By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | DURBAN (IDN) — Record-breaking levels of rainfall threaten a new round of flooding and landslides in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal. Already, the calamity has taken over 400 lives, left some 40,000 homeless, with an economic cost yet to be tallied. Weather forecasters and climate scientists, speaking to […]
A Congolese Immigrant Family in the US Confronts Police Shooting Like the Executions Back Home
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — When Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, died at the hands of a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his life was cut down by violence much like the home-grown executions Congolese have been facing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for years. Close to […]
Ukraine War Could Drive Millions Elsewhere into Starvation
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — While images of the war devastation in Ukraine have saturated the news bulletins around the world, a much more severe human disaster is unravelling in many other parts of the world that could throw over one-fifth of humanity back into poverty. “We have all seen the tragedy unfolding inside […]
Private Sector Has a Pivotal Role in Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Viewpoint by Massimiliano Colella The author is the chief executive officer of Evercare. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (IDN) — With public debt reaching record highs both in developed and emerging markets—and with even more financial volatility following the COVID-19 pandemic—government budgets have been stretched thin. Underfunding in healthcare versus competing priorities has led to heavily […]
UN Opens its Doors to Visitors – After a long Pandemic Lockdown
By Rodney Reynolds UNITED NATIONS, (IDN) — After more than two years of on-again, off-again pandemic lockdowns, the United Nations will soon return to normal—and re-open to the public. The move comes amid reports of new infections from Covid-19, with mandatory masks still in force in New York city’s public transit systems, including buses and […]
A Negotiated Peace Alone Will End Russia’s War on Ukraine
This article was issued by CNN and is being republished with the author’s permission. Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs NEW YORK (IDN) — There is only one answer to the war in Ukraine: a peace deal. The two-pronged US strategy, to help Ukraine overcome the Russian invasion by imposing tough sanctions and by supplying Ukraine’s […]
US Urged to Restore the UN-Backed 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — More than 40 former government officials and leading nuclear non-proliferation experts have expressed strong support for an agreement that returns Iran and the United States to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal. The accord between Iran and the major world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of […]
Remembering ECHELON: The First International Mass Surveillance Program
By Mila Bera BELGRADE (IDN) — Ask a family member or friend how much they value their online privacy and you’ll usually get a noncommittal answer that belies their disinterest. In fact, most people don’t have a clue how much their privacy is really worth. Governments and their agencies have no such doubts; they set […]
Street Vending: Covid Seems to Have Killed a Bangkok Icon
By Pattama Vilailert BANGKOK (IDN) — Street vendors have been an iconic attraction for millions of tourists that visited Bangkok each year before the COVID-19 pandemic. In perfect tune with the Thais’ approach to enjoying life to its fullest, including eating and shopping, street vendors have set their carts in the heart of Thai people […]
The Left-Right Divide Since the French Revolution
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — It goes back to the French revolution of 1789. At the Revolutionary Convention the most radical of the insurgents decided to seat themselves on the left side. “Why not on the other side, the right side, the place of rectitude, where law and the higher right resided, […]