By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | KIGALI (IDN) – You’ll see plenty of Volvos, Mercedes, Hondas, Toyotas and even a Ford Windstar tootling around the booming cities of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg. But these foreign cars were no spring chickens when they arrived in Africa after years of use. Often they had […]
AIDS 2018 Conference Trying To Break Barriers, Build Bridges
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | AMSTERDAM (IDN) – The International Conference on AIDS (AIDS 2018) – the largest gathering on any global health issue in the world – opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 23 under the title Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges. With hundreds of scheduled talks and roundtables, the […]
UN Conference Warns Of Huge Backlogs Before Achieving Global Development Goals
By Ramesh Jaura UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Three years since the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the UN, at first glimpse progress seems to have been made in “transforming our world” by implementing “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.” But senior UN officials admit that a […]
The Media Is Misleading On Trump’s Remarks in Helsinki
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed in all my years of journalism such a hysterical outpouring against a presidential statement as I’ve seen in the aftermath of Helsinki summit. President Donald Trump has even been accused of treason by prominent columnists and politicians. There’s barely a voice […]
Trump’s Trade War With China Prompted By Flimsy Reasons
Viewpoint by Yu Yongding* BEIJING (IDN-INPS) – No one wins in a trade war. Yet U.S. President Donald Trump seems determined to pursue one with China, which he accuses of causing the United States’ trade deficit, violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and using unfair practices to acquire foreign technology. While most economists marvel at […]
Education Isn’t the Only Key to Female Employment in Morocco
Viewpoint by Katherine O’Neill* MARRAKECH (IDN) – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has the lowest female employment rate of anywhere in the world. Though most countries in the MENA region, including Libya and Iran, have seen gradually increasing rates of working women, Morocco’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has actually decreased since […]
291 Million Youth Live With No Electricity, No Computers, No Printers – UN Laments
By Shanta Roy NEW YORK (IDN) – When the United Nations commemorated World Youth Skills Day on July 16, there was one strong underlying theme that overshadowed the event. Despite marked progress in the role of youth in a society increasingly characterized by high technology and artificial intelligence, the new generation, particularly in the developing […]
Stories Behind IFAD’s Focus on Africa
By Kwame Buist ROME (IDN) – In its recently released Annual Report 2017, the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries – promises to leverage core resources of 1.2 billion dollars to fund a programme […]
A U.S.-Russia Summit That Left Trump In The Hot Seat
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) – In a historic bilateral summit, the United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. The summit took place notwithstanding myriad objections, conjectures and apprehensions from many U.S. political leaders who oppose rapprochement with Russia over a […]
Humanitarian Hypocrisy Helps the Criminals Behind Migrant Embarkations
Viewpoint by Roberto Massari* This article and the previous one entitled ‘The Trafficking of Human Beings’ by Fred Kuwornu deal with the phenomenon of human trafficking from an Italian point of view – Editor. ROME (IDN) – I start from the premise that I am in favour of the maximum welcoming of migrant flows provided […]