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Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *
HIROSHIMA (IDN —August 6 and August 9 will mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No sentient human being who has met or seen the hibakusha (survivors), or visited the hypocentres in the two cities, or seen the photographic evidence of the destruction of these two Japanese cities, can avoid being shocked and horrified by the devastation that nuclear weapons inflicted.
Viewpoint by Calvin Cheng*
KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) — After two years of alternating between tense escalation and fleeting periods of calm, the United States and China reached a preliminary phase one trade deal in December 2019. Government spokespersons in both countries promptly cheered the signing of the agreement — but observers around the world remain a little more circumspect.The primary achievement of the phase one deal seemed to be tempering the uncertainty of further tariff escalation, with both sides agreeing to cancel their upcoming tariff hikes.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — She's one medical anthropologist, activist and poet you don't want to wrestle with.
Dr. Stella Nyanzi is apt to say exactly what's on her mind – even if the object of her verbal dart is the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, or his wife Janet, the First Lady.
What set off the rockets this time was an exchange between the First Lady and Members of Parliament on a presidential pledge to provide free sanitary pads to school-going girls.
Viewpoint by John Newsinger*
This is the sixth of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part five of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.
LONDON (IDN) – As for President Clinton, who many evangelicals came to regard as the Antichrist, with him in office the secular humanists were in power and Christian America was in greater danger than ever before.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Murder charges against the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Thomas Thabane, will be reconsidered in light of a novel appeal for immunity to be heard by the country's High Court.
If his appeal is rejected, Mr. Thabane would be the first African leader to face domestic murder charges while in office.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Desperate East African governments are weighing their options as farmers beg for the most deadly agro-chemicals in a last ditch effort against swarms of desert locusts which have already begun to eat into thousands of acres of pasture and farmland.
"This is the best time to kill them," said Mehari Tesfayohannes Ghebre, Information and Forecasting Officer for the Desert Locust Control Organization in East Africa. After Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, swarms are now reaching Uganda, Tanzania, and southern Sudan, while billions of eggs are maturing, promising the arrival of a devastating second wave.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Capitalism rules the world. Correct. But Bernie Sanders has his doubts about it. Good. It is a malicious system in many ways but as Winston Churchill might have said, it is better than all the alternatives. Nevertheless, it’s time overdue to tame the beast.
After the Second World War the Western world did make a big effort to mitigate some of its worst effects. In the U.S. there was the GI bill to help returning soldiers get started in life. Later, there was Medicaid for poorer people. In Europe there was a widespread attempt to replicate the free health services pioneered by the Scandinavian countries and New Zealand.
By Bernhard Schell
DOHA | VIENNA (IDN | UNIS) —The second high-level meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched in Doha under the patronage of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, with hundreds of chief justices and senior judges from around the world in attendance.
Until February 26, the conference will take stock of the achievements of the Network since its launch and discuss existing and emerging challenges related to judicial integrity, exploring the efforts made by judiciaries to address them, and identify priority areas for the Network.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN | UNCTAD) — A new study expects non-tariff measures (NTMs) to cause major fractures in post-exit trade relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), knocking up to US$32 billion, or 14 per cent, off of UK exports to the EU.
NTMs are policy measures other than ordinary customs tariffs that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices, or both. They are the key factors mediating market access in the world economy.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK | GENEVA (IDN) — A sudden increase in new cases of COVID-19 is of concern, but the spread of coronavirus is not yet a pandemic, maintains the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely, it has. Are we there yet? From our assessment, not yet," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva on February 24.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.
IDN-InDepthNews serves as flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate and its partner, the Global Cooperation Council, established in February 1983.