'Unseen' News and Views
29 May 2019 — The top United Nations body in the Asia-Pacific region opened its annual session this week, calling for greater empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalized groups if the region is to achieve the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and fulfill its promise to leave no one behind.
29 May 2019 (UN Environment)* — Public transit passengers in Indonesia’s capital may soon notice a new green addition to their commute.
Photo by Unsplash/Azka Rayhansyah
In line with Governor Anies Baswedan’s vision to make Jakarta one of the greenest cities in the world, the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit System is rolling out a trial programme of electric buses on certain routes in the city.
– Over recent decades, the scope, size, concentration, power and even the purpose and role of finance have changed so significantly that a new term, financialization, was coined to name this phenomenon.
Financialization refers to a process that has not only transformed finance itself, but also, the real economy and society.
The transformation goes beyond the quantitative to involve qualitative change as finance becomes dominant, instead of serving the needs of the real economy.
Financialization involves the growth and transformation of finance such that with its hugely expanded size, scope and concentration, finance now overshadows, dominates and destabilizes the productive economy.
The role and purpose of finance has been qualitatively transformed. Finance used to profit from serving production and trade. Traditionally, financing production involved providing funds for manufacturers to finance production, and for traders to buy and sell.
Through a social security reform, the Brazilian far-right seeks to reduce protections for pregnant women and shorten maternity leave period.
President Jair Bolsonaro (C) and his staff at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 28, 2019. | Photo: Reuters | Photo fromteleSUR..
29 May 2019 (WHO)* — The focus of World No Tobacco Day 2019, marked in 31 May, is on “tobacco and lung health.” The campaign will increase awareness on the negative impact that tobacco has on people’s lung health, from cancer to chronic respiratory disease, and the fundamental role lungs play for the health and well-being of all people.
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