December 18, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, corruption, Dirty money, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Research
Poor nations ‘lose $1 tn in dirty money’ – Americas – Al Jazeera English.
Developing countries are losing nearly a trillion dollars to crime and corruption, with the disappearance of dirty money hitting some of the world’s poorest regions hardest, a new report has found.
A record $991bn in unrecorded funds left 151 developing and emerging economies in 2012, up nearly five percent from a year earlier, a US-based watchdog that exposes financial corruption said on Monday.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) found that, between 2003 and 2012, the estimated amount of illicit funds shifted from developing countries totalled $6.6tn and rose at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 percent a year – roughly double global GDP growth…
December 3, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
credit unions, Ireland, microfinance, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Credit unions are key to building on our housing strategy.
Up to €1bn of credit union funding could be redirected to the Government’s Social Housing Strategy, which aims to meet the needs of some 75,000 households. Credit unions want to make investments that are more sustainable and socially aware, writes Martin Sisk….
…It is estimated that 29,000 construction jobs will be created as a result of this initiative which is a welcome development for every sector of our economy. The strategy envisages meeting the housing needs of some 75,000 households through local authority provision via the private rental sector — using the Housing Assistance Payment and the Rental Accommodation Scheme as well as reforming social housing delivery and management in Ireland.
The Irish League of Credit Unions welcomes this initiative and we feel that we have a very positive role to play in its delivery. Credit unions currently have large amounts of excess funds held in deposits and investments. We estimate that somewhere between €500m to €1bn of those funds could be redirected to the Government Social Housing Strategy, which would equate to 2,500 to 5,000 housing units.
…In this way, credit unions will continue to survive and thrive and fulfil the economic and social objectives of the movement and their communities. It is in keeping with the credit union ethos and philosophy that they would do so and it would continue their unending contribution to Irish society as a whole, as they have done over the last 50 years….
November 20, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Health, Medical, Reports, Research
Health, obesity, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Obesity costs global economy an estimated €2tn a year.
The global cost of obesity outweighs that of alcoholism, drug use or road accidents and closely rivals that of armed conflict and smoking, according to a new study.
The cost of obesity is estimated at $2 trillion – equivalent to 2.8 per cent of the world’s economic output, the study found. This makes it one of the top three global social burdens behind smoking and armed violence, war and terrorism..
The research, which was carried out by consultancy firm McKinsey, reveals that obesity is now responsible for about 5 per cent of all deaths a year worldwide.
More than 2.1 billion people – equivalent to nearly 30 per cent of the global population- are overweight or obese. That is almost two and a half times the number of adults and children who are undernourished.
A number of studies conducted in Ireland show that two out of three Irish adults, and one in four primary school children, are overweight or obese.
“Obesity is a major global economic problem caused by a multitude of factors. Today obesity is jostling with armed conflict and smoking in terms of having the greatest human-generated global economic impact,” the report said…
November 20, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Reports, Research
Domestic Abuse, Ireland, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Research
More than 2,000 men suffer domestic abuse, says Amen.
Almost 8,000 incidents of domestic abuse were reported from more than 2,000 men last year, the support service for male
sufferers of domestic violence Amen, has said.
According to Amen’s 2013 report, the number of domestic attacks on men is roughly the same as 2012.
But the charity said it is seeing a large increase in the number of men coming for face-to-face counselling.
The number of face-to-face meetings with men complaining of abuse has risen by about 64 per cent on 2011, says Amen service manager Niamh Farrell…
November 2, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Ebola, Liberia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Braving Ebola – NYTimes.com.
Portraits of those who labor and those who survived at an Ebola treatment center in rural Liberia.
September 30, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Articles on Africa
Africa, Gambia, Illegal Migrants, People & Society, peter singhateh
Plight of the migrant one of most critical issues of our time.
“…In the space of a week 150,000 refugees from Syria streamed into Turkey, adding to the million-plus refugees Turkey has accommodated in the three-and-a-half years since the devastating conflict in Syria began. In one 48-hour period more than 60,000 Syrians came over the border. In 2014 the number of people seeking asylum will hit a 20-year high, according to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. That 20-year anniversary relates to April 28th and 29th, 1994 on the Rwandan-Tanzanian border, when 250,000 people walked across the bridge at Rusumo Falls, as victims of genocide floated past in the river below.
As Syrian Kurds carried what little they had left into Turkey, the sea that borders the west of the country was in the midst of its own nightmare. The New York Times reported this month that at a funeral in Sicily of 18 migrants who died trying to reach Europe from Africa, Msgr Angelo Giurdanella said in his homily: “The opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference.” Around 120,000 migrants have been rescued by Italian ships in the Mediterranean this year. More than 2,200 have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year. In a few days in mid-September, at least 750 migrants were feared to have died trying to make the crossing. To put those deaths in context in terms of media coverage, the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster in January, 2012 claimed 32 lives. Nearly 70 times that number of migrants have died in the Mediterranean area trying to reach Europe so far this year…”
September 30, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Articles on Africa
Africa, Gambia, Illegal Migrants, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Hundreds feared dead as boat sinks off Libya – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.
A boat filled with up to 250 migrants heading for Europe has sunk off the Libyan coast and many passengers have died, a spokesman for the Libyan navy has said.
Only 36 people, including three women, have been rescued after the boat sunk near Tajoura, east of the capital Tripoli, said navy spokesman Ayub Qassem.
“There are so many dead bodies floating in the sea,” Qassem told the Reuters news agency, adding that the under-equipped coastguard had few resources to search for survivors.
Migrants have been streaming out of Libya in boats in rising numbers for years, on their way to Europe.
So far in 2014, more than 100,000 have reached Italy’s shores, the Italian government said this week…
September 10, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
ISS Africa | THINK AGAIN: In defence of the African Union.
The African Union (AU) gets a lot of flak. Critics often argue that it is slow to respond to security threats; that it prioritises power over justice; and that it fails to adequately represent the needs of this continent’s 1,11 billion citizens.
The continental organisation is often dismissed as a talk shop for tyrants, or depicted as an ineffectual, lumbering bureaucracy that worries more about per diems than it does about Africa’s most pressing political problems.
There is merit to some of these critiques. But they don’t tell the whole story, and they leave out the good bits. It is time to give credit where credit is due, and to recognise that – as imperfect as it may be – Africa is in much better shape with the AU than without it…
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