Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I haven’t played cricket with Imran Khan, the newly elected prime minister of Pakistan, but I did interview him back in 2005 when only a rare foreign journalist was interested in him despite his fame as having been the world’s best cricketer. Now he has won a […]
Ethiopian PM Sparks Euphoria In A Whirlwind U.S. Trip
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – It’s been called ‘Abiy-mania’ – an impulse to reach out and hug the young new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, who brought an end to his country’s two-decade-long war with Eritrea and other sweeping changes in the Horn of Africa. The 41-year old Ethiopian […]
Astana’s 20th Anniversary Highlights Kazakh Achievements as Security Council Member
By Jaya Ramachandran NEW YORK (IDN) – Since Astana was established as the capital city of Kazakhstan twenty years ago, it has become a symbol of international peace and security. Its 20th anniversary has come to highlight the Central Asian republic’s achievements as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2017-2018. It was befitting […]
AIDS 2018 Concludes Underlining $6 Billion Gap In Funding
By Reinhard Jacobsen AMSTERDAM (IDN) – Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 35 years ago, 78 million people have become infected with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS-related illnesses, says UNAIDS, a United Nations organization that is leading the global effort since1996 to end AIDS as a public health […]
Governments, Partners Asked To Provide Funds, Incentives For Sustainable Development Targets
By Amina Mohammed Following are extensive extracts from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the informal briefing on the Secretary-General’s meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in New York on July 27, 2018. – The Editor UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – As we look ahead together, our focus is clear: to advance […]
African Experts Decry Information Gap on Climate Change
By Justus Wanzala NAIROBI (IDN) – Climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in Africa are being undermined by lack of information on climate issues among the public, policy-makers and leaders in Africa, leading to poor and delayed decision making as well as untimely undertaking of remedial actions. This emerged during a Regional Climate Change Dialogue […]
Peace as Form of Life
Viewpoint by Tito Alvarado MONTREAL (IDN) – Of the world’s more than six thousand extant languages, three thousand have little chance of continuing to be used in the next century. This tragic fact represents a terrible finding: we will lose three thousand ways to approach life and humanity from the perspective of others in their […]
Palestinian Peoples’ Fundamental Rights Under Assault, Concern Over Lurking Dangers
By Ramesh Jaura UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has expressed “acute concerns” over the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, which in recent months has escalated dramatically, with the potential to generate threats to […]
Study Finds Congressional Attention on Nuclear Security Waning as Nuclear Terrorism Threat Persists
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – A new report reveals an alarming diminution of U.S. congressional engagement and interest in critical efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism and proposed “action items” for lawmakers in enhancing nuclear security efforts and reducing global stockpiles of nuclear materials. Titled Empowering Congress on Nuclear Security: Blueprints for a New […]
Japan-China Relations Apparently Back On Track
Viewpoint by Katsuji Nakazawa* TOKYO (IDN-INPS) – In early May 2018 during his first visit to Japan since being appointed in 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang publicly remarked that Japan-China relations had returned to a path of normality. This “throw-away line” revealed that China’s official perspective prior to then was that Japan-China relations had been […]