Buddhism Is Losing Its Voice in Asia By Krishan Dutta BANGKOK (IDN) — The theme of this year’s 30th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) was “Buddhism in the Time of Crisis”, but many disillusioned members of this premier Buddhist organization say it is the WFB that is in crisis. “The conference […]
And What If Saudi Arabia Were the Owner of Nuclear Missiles?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In any body politic there will be a group of powerful people who, if not in the inner circle of the president or prime minister, can win access to it at regular intervals. Security is their profession, and they can be met at discrete academic conferences where […]
Iraq’s Drought Crisis Destroys Income and Crops Countrywide
By Ahmed Bayram The writer is an Amman-based Middle East Media Adviser of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). AMMAN, Jordan (IDN) — Farming communities in Iraq have seen their wheat, vegetable, and fruit harvests decline for the second year in a row because of severe drought conditions. Households throughout the country will be increasingly vulnerable […]
Developing Nations Risk Missing Development Goals Long Before 2030
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The late Everett McKinley Dirksen, an American politician. once famously said: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. Perhaps that remark may be applicable to the funding of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where developing nations continue their relentless search […]
Overfishing and Environmental Changes Could Leave Thousands Jobless
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — After decades of overfishing combined with environmental changes, Namibia’s sardine population has finally collapsed, writes Conservation Namibia, a publication of the Namibian Chamber of Environment. “Falling by 99.5% from an estimated 11 million tonnes in the 1960s to a tiny 50,000 tonnes in 2015, this […]
In Nigeria, 72,000 Cancer Deaths Annually and Rising
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Nigeria has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the world, with an estimated 72,000 cancer deaths occurring annually and 102,000 new cases diagnosed from its population of 200 million people, according to a report in Frontiers in Oncology. Breast cancer accounted for the […]
South Africa Cancer Cases Will Double Without Major Spending on Prevention
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — At the World Cancer Congress meeting this month in Geneva, Switzerland, it was predicted that all cancers in South Africa would almost certainly double by 2030 without major spending increases for screening and prevention. This comes as new cancer therapies have boosted survival odds from […]
Scientists Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic with Artificial Intelligence
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — A group of scientists from the University of Aberdeen, a United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) member institution in Britain, together with Vertebrate Antibodies Ltd and the National Health Service (NHS) Grampian have developed a “game-changing technology”. This technology has “tremendous potential to change the trajectory of global recovery […]
Slow Progress for Women Helping Forge Peace
By Caroline Mawanga NEW YORK (IDN) — Defending women’s rights and promoting greater inclusion is a proven strategy for peace and stability, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a recent Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, which focussed on Secretary-General António Guterres’s annual report as envisaged with a landmark resolution adopted 22 […]
How Syrian Women Navigate Security Risks to Mediate Local Conflicts
A UN Women Feature NEW YORK (IDN) — For over a decade, Syria’s protracted conflict has taken countless lives, displaced millions in and outside the country and left much of its infrastructure in tatters. International mediation efforts to end the conflict have largely stalled, in part because the local dynamics that help fuel the crisis […]