Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
'Smarter'money Money, credit card information, and even littte packets of 'electronic money', can now be sent over the Internet without the risk of a third party intercepting and using it. The prospects of a digital economy, in which people 'pay per view' for access to individual pages on the World …
WATCHES with brains tend to be the stuff of science fiction. But soon you will be able to buy a drink with your watch and, if you over-indulge, use it to check where your money went. This is the prospect being offered by Swatch, the Swiss watchmaker, which aims to …
The contentious issues of governance of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was resolved at the resumed 19th session of the Governing Council which ended in the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 4. Delegates agreed to set up a high-level committee of ministers and officials in charge of environment …
An allocation of Rs 15.5 million has been made by the government of Sri Lanka to rehabilitate 93 minor irrigation projects in the Attanagalla electorate. A team of technical officers headed by the western provincial minister of irrigation, Sarath Keerthiratna, visited prospective areas in Attanagalla. He was surveying field canals …
green banking has become big business in the Netherlands. Two years ago, politically-correct banking and investment was limited to three small idealistic banks-Triodosbank (originated from the anthroposophic movement which sees human beings in relation to the cosmos), asn Bank (founded by the trade unions) and the Other Investment Fund (founded …
thanks to the Reserve Bank of India (rbi), the colour of money now will not only be green, but will actually have a green edge. rbi governor C Rangarajan inaugurated a system in December 1996, whereby unfit or mutilated notes were turned into bricquets to be used as fuel. Rangarajan …
the World Bank's (wb) efforts to expand its highly successful operations to attract private investment to developing countries have some observers worried that policies on the environment, participation and resettlement are being sidestepped by Bank officials. At their recent annual meeting in Washington, wb directors signalled strong support for expansion …
the Planning Commission has come down heavily upon non-governmental organisations (ngos). Henceforth, no funds would be provided to ngos by the Commission. The move came in the wake of controversies regarding misuse of grants given to some of these organisations. Simultaneously, the government is considering a proposal which calls for …
Research departments in the UK are likely to lose out to international competition due to a severe shortage of equipment required for critical experiments in areas of current research. Multinational companies have already started switching their research collaborations to other countries due to poor infrastructure in research departments here, according …
a huge increase in public spending on science and technology attempts to motivate Japanese researchers towards strengthening the creative research sector. The council for science and technology has asked the national government to spend about us $155 billion on basic research over the next five years. At present, Japan is …
'Species 2000' is the latest UN/World Bank venture to take an integrated look at the world's biodiversity. The current tally puts the total number of plants, animals, fungi and other microorganisms at about 13.5 million species; estimates had varied anywhere between seven to 20 million. The new venture proposes to …
Austerity measures to prop up the crumbling UN, hit by an acute financial crisis, has resulted in the unprecedented step of enrolling unpaid volunteers. This has become necessary, say UN officials, to continue running the organisation. The volunteers are mostly being hired to keep the UN's peacekeeping department afloat. in …
Pay dues, else lose your right to vote: this seems to be the current slogan of the LIN as it seeks to fight its deepening financial crisis. As a first step, it has stripped 35 countries out of a total of 185 of their voting rights. These countries which include …
THE latest sector now to come under the scrutiny of the nation's premier investigative organisation _' 'the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - are 61 NGOS. These were among'the 564 that had been blacklisted by the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) in mid- 1995 for …
A GROUP of 270 fiery advocates forming the National Breast Cancer Coalition, has been persistently and successfully lobbying with the government to increase federal funds on cancer research. Fran Visco, a breast cancer survivor in the us leads this Coalition. The government was spending around us $90 million on breast …
The inevitable has happened. Budget wrangles between the Repubtican-led Congress and a steadfast Bill Clinton saw all important US government offices shut down for a week, one of the longest shutdowns ever in US political history. Some 80,000 workers who reported Ior work on the morning of November 14 had …
The United Nation's 50th anniversary celebrations in New York (October 2224) were a time of reckoning. Member nations faced the stark reality of a financially straitened UN - a total of US $3.3 billion is owed by all countries but one, America being the biggest defaulter. Washington's arrears amount to …
FAST track power projects ha of late, become stages I macting"the theatrics of en ronment politics in India. was first evident this July, wh the Bharatiya Janata Pa (sip)-Shiv Sena government Maharashtra cancelled the t*s-based 2,015 mw Enron project proposed at Dabhol in Ratnagiri district. The target immediately after the …
AS THE 50th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) culminated in late October, the organization struggled to overcome its worst ever financial crisis. If the situation does not improve soon, the world body and its programmes can suffer serious setbacks, senior UN Officials warn. The VN has weathered financial difficulties …
"Passport to the Future - a programme to encourage young people between the age group of 7 to 14 to demonstrate their commitment to global citizenship, was launched by the United Nations Information Centre in collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and UNICEF in New Delhi on October 10. The …
