By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Jobless and weighed down by idleness, 53-year-old Jasper Mhandu, in the Zimbabwean capital, now has to spend time sited at a street corner chatting with gangs of drug-taking jobless youths in Highfield, a poor income suburb here. Mhandu used to work for a clothing factory that shut its […]
South Africans Caught in Destructive Flash Floods Decry Climate Inaction
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — Torrential rainfall and flooding came full throttle to Johannesburg for a third time in December, damaging hundreds of houses in Soweto, Roodepoort, Protea Glen and surrounding areas. The heavy downpour loosened street poles, flooded transformer chambers, uprooted trees and damaged overhead cables and […]
US Foundation Commits $19.2 Million to Bolster Nigerian Media
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced 13 grants totalling more than $19.2 million to strengthen local and regional investigative journalism in Nigeria. The initiative, awarded through the foundation’s Nigeria program, seeks to reduce corruption by supporting Nigerian-led anti-corruption efforts that advance […]
Lusaka Demands Probe of Zambian Student Killed on Battlefield in Ukraine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | LUSAKA (IDN) — Zambian officials are seeking an explanation of the death of Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda, a former student of nuclear engineering in Moscow, who died in September fighting on the side of the Russian army. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner group, acknowledged […]
China May Have Surpassed US in Number of Nuclear Warheads on ICBMs
By Bryant Harris* WASHINGTON (IDN) — The U.S. may no longer enjoy a numerical advantage against China in certain elements of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, according to Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal. STRATCOM recently sent a classified determination to Congress pursuant to a clause in the fiscal 2022 National Defense […]
UNCTAD: This Time is Indifferent
Viewpoint by Alexander Kozul-Wright* The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) hosted its biennial debt management conference on December 5-7. The forum brought together governments, international organizations and academia to share views on the current debt landscape in developing countries. LONDON (IDN) — Covid-19 shuddered the world economy to a halt, and the […]
The Ideals of the UN Charter
A Poem by Shihana Mohamed Shihana Mohamed, a founding member and one of the coordinators of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity & Inclusion (UN-ANDI) and a Sri Lankan national, is a Human Resources Policies Officer at the International Civil Service Commission.
“How The Rich and Powerful in Thailand Escape the Law”
Viewpoint by Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS (IDN) — A crashed Ferrari, a dead police officer and a fugitive heir to a multibillion-dollar fortune—ten years later, Thailand is no closer to solving one of its most infamous hit-and-run crimes. Red Bull’s story, according to the Indian news channel WION (World Is On News), is again “a reminder […]
Fiji: Two Former Coup Leaders Fight for Democratic Right to Govern
By Ravindra Singh Prasad SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — It is an ironic fact in Fiji Islands, a multi-ethnic nation of under one million people in the South Pacific, that coups don’t work and ultimately lead to constitutional reforms and democratic elections. As Fiji goes to the polls on December 14, the choice is between choosing […]
Kenya Prides in Progress Towards Attainment of Development Goals
By Joseph Maina NAIROBI (IDN) — Seven years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, Kenya has made significant strides towards the realisation of the SDGs. Official sources cite “remarkable progress” made towards achieving the goals. SDGs and other development initiatives are well anchored in its long-term development blueprint dubbed […]