalization, discrimination or even violence.But persistent reports that Christian and Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam might just take […]

By Pavol Stracansky MOSCOW (IPS) — As Russia faces harsh sanctions and growing international isolation over its annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, economists and sociologists are warning that the Kremlin’s international policies may fuel a potentially devastating brain drain.Many of Russia’s growing middle class and young people, especially in the […]

By Asel Kalybekova  BISHKEK (EurasiaNet) —   Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation recently offering fast-track citizenship to Russian speakers anywhere within the former Soviet Union.Analysts believe the law is motivated by a desire to enhance Moscow’s influence in Ukraine and elsewhere, but it may have unintended consequences for the Kremlin in Central Asia.“Soon we may […]

By Pavol Stracansky MOSCOW (IPS)  — NGOs working in Russia are facing more repression in the form of even tighter legislation on foreign funding as part of what some rights activists say is a concerted campaign to “liquidate” civil society in the country.Under legislation proposed earlier this month in the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament, […]

By Thalif Deen  UNITED NATIONS (IPS)   — After two long weeks of raging controversy over Washington’s refusal to grant a U.S. visa to the Iranian envoy to the United Nations, the U.N.’s office of legal affairs is being accused of moving at the pace of a paralytic snail — only to seek more time while […]

By Thalif Deen  UNITED NATIONS (IPS)   — After two long weeks of raging controversy over Washington’s refusal to grant a U.S. visa to the Iranian envoy to the United Nations, the U.N.’s office of legal affairs is being accused of moving at the pace of a paralytic snail — only to seek more time while […]