Finance : Cross-border bank claims rise in fourth quarter of 2020, says BIS (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
Cross-border bank claims increased by $431 billion, or 6% year on year, in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, bringing the outstanding stock to $35.6 trillion at end-2020, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has said.

Mideast : The day UN buried its report focusing on apartheid in Israel (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
When the UN's Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) released a landmark 2017 report on "apartheid" in Israel, the United Nations disassociated itself from the study and left it to die - unceremoniously and unsung.

Latin America : The complex energy transition of Chile's "Sacrifice Zones" (PRIV)
(IPS, Santiago)
Standing on Punta Ventanilla, Carlos Vegas, 65, looks across at the industrial park which has been there most of his life.