By Niba Mirza* HYDERABAD (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has completely upended and transformed the world we live in. It has caused many disruptions and posed serious threats to lives and livelihoods universally. Organizations and societies have responded and coped with the pandemic differently and innovated at various levels to deal with COVID-19. These innovations […]
Asian Sports Should Be Better Represented in Olympics
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Japan was the first Asian country to host a summer Olympic Games in 1964 and this year became the only Asian country to host it twice. The Olympics that concluded on August 8, included very few sports that could be called Asian, and the question begs whether Japan had […]
Ugandan Blogger Seized in Turkey as Censorship Tightens on Social Media Activists
By Lisa Vives NEW YORK (IDN) — Fred Kajjube, aka Lumbuye, a controversial blogger, social media activist and critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has been arrested in Turkey and extradited to Uganda where he was picked up by police at the airport. His whereabouts currently are unknown, according to several news reports, Human rights […]
Vaccine Saved My Life, Says Head of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
By Lisa Vives NEW YORK (IDN) — One thing the head of the agency leading Africa’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is sure of. He owes his life to the vaccine that beat the virus. “I want to be very clear that without [the vaccine] I wouldn’t be here,” said Dr. John Nkengasong at a […]
Affordable Clean Cooking Technology Important To Achieving Sustainable Energy Access
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — In the Asia-Pacific region which is home to about 60 percent of the global population, some 1.6 billion people primarily rely on open fires or simple stoves fueled by kerosene, coal, or biomass such as wood, dung and agricultural residues for their daily cooking needs, that impacts on climatic […]
The Climate Crisis: Where our Capacity for Cognition, Collaboration, Creativity and Chronology Collide
Viewpoint by Bill Dahl* This is the fourth in a series of four articles. Click here for the third in the series. QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) — In my last piece, we touched on the third critical challenge regarding the climate crisis; creativity. In the first piece in this series we addressed the first challenge; cognition. […]
Russia Decides to Join UNESCO-Led Program for Free and Pluralistic Media in Developing Countries
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it would allocate US$1 million to an international program that promotes free media in developing countries over the next five years. The funds will go toward UNESCO’s International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC) at US$250,000 per year […]
Documentaries for Development — ESIC Medical College Hyderabad signs MOU with ALCAP
By Niba Mirza* HYDERABAD (IDN) — In the times of COVID-19, the Audiovisual Regional Hub of the Asociación Latinoamericana de Comunicación Audiovisual Parlamentaria, ALCAP, or the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audio-Visual Communication, signed a MOU with the ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad for joint-movie/documentary productions concerned with the pandemic and other global public health issues […]
Energy Will Play a Critical Role in The Success of Africa’s Free Trade Area
Africa Renewal’s Managing Editor Kingsley Ighobor talks to Damilola Ogunbiyi NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) — Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. On the sidelines of the UN High-Level Political Forum from July 6 to 15 […]
A Widespread Famine Accelerated by Floods, Droughts — and Guns
By Thalif Deen* NEW YORK (IDN) — A recent joint press release by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had an arresting headline: Famine Relief Blocked by Bullets, Red Tape and Lack of Funding. But not necessarily in that order.