GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 161 – IDN-InDepthNews

ARMAMENTS2016-03-022023-07-10

The Beginning of the End for Nuclear Weapons?

By Daisaku Ikeda * | IDN-INPS Viewpoint

TOKYO (IDN | INPS) – Last year’s NPT Review Conference closed without bridging the chasm between the nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states. It was deeply regrettable that no consensus was reached at this significant juncture marking the seventieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hope still remains, however, thanks to a number of important developments. These include: the growing number of countries endorsing the Humanitarian Pledge, a commitment to work together for the resolution of the nuclear arms issue; the adoption in December 2015 by the UN General Assembly of several ambitious resolutions calling for a breakthrough; and rising calls from civil society for the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons. READ in JAPANESE

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-012023-07-10

Educate UK Public on the History and Ideals of Europe

By Jonathan Power | IDN-INPS Viewpoint

LONDON (IDN | INPS) – The British have a problem. A referendum on continuing membership of the European Union scheduled for June may lead to Brexit- Britain heading for the exit. Anybody with any knowledge of Europe’s war-like history knows this would be totally self-defeating.

Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as “a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They all have the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of public law and politics unknown in other parts of the world.” But they also had a lot of war.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-012023-07-10

The Fates of Vultures and Elephants Go Hand in Hand

Dr Bradnee Chambers* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BONN (IDN) – World Wildlife Day, being celebrated on March 3 for the third time – this year under the slogan ‘The Future of Wildlife is in our hands’ – is focusing on the plight of African and Asian elephants, which are being slaughtered in their thousands for their tusks to supply the ivory trade. But other species, such as vultures, are also in serious decline because of human actions.

Organized crime rings are often the masterminds behind the illegal trade in ivory. That elephants might go extinct does not cause them any pangs of conscience. And woe betide anyone who stands in their way; the poachers are often better equipped than the park wardens opposing them.

USA and Canada2016-02-292023-07-10

Police Shooting of Kenyan Teen in Salt Lake City Triggers Protests

SALT LAKE CITY (INPS | GIN) – A near-fatal encounter between a Kenyan-born youth and police in Salt Lake City, Utah, prompted an angry reaction from bystanders who challenged the official version of the incident given by police.

Seventeen-year-old Abdi Mohammed reportedly was in an altercation with other youths on Saturday night, February 27, and had picked up a broomstick as police arrived. In seconds, according to witnesses, police started firing shots at the teen without giving him a chance to surrender.

ARMAMENTS2016-02-282023-07-10

Despite Hurdles Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Not a Lost Cause

By Jamshed Baruah | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

GENEVA (IDN) – The stalemate on nuclear weapons disarmament needs to be resolved amid increasing concern about the “prodigious” number of warheads still in circulation, said former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressing a Working Group at the UN in Geneva.

But the first session of the Open Ended Working Group on Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations (OEWG) did not come close to breaking the stalemate. The nuclear armed states did not participate in the deliberations February 22-26, though several countries relying on nuclear weapons joined. These included many NATO countries as well as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-282023-07-10

New Tools to Assess Implementation of Global Development Goals

By Jaya bin Izzati | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – The United Nations and policymakers around the world now have new scientific tools to measure progress towards meeting commitments under the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity of the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, endorsed by 193 UN member nations in September 2015.

The 124-nation Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) adopted at the close of a week-long meeting on February 28, the report, titled The Methodological Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES was established in April 2012.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-232023-07-10

Ukraine’s Future Between Grim and Grimmer

By Jonathan Power | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

LONDON (IDN) – It’s two years since a mass of demonstrators brought down the centrist government of President Viktor Yanukovych.

We don’t hear much about Ukraine these days, mainly because the foreign journalists, not having too much to do – and often being freelance and therefore only paid by the number of lines they get printed – have gone home or to other hot spots.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-232023-07-10

Scientists Warn of the Perils of Sea-level Rise

By Rita Joshi | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN (IDN) – During the past millennia sea level has never risen nearly as fast as during the last century, says a new study. It warns that even if ambitious climate policy follows the 2015 Paris Agreement, sea levels would rise by 20 to 60 centimetres by 2100 and stresses the importance of coastal protection.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has in fact come to the conclusion that sea levels worldwide might rise by 50 to 130 centimetres by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced rapidly. For the first time it combines the two most important estimation methods for future sea level rise and yields a more robust risk range.

ARMAMENTS2016-02-212023-07-10

Kazakhstan Determined to Achieve a Nuclear-Weapons Free World

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | ASTANA (IDN) – Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov has urged the civil society, social movements and the public at large to support governments in achieving a nuclear-weapons-free world by 2045, when the United Nations will turn 100, and to help in the establishment of a Global Anti-Nuclear Movement,

These goals were part of key international initiatives President Nursultan Nazarbayev tabled during the General Assembly session in September 2015. He also called for creating a single global anti-terrorist network, allocating 1 percent of countries’ defence budgets to sustainable development, organizing a high-level international conference on reaffirming the principles of international law and coordinating international efforts under the UN on promoting green technologies.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-202023-07-10

Sri Lanka Buddhists Divided over Bill To Control Monks

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

This article is the second 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 bill tabled in the Sri Lankan parliament in January to create a legal framework to control the behavior and conduct of Buddhist monks has created deep divisions within the majority Buddhist community in the country.

Known as the ‘Theravadi Bhikku Kathikawath (Registration) Bill’, the draft legislation to control the behavior of some wayward monks who have tarnished the image of Buddhism in the country in recent years has been discussed in political and legal circles for sometime. And it has elicited wide support in the Buddhist community.