By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 20 July 2024 (IDN) — With the best of intentions, President Biden allowed his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security to not only prolong the tragically horrific war in Gaza and severely taint America’s international moral standing, but also potentially miss a historic opportunity to help bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict […]
Equality Now Hails the Gambia for Protecting Rights of Women
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | 19 July 2024 (IDN) — Absa Samba, a prominent Gambian activist, exhaled a sigh of relief when the Gambian lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected a controversial bill that would have lifted a ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a barbaric practice that had inflicted indelible psychological scars on her […]
South Korea, Under Nuclear Threat from the North, Reiterates its Commitment to NPT
By Tariq Rauf* VIENNA, Austria | 19 July 2024 (IDN) — Nuclear weapons were first introduced in the Korean Peninsula by the United States. Starting in January 1958, the US deployed 11 types of nuclear weapons in South Korea over the years until 1991 when they were withdrawn under the US/USSR Presidential Nuclear Initiatives. At one […]
A New Battle Front in Gaza: Israel vs UNRWA
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 18 July 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is the only agency of the world body which focuses solely on humanitarian assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees—and more so, during the current military conflict between Israel and Hamas. But as the […]
Paul Kagame of Rwanda Returned to Power for a Fourth Term
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 16 July 2024 (IDN) — A battery of threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution on trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances were deployed by the Rwandese President Paul Kagame in the recent presidential election that offered no surprises. In the ballots counted so far, Kagame and his ruling […]
The Gambia Decides to Uphold Ban on FGM — UN Agencies Commend
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 15 July 2024 (IDN) — The vote by the National Assembly of The Gambia to uphold the ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), reaffirming its commitments to human rights, gender equality, and protecting the health and well-being of girls and women, has been commended by UN agencies. FGM involves […]
Wole Soyinka Marks His 90th Armed with Convictions
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 16 July 2024 (IDN) — Poet, playwright, essayist, memoirist, activist and novelist, Nigerian Wole Soyinka is known not only for his many books and book prizes, time spent in jail, and knowledge of African history, but for the wisdom he crafted in a simple phrase: “Wake […]
Laos Could Become the New Southeast Asian Tourist Heaven
By Kalinga Seneviratne VIENTIANE, Laos | 15 July 2024 (IDN) — Laos, the land-locked country of 7.5 million people, with scenic mountainous terrain, traversed by the Mekong River that flows through both Vientiane and the UNESCO World Heritage Buddhist city of Luang Prabang, and home to many remote hill tribes is now in the crest […]
China-Built Laos Railway Could Be a Game Changer for Asian Connectivity
By Kalinga Seneviratne VIENTIANE, Laos | 14 July 2024 (IDN) — A direct train service between the Thai capital Bangkok and Laotian capital Vientiane will begin on July 19 according to Thai Railway sources, that could herald a game changer for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) connectivity, making the dream of a pan-Asian […]
Discredited ‘Ostpolitik’ of Willy Brandt Remains Pertinent
By Hans Kundnani* LONDON | 13 July 2024 (IDN) — The conventional wisdom in Germany is that Ostpolitik—which is usually taken to mean a policy based on the idea of peaceful co-existence with Russia going back to the approach taken by Willy Brandt as chancellor—is now completely discredited. Even those who admit that it was […]