By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 7 May 2023 (IDN) — The 69-year-old General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who has been Prime Minister of Thailand since his coup in 2014, is again a candidate in the elections on 14 May 2023. He refuses to participate in debates but fully indulges during the Songkran New Year festivities. It had been […]
Africa Pays High Interest Rates for Private and Chinese Loans
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN, 4 May 2023 (IDN) — African countries pay much higher interest rates to foreign bondholders and Chinese lenders than to international financial institutions such as the World Bank, says Germany’s eminent Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Besides, the hiatus in borrowing conditions has grown over the past ten years, suggesting […]
Zimbabwe Government is Muzzling Politically Conscious Artists
By Farai Shawn Matiashe HARARE, 3 May 2023 (IDN) — As a crucial election approaches, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime is in overdrive cracking down on politically conscious musicians who encourage people to register to vote and sing against corruption. The southern African nation is set to hold its general elections in August this year.
The War in Sudan Is Coming After Your Coca Cola
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 2 May 2023 (IDN) — Despite wall-to-wall coverage on our news shows and radio broadcasts, wars being fought today around the world seem so distant, so remote. Soundlessly, they rage on, and peace seems far from near. Could anything bring the war to our door? The answer, […]
Will Sub-Saharan Africa Ultimately Surpass India & China in Population Growth?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS 29 April 2023 (IDN) — India and China, the world’s two most populous nations with over 1.4 billion people each, are expected to be outranked by sub-Saharan Africa in the 2030s. A new analysis by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) released last week indicates that while India’s population will […]
Namibia’s Petroleum Bosses Rake in Cash
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 24 April 2023 (IDN) — If you’re going to bulldoze someone’s land, pollute water sources and drill for oil, get permission. That’s what Gobonamang Kgetho, a local fisherman, is holding against a Canadian oil and gas firm exploring in the oil-rich Kavango Basin of Namibia, driving through […]
Nigerian College Code Bans Extended Eyelashes and Long Nails
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 23 April 2023 (IDN) — “Indecent dressing” is hereby banned for students and staff under a strict new code at the prestigious Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu State, Nigeria, among other schools,. The Vice Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Christian Anieke, announced the details to students returning from holiday breaks. […]
Hunger and Poverty Grip Zimbabwe As It Commemorates Independence
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 23 April 2023 (IDN) — “On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I congratulate the Zimbabwean people as you celebrate the 43rd anniversary of your independence,” said US Ambassador Pamela M. Tremont to the landlocked southern African country. “The United States remains committed […]
Amnesty Warns of Catastrophe As Weapons Flood Sudan
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 21 April 2023 (IDN) — Meddling by foreign powers is said to have kept an intractable fire burning for years between an Arab-led government in Khartoum and an independent Republic of Sudan in the South. But it is inarguable that arms sales from Western countries have kept […]
South Pacific: Climate Change Havoc Worries New Zealanders
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji, 12 April 2023 (IDN) — It is not only the poor island countries of the South Pacific that worry about the future in the midst of climate change. New Zealand—a comparatively rich country—is worried too after devastating floods and cyclonic storms brought destruction to the islands this year.