By Rita Joshi | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
BERLIN | DAVOS (IDN) – Declaring that the empowerment of the world’s women is “a global imperative”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
The establishment of the Panel, backed by the United Kingdom, the World Bank Group and UN Women, was proclaimed in Davos, Switzerland, the venue of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), on January 21.
TEHRAN – “Mistreatment of Afghan businesspeople by Pakistanis has made them complain.” This story has been covered by Afghan media time and time again, but they have no choice. Afghanistan is a landlocked country with no access to free waters and Karachi port in Pakistan is the sole route for Afghans through which they can engage in trade with the rest of the world.
Therefore, Afghan officials have reached the conclusion that in cooperation with India, they must go for Iran’s south-eastern Chabahar port, which can offer a good substitute for Karachi port. This issue was one of the main reasons behind a three-day trip to Iran early January by Afghanistan’s chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah.
By Global Justice Now
LONDON – The Canadian broadcaster CBC reported on January 21 that the “EU quietly asks Canada to rework trade deal’s thorny investment clause.” The CBC report speculates that the free trade deal “risks a humiliating defeat on a ratification vote expected at the EU’s parliament in Brussels this fall, unless a compromise can be reached to appease moderate opponents.”
By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
ZURICH (IDN) – A new report has expressed grave concern about the huge amount of money and influence the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) wields, accused it of “dangerously skewing” development agenda, and called for the foundation to be the subject of an independent international review and evaluation.
DAVOS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on January 20 an important agreement which is the next step towards unlocking opportunities for smallholder farmers in the developing world.
By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is organising a symposium on the role of science and diplomacy for peace and security as the first in a series of events this year to push for entry into force of a law prohibiting atomic explosions by everyone and everywhere.
BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is organising a symposium on the role of science and diplomacy for peace and security as the first in a series of events this year to push for entry into force of a law prohibiting atomic explosions by everyone and everywhere.
The ‘Science & Diplomacy for Peace & Security’ conference is being convened from January 25 to February 4 at the Vienna International Centre, the UN headquarters in the Austrian capital, in a year that marks the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – For over 70 years since the disastrous bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, peace activists have continued their relentless global campaign for a world without nuclear weapons.
The United Nations, which has remained engaged in a longstanding debate, continues to adopt scores of resolutions every year on nuclear disarmament.
And in December, not surprisingly, the 193-member General Assembly wrapped up its 2015 sessions adopting 57 draft resolutions on arms control and disarmament – 23 of which were on nuclear weapons.
NEW YORK | MAPUTO – At the Centro Cultural Americano in the Mozambican capital of Maputo, there is a trove of books in the Martin Luther King library that tell the American story with some offerings touting a mythological tolerance, belied however by the fierce struggles in the U.S. over race, religion and immigration.
Materials provided by the U.S. Embassy to the Centro Cultural include an article titled ‘Unity Through Diversity: The American Identity’. In it, DC-based author Samier Mansur writes: “American’s capital pays homage to the intellectual achievements of Muslims… The U.S. is not only a nation born of diversity, but one that thrives because of diversity. And this is not by accident, but by design.”
NEW YORK – Ghana’s abundant resource in gold produced $23 billion in earnings from 2013 to 2016 but only $1.7 billion for the country’s coffers, according to a newly-released report by the African Centre for Energy Policy in Ghana
Titled ‘Golden Days for Newmont’, the report said the U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corporation paid less than $500 million (US) in taxes to the government of Ghana from 2003 to 2012.
The yawning gap between export earnings and royalties to the government was documented as far back as 2008. Gold accounted for 40% of exports in that year, with a value of $2.2 billion, whereas government received only $116 million in taxes and royalties from mining firms, which is less than 4% of the country’s total tax take, according to The Economist news magazine.
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