By Kalinga Seneviratne COLOMBO (IDN) – For the past two months Sri Lanka’s deeply divided political community has been fighting to protect democracy in one of the oldest democracies in Asia. One side wants a general election to elect a new parliament claiming the current one is corrupt and wants to divide the country. The […]
UN Intervention In The Congo Appears To Be Successful
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so […]
Swahili Speakers Stunned As Disney Claims Trademark For ‘Hakuna Matata’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The once common phrase “Hakuna Matata” (No Problem!) is now off limits for African speakers of Swahili. Any commercial use of the two word expression is reserved for its new owner – the American company that produced Lion King. That’s right: Walt Disney! The California-based […]
Emeralds, Rubies Score Big Profits For Foreign Firms As African Countries Go Broke
The information presented here has been superseded and the corrected article can be found here https://indepthnews.colo.ba.be/index.php/the-world/africa/2476-emeralds-rubies-could-make-zambia-rich By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign mining companies extract more than a quarter of the world’s production of rare emeralds in Zambia yet declare losses to make themselves tax exempt. So far, charges of […]
Sudan Leader Faces Calls For Removal As Price Of Bread Spikes
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | KHARTOUM (IDN) – In the face of a growing movement of Sudanese opposition, protesting rising costs of bread and other essentials, security forces of the government of President Omar al-Bashir moved forcefully on December 25 to end the demonstrations using tear gas, night sticks and live […]
Africa Poverty Clock Launched on UNECA’s 60th Anniversary
By Devendra Kamarajan ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at its 60th anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa has launched the Africa Poverty Clock, a customized version of the world poverty clock developed by World Data Lab, aimed at monitoring progress against extreme poverty, an aspiration of the United Nations’ […]
Providing New Bamboo Shelters in Bangladesh Refugee Camps
By UN Migration COX’S BAZAR (IDN-INPS) – Work has begun on one of the largest bamboo treatment plants ever installed in an emergency response, as IOM experts tackle a tiny insect that is devastating structures in the world’s biggest refugee settlement. An infestation of “boring beetles” means the bamboo in almost every shelter in the […]
Migration Is a Great Opportunity to Africa and Host Countries
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – Contrary to the widespread view coloured by the too-common images of young African migrants crossing the Mediterranean, migration in Africa is dominated by Africans moving within Africa, says Ashraf El Nour, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN in New York. They […]
Who’s Deceiving Whom? Open Source North Korea Under The Microscope
NYT Coverage of Think-Tank Report Risks Credibility of Open-Source Research on North Korea Viewpoint by Joshua H. Pollack The writer is a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and editor of the Nonproliferation Review. This article first appeared on NKNews.Org on December 11, 2018. NEW YORK | MONTEREY (IDN-INPS) […]
New Report Warns of the Perils of Scientific Collaborations with North Korea
Partner Countries Include China, USA, Australia and Germany By Ramesh Jaura NEW YORK (IDN) – Direct collaboration between North Korean and foreign scientists including those from China, Australia, the United States, Germany, and Romania, is playing “an expanding role” in the regime’s pursuit of technological advancement, a new study has found. Published on December 19, […]