InDepthNews, Author at IDN-InDepthNews

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-02-042023-07-12

Narcotics Board Calls for Closing the Global Pain Divide

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – About 92 percent of morphine used worldwide is consumed by only 17 per cent of the world population – predominantly in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

While consumption in those countries has increased significantly since the early 1990s and there is growing concern about prescription drug abuse, more than 75 per cent of the people in several low and middle-income countries have no medical access to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Global Goals2016-02-042023-07-10

Ein machbarer Weg aus chronischer Armut

Von Prof. Kazuo Takahashi *

TOKIO (IDN) – Armutsbekämpfung stand seit den frühen 1970er Jahren auf der Tagesordnung der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit: Robert McNamara erklärte im Jahr 1973, die Mission der Weltbank sei, die Armut bis zum Jahr 2000 zu beseitigen und drei Jahre später hat der Entwicklungshilfeausschuss (DAC), bestehend aus den weltweit wichtigsten Gebern, den Grundbedürfnisse-Ansatz übernommen. Aber die große Herausforderung für die Entwicklungs-Community ist das Finden einer effektiven Methode, um wesentliche Erleichterungen für die Armen und Bedürftigen zu gewährleisten.

Für einige Zeit wurde diese Frage ideologisch betrachtet, als Wahl zwischen Wachstum und Verteilung. Der letzte Versuch zur Schaffung eines politischen Rahmens aus ideologischer Perspektive war die DAC-Erklärung von 1996: Das 21. Jahrhundert gestalten – Der Beitrag der DAC-Geschäftspolitik zur Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation).

Religion2016-02-032023-07-10

Buddhist Revival in China Fuels Animal Welfare Movement

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

This article is the first in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Feature and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

SINGAPORE (IDN | Lotus News Features) – A Buddhist revival in China is fuelling a growing animal welfare movement across the country with the Chinese government poised to revise the decades-old animal welfare act. In January, the National People’s Congress (NPC) started soliciting public comments on four draft laws. One is the revision of the Wildlife Protection Law, which came into effect in 1989.

This law created a system of wild animal breeding permits, issued by what is now called the State Forestry Administration. The belief was that the best way to protect threatened wildlife was by developing a wild animal breeding and training sector. China’s success at breeding captive pandas is the global poster child for the success in this sort of conservation.

DEVNET2016-02-032023-07-10

Geothermal Energy for the Future – “Geo-Max”

This advertorial is part of IDN’s media project jointly with Global Cooperation Council and DEVNET Japan.

TOKYO – The increased occurrence of severe hot weather and record heat waves is creating disastrous situations for many people, but in some areas they do not possess sufficient resources – such as air-conditioning facilities and electricity to run those facilities – for protecting themselves. Solving the lack of access to air-conditioning systems will help thousands of people cope with global warming.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-032023-07-10

Buddhist Revival in China Fuels Animal Welfare Movement

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

This article is the first in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Feature and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

ARTS & CULTURE2016-02-032023-07-10

A Poet Takes Her Verse to the People with Slam

PARIS – To those who like to say that poetry is dead, Elizabeth Acevedo has a ready answer: poetry is by no means dead, it’s just constantly taking on new forms. And slam is one of these transmutations, where poets recite their work on stage, engaging directly with the audience.

“I see hundreds of young people at slam performances,” says Acevedo, a prize-winning writer and performer based in Washington, D.C. “But some people would like to dismiss this as just yelling. That makes me want to rebel.”

Acevedo was a member of the Beltway team that won the 2014 National Poetry Slam in the United States, by delivering impassioned, uncompromising verse. Since then she has been touring colleges, conducting workshops and giving lectures.

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-02-022023-07-12

Brazil has Seen the Future, and it Works

LONDON – “Brazil has a great future, and always will,” said Charles de Gaulle, the president of France in the 1960s. In truth it is not difficult to be cynical about Brazil. It is a large land of both great potential and many lost opportunities – and yet whenever I visit it, as I have regularly over 40 years, I find the positive changes are immense.

Africa2016-02-022023-07-10

Africa’s Nonstop Sun Now Powers a Solar Bus

NEW YORK | KAMPALA – The Ugandan manufacturers of a solar-powered bus are showing off their creation at a stadium in Kampala. A 35-seater, it uses two batteries and the direct rays of an equatorial sun.

Solar panels attached to the roof power the 35-seater. Hopefully, partners will be found to help manufacture the bus for the mass market.

The brainchild of Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) of Uganda, the bus was dubbed ‘Kayoola’ – loosely translated as ‘mass carrier’.

Africa2016-02-022023-07-10

Nigeria’s Woes Begin as Oil Price Plummets

NEW YORK | ABUJA – Tumbling oil prices have been a gift to some but they’ve blown a huge hole in Nigeria’s balance sheet which some fear may set the once promising African economy into a tail spin.

What could be worse than finding you have a trillion dollar budget gap and an insurgent group that threatens to hit whatever oil wells remain?

Nigeria startled the finance markets by announcing plans to ask the World Bank and the African Development Bank for a $3.5 billion loan.

Africa2016-02-022023-07-10

AIDS Quietly Taking its Toll in Kenya

NEW YORK | NAIROBI – Africa appears to be registering lower AIDS infection rates around the continent but with some exceptions. A new pediatric study has found that 19,000 children in Homa Bay county, Kenya, are infected with HIV.

While HIV is rarely a page one story these days, the virus is particularly rampant in Kenya where one in every four people in the county of Homa Bay, bordering Lake Victoria, lives with HIV. The area contributes the highest number of new infections in the country, recording 15,000 new HIV infections in 2013 alone, according to the Kenya HIV Prevention Revolution Road Map 2014.