Women’s work: mothers, children and the global childcare crisis

The world is facing a hidden crisis in childcare. That crisis is leaving millions of children without the support they need, with damaging consequences for their future. It is also having severe impacts on three generations of women – on mothers, grandmothers and daughters. 

There is an urgent need to solve the global care crisis to improve the lives of both women and children and to grow economies. 

Ankara bombing raises questions over Turkey’s stability

The March 13th bombing in Ankara is the third terrorist attack that hit the capital in a six-month period. The blast is a strong indicator for both the elevated terrorist threat Turkey currently faces, as well as the potential risks the country may face in the future.

In less than a month the Turkish capital was hit by two major terrorist attacks. On February 17th, a militant linked to the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) detonated a suicide car-bomb in the centre of Ankara. The blast targeted a military convoy and left 29 dead.

The end of the European Union as we know it

The EU Summit held on Monday in Brussels proved that there is a long way to go for the member-states to start perceiving the EU as a supranational organization. The refugee crisis and the struggle of Greece and its allies in Europe to make clear, in every possible way, that being part of such an organization means having both rights and obligations, did not prevail.

It has been already seven (7) months since the relocation program has been agreed between EU28, but so far implementation has been extremely weak. From 160.000 available places, only 400 refugees have been relocated, showing in the most striking way that EU has a big leadership and decision making problem. Greece has once again been on the spotlight, this time for literally geographical reasons.

Μετράει τις πληγές της η Τουρκία

Τις πληγές της μετράει η Τουρκία λίγες ώρες μετά τη νέα τρομοκρατική επίθεση που κόστισε την ζωή σε τουλάχιστον 37 ανθρώπους ενώ οι τραυματίες είναι πάνω από 130. Οι έρευνες για τους υπαίτιους της επίθεσης προσανατολίζονται στο ΡΚΚ και γίνονται σχεδόν σε όλη την χώρα έφοδοι σε σπίτια για να βρεθούν οι δράστες.  

Ο πρόεδρος της Τουρκίας Ρετζέπ Ταγίπ Ερντογάν δήλωσε ότι οι τρομοκρατικές επιθέσεις ενισχύουν την αποφασιστικότητα της χώρας του κατά της τρομοκρατίας. «Το τουρκικό κράτος δεν θα υποχωρήσει ποτέ στο δικαίωμά του να υπερασπισθεί τον εαυτό του και τους πολίτες του», πρόσθεσε:

TURKMENISTAN: THE DIVERSIFICATION OF GAS EXPORT MARKET

Among the Central Asian countries, Turkmenistan has the largest natural gas reserves and the world’s sixth largest reserves that amount 13,7 tcm. In 2015, Turkmenistan expects a total 48 bcm of natural gas exports comparing to 2014 figures of 45,1 bcm. At the same time, the country forecasted a 9 percent increase in natural gas production to 83,8 bcm in 2015. That means that Turkmenistan would have 35,8 bcm of natural gas for local consumption. That amount of gas might be too high for Turkmenistan’s domestic consumption, because the country burned roughly 22,3 bcm in 2013.Therefore, the margin between the production, consumption and export demonstrates that Turkmenistan has a significant potential to increase the export of its energy source.

Γιατί η Ρωσία και η Τουρκία συγκρούονται

Ο πρόεδρος της Ρωσίας, Βλαντιμίρ Πούτιν, και ο πρωθυπουργός της Τουρκίας, Ταγίπ Ερντογάν, σε συνέντευξη Τύπου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, στις 3 Δεκεμβρίου 2012. MURAD SEZER / REUTERS

Οι σχέσεις μεταξύ της Τουρκίας [2] και της Ρωσίας [3] είναι επιβαρυμένες από τότε που η τουρκική πολεμική αεροπορία κατέρριψε ένα ρωσικό βομβαρδιστικό [4] που παραβίασε για λίγο τον εναέριο χώρο της, τον Νοέμβριο. Αλλά οι εντάσεις μεταξύ των δύο χωρών κλιμακώνονταν για μήνες πριν από αυτό, πρώτα για την παρέμβαση της Ρωσίας στην Ουκρανία και στην συνέχεια στην Συρία. Ως αποτέλεσμα, στην διάρκεια αυτών των δύο ετών, οι δύο χώρες έχουν αναιρέσει σε μεγάλο βαθμό την συνεννόηση είχαν οικοδομήσει κατά τα προηγούμενα 15.

The political economy of voter engagement in Niger

This briefing forms part of a three-piece political economy analysis that was carried out by ODI and Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL) researchers. The aim was to inform the design of the Participatory and Responsive Governance (PRG) programme to be implemented by the US Agency for International Development from 2015 to 2020.

WOULD AN 'INDEPENDENT' BRITAIN WANT TO JOIN THE SINGLE MARKET?

Three economic rules mean that Britain would seek to join the EU’s single market if it were not already a member.

Both sides of Britain’s EU debate claim the mantle of free-traders. Pro-Europeans emphasise the potential loss of access to the single market if Britain quits the EU. Outers point to the EU’s declining share of world trade, and the opportunities that might arise from signing free trade agreements with countries outside Europe, without having to find consensus with 27 other states. A central question in the campaign has become: ‘Would Brexit boost or depress Britain’s international trade?’

About That "Oil Freeze": Russian Crude Production Sets New Post-Soviet Record In February

As noted earlier, among the catalysts for the overnight leg higher in oil was a statement by Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino who triggered the headline-scanning algos yesterday when he said, during a television broadcast on TeleSur, that oil producing countries were discussing a March meeting site (which apparently is sufficient to instill confidence in future cuts), and that Venezuela, Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are planning to meet in July. He added that "There’s no capacity to continue putting oil on the market. If this situation continues we’ll have a collapse in oil prices" which is quite clear to everyone and certainly the Saudi oil-minister who a week ago explicitly said that Saudi Arabia would not cut production.

The Irrational Exuberance About the Iranian Economy

"You’re so happy!” I couldn’t help but smile at Kaveh as I climbed into the backseat of an old, white Iranian Peugeot taxi on a warm May evening in 2014. By any measure, my friend should have been stressed: He had spent the last 90 minutes winding his way through Tehran’s congested traffic trying to find me. The Iranian capital’s infamous crush of Peugeots, Kia Prides, and motorbikes is often endearing for a newcomer to the city, but, for any resident, an hour-and-a-half of driving through the smog and congestion of Tehran’s narrow streets is normally a recipe for a nervous breakdown. But when I saw him nearly two years ago, Kaveh wasn’t just calm, he was beaming. “I’m just happy to see you here,” he replied simply as he climbed back into the taxi.