By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — “Please know this: as you dive into the water, as you prepare to throw, as you step into the arena, know that you are not alone.” With those words of encouragement, over 180 athletes from the African continent were entered in this year’s 2020 Olympic […]
From War Hero to Sports Hero — Inspirational Story of Sri Lanka’s Paralympics Gold Medallist
By Mohan Srilal COLOMBO (IDN) — Sri Lanka’s latest sporting hero Dinesh Priyantha Herath is expected to touch down in Sri Lanka to a red-carpet airport welcome on Tuesday. The life story of the F46 Javelin Throw gold medalist at the Tokyo Paralympics is an inspirational one of how to overcome disabilities both economic and […]
US Investors to Explore Opportunities in AfCFTA
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) — United States investors are looking forward to exploring several opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a policy signed by African countries to make the continent a single market. Speaking at the 13th US-Africa Business Summit from July 27 to July 29, organised by the Corporate […]
Filipino Medal Winners at Tokyo Olympics Show Sports Could Empower The “Economically Disabled”
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — As the Paralympics begin in Tokyo—a celebration of the athletics prowess of the “differently-abled”—it will be appropriate to look at how the Tokyo Olympic Games that concluded on August 8 empowered the “economically disabled” athletes from the Philippines—a Southeast Asian country not well-known for its sporting prowess except for […]
Australian Farmers Cry Out for Foreign Labour as Locals Shun “Slave Wages”
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Australia’s farming sector has been badly hit by the closing of the borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic and with the harvesting season on the horizon there is an estimated shortage of 25,000 fruit pickers and harvesting machinery operators across Australia. While the farmers are asking the government to […]
The Future of Iran Nuclear Deal Remains Uncertain
By Kelsey Davenport, Julia Masterson, and Sang-Min Kim While Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, Julia Masterson is research associate, and Sang-Min Kim is Scoville Fellow at the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared in Arms Control Now of the Association on August 11, 2021. WAHINGTON, DC (IDN) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi […]
Pacific ‘Voice of The Voiceless’ Media in Renewed Post-Covid Struggle
By David Robie The writer, Dr David Robie, is editor of Asia Pacific Report, founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review and former director of the Pacific Media Centre. AUCKLAND (IDN) — Pacific journalism educators are worried that the global covid pandemic has threatened media development programmes in a vast region of island microstates at a […]
Rwanda Using Surveillance Spyware Against Activists, Journalists, Politicians
By Lisa Vives NEW YORK (IDN) — A coalition of news outlets says it has unearthed evidence that Rwandan authorities are among the governments using a powerful surveillance tool to spy on thousands of activists, journalists and politicians through their cellphones. The spyware, developed by Israeli hackers for a company called the NSO Group, has […]
For Sesenieli Donu, The Fijiana Sevens Rugby Triumph in Tokyo Thrills Home Village
By Josefa Babitu* SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — It might have been just a bronze medal to some people but for the Fijiana team—especially Sesenieli Donu—it was the fruit of sacrifice and a token of appreciation for her village of Vatukarasa in Nadroga. After an intense competition for the bronze medal with Great Britain at the […]
Long-time Foes Gbagbo and Ouattara Bury the Past and Embrace
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — With warm words of welcome, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara hugged his former arch enemy and rival Laurent Gbagbo, 10 years after the two were locked in ethnically-fuelled combat over a disputed election. Former president Gbagbo has now returned to the land of his birth […]