By Ronald Joshua JOHANNESEBURG | MADRID (IDN) – Fewer lives were being lost as a result of natural disasters, because of advanced early warning systems. However, many cash-strapped African countries – including the small island states, bearing the brunt of climate change – are not benefiting from new technologies to develop early warning systems, said […]
African Negotiators Criticize ‘Limited Progress’ at COP25
By Fabíola Ortiz MADRID (IDN) – As the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 moved toward an end, the African Group of Negotiators criticized the “very limited progress” of the climate talks and said “no deal is better than bad deal”. “We are very very very worried about the balance of the outcome. We are concerned […]
Costly Web of Bribes Seen in Trading of Namibian Fish Licenses to Iceland
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The stench of fish rot is wafting over Namibia. It’s taken down two Namibian ministers and leaves an Icelandic fisheries minister in the hot seat. “A coterie of well-heeled vampires is sucking our fishing sector dry!” protested the local Namibian newspaper as news of the […]
Home of Struggle Icon Winnie Mandela Is Now a Museum
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | BLOEMFONTEIN (IDN) – The modest home of the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Brandfort, Free State, where she was forced to live when banished in 1977, has become a museum. The Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Brandfort House Museum in Majwemasweu, Brandfort, is now complete, according to the national Department […]
Grassroots Buddhism Flourishes in the Outskirts of Bangkok
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 37th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles. BANGKOK (IDN) – On a Saturday morning a couple drives into the Santi Asoke community in the north-eastern outskirts of Bangkok, and walks into […]
Western Sahara Rights Activist Awarded Major Peace Prize
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ goes to five human rights activists this year. Among them is Aminatou Haidar of the Western Sahara. Ms. Haidar receives the Right Livelihood Award “for her steadfast nonviolent action, despite imprisonment and torture, in […]
Africa Forum Urges Investors to Support Inclusive Development
By Bernhard Schell CAIRO (IDN) – “I stand here on behalf of the United Nations system and reaffirm our strong commitment to the member states and the people of Africa,” Secretary-General António Guterres told the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU), adding: “I strongly believe Africa is one of the […]
Papal Visit to Japan Revives Debate About Death Penalty
By Katsuhiro Asagiri TOKYO (IDN) – An international conference “No Justice Without Life” has called on Japan to halt all executions next year, the year of the Olympic Games. Japan is one of the 56 nations which retains capital punishment, also known as the death penalty or death sentence for capital crimes. In fact, Japan, […]
Supreme Court Attempts to Destabilize the Pakistan Govt.
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali* FREMONT, California, USA (IDN) – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 28 limited the three years extension in the term of Army Chief of Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa to six month. A three-member court bench led by the Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who retires in less […]
Tropical African Plants Facing Extinction
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – A new study warns that a third of tropical African plants are on the path to extinction, with much of western Africa standing to lose more than 40 percent of plant diversity. Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are […]