By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Flags are flying at half-mast in Tanzania over the passing of President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, the country’s populist leader who passed away in the port city of Dar es Salaam on March 17 following his hospitalization for heart complications. The President was 61 years […]
A National Security Adviser Lost in Translation in Nigeria
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — Last week, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mohammed Babagana Monguno, stripped the government bare in public only to try hiding the ugly sight with fig leaves shortly after. The pathetic damage control didn’t work. Monguno, […]
Buddhists Map A New Paradigm for Dev. Communication
By Krishan Dutta BANGKOK (IDN) — A group of Buddhist economists and communication scholars from Asia are embarking on a mission to redefine the development communication paradigm using concepts from the Buddhist philosophy. A webinar held earlier this month organized by Lotus Communication Network (LCN) in association with the Institute of Asian Studies (IAS) at […]
UN Acclaims VODAN’s Contribution to Fight COVID-19 in Africa
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) — The United Nations has commended VODAN-AFRICA for their innovative approach to “data sharing and re-use under the present COVID-19 circumstances”. The Virus Outbreak Data Network is a system of sharing data on Coronavirus that ensures that the information remains in the country that generated it, rather than being exported […]
Keeping an Eye on The Situation in Tigray War
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) — The midnight of November 3-4, 2020 witnessed the unleashing of the armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. For nearly a fortnight there was a communication blackout until on November 17 the Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) launched a daily situation report. […]
Attempts for Political Change in Senegal and in the Republic of Congo — Army Barracks Blast in Oil-Rich Equatorial Guinea
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Calm has abandoned Senegal, a country in West Africa. The young people are rising up against the “wealth hoarding” political class. In Central Africa, the Republic of Congo, the opposition is seething as the 77-year-old President seeks another term. In another Central African country, Equatorial […]
Brutal Gender-Based Violence in Tigray — A Personal Account
By EEPA BRUSSELS (IDN) — “A woman in her 40s was found dead on the road to her home. She was found with her hands tied, injured to her head and sexually assaulted. This was in Mekelle. I know her son.” This is what one of our reporters (A.G.), who herself is a young woman, […]
China Sets Over 6% GDP Target & 11 Million Urban Jobs in 2021
By Press Trust of India (PTI) BEIJING (IDN) — China, which was the first to be hit by COVID-19 and the earliest to recover from the lockdown effects, has fixed a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) target of over 6% in 2021, optimistic of an economic recovery after last year’s 2.3% growth, its weakest in decades. […]
Humanitarian Situation Getting from Bad to Worse in the Horn
By S. Gianesello BRUSSELS (IDN | EEPA) — As the UN Security Council prepared to meet on March 4 to talk over the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the situation in the Horn of Africa was getting from bad to worse with reports of ethnic targeting and cleansing. The meeting was requested […]
Buddhism Under Threat in Asia, Warns New Report
By Krishan Dutta BANGKOK (IDN) — A new report released by the Sydney-based Lotus Communication Network (LCN) on February 26 warns that Buddhism is under threat across Asia, both from within and outside, and calls for concerted action by Buddhists across the region to empower themselves. The 238-page report produced as an eBook identifies six […]