By Jayantha Dhanapala This article was first carried by The Island, a Sri Lankan newspaper, on 21 April 2018. KANDY (IDN-INPS) – On a hot Saturday afternoon, I sat in the Father Mervyn Fernando Auditorium at the Subodhi Institute, Piliyandala to observe the concluding session of the Sri Lanka Unites Leadership Development Program “Let Them […]
Africa Grapples With Financing Climate Change Programmes
By Justus Wanzala NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – African countries are faced with the huge challenge of funding climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes to ensure sustainable development. Hard hit by the impacts of climate change manifested in persistent droughts, floods, storms, rising sea levels and other forms of disasters, they are linking actions on tackling climate […]
Modi Government’s Plan to Interlink Rivers Splits the Nation
By Sudha Ramachandran BANGALORE (IDN) – As another scorching summer grips India and rivers begin running dry, the government’s Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) program to solve the country’s water problems is being heatedly discussed. Drawing attention to the water shortage and unequal distribution of water in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strong champion […]
Japan Funds UNIDO Project to Boost Employment in Lebanon
By Reinhardt Jacobsen VIENNA | BEIRUT (IDN) – The Government of Japan has announced that it will fund a project to create jobs in the carpentry and construction sectors in northern Lebanon. This is one of eight new projects implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, […]
Press Freedom Becoming Increasingly Vulnerable in Liberia
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | MONROVIA (IDN) – Liberia’s new government under President George Weah is not having a honeymoon with the media though he has endeavoured to reassure journalists that they would have a “200 percent freedom of expression and press freedom under my government”. The one-time soccer star, who […]
Experts Slam Syria, Slate Trump and Favour a UN Mechanism
By J C Suresh WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – The Trump administration’s latest missile strikes in response to Syrian chemical weapons use is not embedded within a broader U.S. strategy to deter further chemical weapons use, protect Syrian civilians caught in the horrible Syrian civil war, and bring a political resolution to the seven-year misery of […]
Ganga Initiative Brings Culture Into New Asian Trade Routes
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 23rd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. BANGKOK (IDN) – A recent conference at Thammasat University in Bangkok brought together Indian and Southeast Asian scholars to discuss re-building cultural links along two major rivers in Asia – the Ganges […]
A Journalist Joins the Presidential Race in Nigeria
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | LAGOS (IDN) – Next year’s race for the presidency in Nigeria just got a lot more interesting as a crusading journalist – an upstart known for exposing the millions and billions stolen by a national “loot-ocracy” – announced his candidacy for the nation’s top job. As […]
Embattled Netanyahu Aids Trafficking Refugee Route to Slavery in Libya
By Mirjam van Reisen and Gilad Liberman BRUSSELS (IDN) – The previous two days have been rather turbulent in Israel’s policy towards African refugees seeking asylum. On April 2, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a halt to deportations to Rwanda, believed to be the “third-country” he had mentioned for the first time, while announcing […]
Pain And Shock At Passing Of Winnie Madikizela Mandela
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Tributes to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela Mandela have been filling the South African radio air waves as news of her untimely passing on April 2 reached the far corners of the nation and the continent. Heart-rending classics from the American songbook – from The Song […]