Sri Lanka Co-Chaired Meeting Focuses on Diseases Killing the Poor By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) pose a serious global development challenge. As the year three of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comes to a close, evidence shows that the international community […]
‘Growing Economic Divides’ Trouble Europe
By Robert Johnson BRUSSELS (IDN) – A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Growing Economic Divides, which threaten to create tensions not only between the young and the old but also between employers and employees as well as between the low- and high-income earners. At the heart of the growing divides is housing, […]
Migration a Major Issue in EU’s Relations with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As the United Nations Global Compact fractures, migration has become a key issue in negotiations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) which kicked off in September 2018 to hammer out a successor to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement set to […]
Sri Lanka Needs a Consensus Builder – Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Viewpoint by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara * The author is a Sri Lankan civil servant, diplomat and former Governor of Northern Province. This article first appeared in The Island and is being republished in view of its fervent plea for ‘building a culture of consensual governance’. – The Editor. COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – Many concerned citizens are seen […]
NATO’s Gottemoeller Discusses Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence in China
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN-INPS) – “We know that we cannot fight tomorrow’s threats with today’s tools. Defending ourselves is no longer about just looking at a map and deciding where to position troops and equipment. We need to defend ourselves in the digital age, and in the age of artificial intelligence,” NATO Deputy […]
Disarmament in Uncertain Times Discussed in Reykjavik
By Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK (IDN) – With tension rapidly escalating between the United States and Russia – and indeed between these countries and others – a seminar on disarmament held in parallel with the 14th NATO Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iceland came at an appropriate time. The idea for the seminar, entitled […]
Insurance Essential for Sustainable Development – But Billions Still Losing Out
By Kwame Buist LUSAKA, Zambia (IDN) – Billions of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses are exposed to risks which can result in catastrophic losses, delegates to the 14th International Microinsurance Conference (IMC) on ‘Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets’ in Lusaka were told. Despite encouraging signs of increased insurance cover uptake in some markets, climate […]
Nigeria’s Presidential Candidate Abubakar Hires Trump’s Campaign Strategist
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Cash money makes things happen. That’s an expression taken from the Urban Dictionary but it may also be the hope of Atiku Abubakar, candidate for President of Nigeria with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which just hired Donald Trump’s lobbying firm at an astronomical […]
Sri Lanka President Told Not to Trample on Parliamentary Democracy and the Rights of People
Viewpoint by Friday Forum Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena’s move to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and prorogue Parliament was “a shameless disregard of this political mandate given to him by the people”, avers the Friday Forum in a statement circulated on November 5. The Friday Forum is “an informal group of concerned citizens pledged to […]
Theresa May Should Join Angela Merkel at the Retirement Door
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Is Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, responsible for Brexit? In a way yes she is because at the time of the great economic crisis of 2007-2013, counterproductively she insisted on austerity throughout the European Union. Austerity helped turn the poorer classes of the UK towards Brexit. But […]