By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — In one of the deadliest explosions in years, fire and blast shook south-eastern Nigeria, Imo state, possibly the result of illegal oil refining of stolen crude or “kpofire”. News reports described charred bodies left scattered among burnt palms, cars and vans after the weekend explosion […]
Former Kenyan President Kibaki Leaves Mixed Legacy
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Kenya’s former president Mwai Kibaki leaves a mixed legacy of economic reforms and a new constitution alongside a controversial election which led to deadly violence and entrenched corruption. His death at 90 years of age was announced by his successor, President Uhuru Kenyatta. A British-educated […]
A Staged Default: Sri Lanka’s Sovereign Bond Debt Trap and IMF’s Spring Meetings Amid Hybrid Cold War – Part 1
This is the first in a series of three articles. Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake * Debt cancellation, not asset stripping is the need of the hour! COLOMBO (IDN) — In Cherry Blossom lined Washington DC in the glare of global media April 18-23 Sri Lanka became the poster child of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF), […]
African Woman Writer Scoops Major Fellowship Prize
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Fellowships to 180 exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form were announced on April 7 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Chosen from a rigorous application and peer review process out of almost 2500 […]
Safeguarding The Blue Pacific from Any Further Nuclear Contamination
By Neena Bhandari SYDNEY (IDN) — The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the region’s leading political and economic policy organisation, has appointed a panel of global experts on nuclear issues to provide independent scientific and technical advice to Pacific nations in their discussions with Japan over its intentions to discharge treated nuclear wastewater from the Daiichi […]
Pakistan’s Political Change ‘Won’t Affect Solid Friendship with China’
Close ties with China ‘a consensus shared by all groups in Pakistan’ This article was issued by Global Times. Viewpoint by Yang Sheng and Liu Caiyu BEIJING (IDN) — Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from office in a no-confidence vote in the country’s parliament on Sunday (April 10), but such a major political […]
Kenyan President’s Bid to Rewrite Nation’s Laws Rebuffed
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — While political leaders around the world jockey for comebacks, to extend their terms in office or merely to ignore a no-confidence vote, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was scheming to make sweeping changes to the constitution which, critics say, would have expanded his powers and create […]
Israel Reaches Out to China, Again
This article was issued by the Indian Punchline. Viewpoint by M. K. Bhadrakumar* NEW DELHI (IDN) — The phone call to the Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on April 6 by Israel’s alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid adds to the tectonic shifts in the geopolitics of the Middle East […]
Statue For Ghanaian Cancer Scientist Is Erected in U.S.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Danielle Twum, a cancer immunologist from Ghana, West Africa, has been honoured in the United States with a life-size statue for her research contributions. Twum was one of over a hundred women honoured by the Smithsonian during Women’s History Month. The Smithsonian’s “#IfThenSheCan—The Exhibit,” features […]
IMF Returns to Mozambique After Six Years
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW | MAPUTO (IDN) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) returns with a set of new funded programmes to Mozambique, six years after the lender halted its previous deals in the wake of a financial scandal involving three fraudulent security-linked companies, and two banks—Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia, on the […]