By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Last year, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was hailed by the western media as the heroine of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic because her country was able to weather the first onslaught of the pandemic, but today she is fighting to keep away thousands of protestors invading the parliament […]
We Should Start A World-Wide One Tree Movement
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Belem is the Brazilian city at the mouth of the Amazon. Unlike its slummy counterpart, Kinshasa, at the mouth of the Congo, it’s full of resplendent streets with stylish nineteenth century houses. It has squares and marketplaces replete with variegated cafes, pluming fountains and the bustle of […]
British Somali Novelist Breaks Barrier to Win Nomination for Booker Prize
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — “Fortune Men” is the third novel by acclaimed novelist Nadifa Mohamed and the first by a British Somali to be shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize. Her latest book tells the story of a notorious miscarriage of justice and the real-life wrongful conviction of British […]
Black Voters Stray from ANC In Recent National Polls
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The party that governed South Africa since the end of apartheid appears to have lost its grip on Black voters who turned away from the party of Nelson Mandela this month in large numbers. For the first time in the country’s post-apartheid democracy, the African […]
One Lone Voice for Peace at Govt. Pro-War Rally in Addis
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — At a large pro-war rally held recently in Meskel Square in the heart of the capital city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, surrounded by thousands of his supporters, made clear that the battle against Tigrayan rebel fighters would continue unabated, despite mounting fatalities […]
Muslims Must Speak Out
Viewpoint by Rahul Singh The writer is a former Editor of Reader’s Digest, Indian Express and Khaleej Times (Dubai). He is presently a columnist for the Tribune, and a freelance writer. NEW DELHI (IDN) — Two persons have been in the news lately, both connected to films: Actor Naseeruddin Shah, and lyricist Javed Akhtar. I […]
UN’s New Work Style Generates 25 Per Cent Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions
By Thalif Deen NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations has long held the dubious distinction of not practicing at home what it preaches to the outside world—whether it is racism in the UN system, inequities in high-level appointments or gender inequalities in its staff. But it has proved its success at least in one […]
Food Insecurity At ‘Crisis’ Or ‘Emergency’ Levels Haunts More Than Half of Afghans
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — Forty years of war, recurrent natural disasters, chronic poverty, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic have devastated the people of Afghanistan. The recent upheaval has only exacerbated needs and further complicated an extremely challenging operational context, notes the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its […]
COP26: Indigenous Peoples Join UN Representatives in Calling to End the ‘War on Nature’
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | GLASGOW (IDN) — Mother Nature, or “Pachamama“, as they say in Latin America, took centre stage as the critical UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, reached the halfway point on November 6. No one knows more about how best to protect nature, than the indigenous peoples of the world, […]
Myanmar Junta Becomes Internationally Isolated but More And More Bloodthirsty Against Its Own People
Viewpoint by Jan Servaes The author was UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change (2011-2016). He taught ‘international communication’ in Australia, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, the US, the Netherlands, and Thailand, in addition to short-term projects at about 120 universities in 55 countries. He is editor of the 2020 Handbook on Communication for Development […]