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Photo: Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, right, and China's President Xi Jinping in Port Moresby on November 16.

China Chides U.S. for Portraying Silk Road as 'Trap'

By Devinder Kumar

PORT MORESBY (IDN) – China’s President Xi Jinping has rejected U.S. criticism of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, vowing it is not "a trap" and that it is not designed to serve any hidden geopolitical agenda. The project is also known as Silk Road Economic Belt.

Xi was addressing a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the capital of PNG and referring to a massive infrastructure and development project spanning Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Africa, according to Iran's Press TV.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 November 2018

Photo: The new Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor, built by a Franco-German consortium, on Olkiluoto Island in southwestern Finland. It is expected to provide 10 per cent of Finland’s electricity when it becomes operational, probably in late 2018. Credit: S. Slavchev/IAEA

Finland Eyes Nuclear Power to Hit Climate Targets

By Jeffrey Donovan

The author is Press and Public Information Officer of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), based in Vienna. This article first appeared on the IAEA website on November 16, 2018.

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) – Along the pine-lined shores of Finland’s bucolic western coast, a clean energy vision of the Nordic country’s future is quietly taking shape. On the tiny island of Olkiluoto, workers are applying the finishing touches to a new Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor (EPR) set to supply 10% of Finland’s electricity needs. Like all nuclear power reactors, the massive 1600 MW unit will emit virtually no greenhouse gases (GHG) even as it churns out a steady stream of baseload electricity capable of providing power to millions of homes.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 17 November 2018

Photo: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution on Iran Nuclear Deal (Resolution 2231), taken on 20 July 2015. UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

A Punitive Approach to Iran's Missile Activities Will Not Fix the Problem

Europe Should Promote a Regional Security Mechanism in the Middle East

Viewpoint by Dr Tytti Erästö *

European powers deserve credit for their efforts to maintain the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but their current coercive approach to Iran's missiles is counterproductive, writes Dr Tytti Erästö, a researcher in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme, in a topical backgrounder published on 15 November, 2018 on SIPRI's website. Following are extensive excerpts from the original article which wa: https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2018/dissecting-international-concerns-about-irans-missiles - The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 16 November 2018

ASEAN Refrains from Taking Sides as Trade Dominates Summit

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Addressing a media conference at the close of the three-day 33rd ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit on November 15, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed fears that “circumstances may come” where the regional organization would have to “choose one over the other”.

Though not naming them, he was referring to China and the United States (U.S.) two major trading partners of ASEAN that are currently having a fierce trade war that is impacting on the region.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 16 November 2018

Image credit: UN Convention on Biological Diversity

Conserving Biodiversity is Key to Mitigating Climate Change

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – An area almost the size of Australia – up to 724 million hectares in all – will be required by 2050 for cultivating bioenergy, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Climate Change (IPCC) on limiting climate warming to 1.5C.

Models foresee that demand for bioenergy to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels could cause a 10- to 30-fold increase in green energy-related land use in years to come, adding crushing pressure on habitat for plants and animals and undermining the essential diversity of species on Earth.

: J C Suresh; UN INSIDER; 15 November 2018

Slum Dwellers in 79 ACP Countries Draw the Focus

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Transforming ACP cities, leaving no one behind engaging in large scale investments in slums is the central theme of the three-day 3rd ACP-EC-UN-Habitat International Tripartite Conference in Brussels, headquarters of the European Union and the capital of Belgium.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organisation composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states: 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific. All of them, save Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement, also known as the "ACP-EC Partnership Agreement" which binds them to the European Union.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 15 November 2018

Photo: Zahir Tanin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), briefs the Security Council. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Reconciliation Continues to Evade Serbia-Kosovo Relations

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – One hundred years after the end of the First World War, which was triggered by a crisis in the Balkans, peace in the region is nowhere within reach yet. This has been highlighted by a senior United Nations official in his regular briefing to the UN Security Council on November 14.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Zahir Tanin, told the Security Council that President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia and President Hashim Thaçi of Kosovo have confirmed their "mutual intention" to continue working towards a negotiated settlement but the situation on the ground remains marred by "frequent adversarial actions," with real consequences for people on the ground.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 15 November 2018

Photo: Working from dusk until dawn, fishermen from around the town of Aral in Kazakhstan haul in a catch from the North Aral Sea, where the water level has risen and salinity has decreased – in stark contrast to the larger South Aral Sea, which has gone nearly dry. Credit: Aramco World

Aral Sea Promises to Rise Like Phoenix from the 'Ashes'

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) - The zone of destruction created as a consequence of what has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters" has long crossed the frontiers of Central Asia, demanding urgent measures from the international community.

Every year more than 150 million tons of toxic dust from the bottom of the dried up Aral Sea are carried long distances by the wind to the people in Asia, Europe and even the thinly populated Arctic.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; CENTRAL ASIA; 14 November 2018

Photo: Cheetah © Jim Zuckerman; African Wild Dog © John Birch; Leopard and Lion © Jacques-Andre Dupont. Source: CMS

African States Commit to Conserve Largest Carnivores

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – More than 30 countries hosting African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion have agreed on establishing a work programme to guide their conservation actions over the next coming years. The move known as the African Carnivore Initiative, emerged from a meeting from November 5 to 8, 2018 in Bonn, the capital of former West Germany.

The initiative constitutes the first Africa-wide commitment towards saving African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion, says a media release by the Bonn-based Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as CMS or the “Bonn Convention”).

: Rita Joshi; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 November 2018

Photo: Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury (third from left), former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations, who is the Chairman of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) since 2008, delivered the opening address to the 13th GFHS Annual Session in Bangkok on 30 October 2018. Credit: GFHS.

Cities Have the Potential to Shape the Future of Humankind

Viewpoint by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury*

The following are extensive extracts from the opening address by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations, who is the Chairman of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) since 2008, at the 13th GFHS Annual Session in Bangkok on 30 October 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – We live at a time of unprecedented, rapid, irreversible urbanization. Beginning in 2008, for the first time, half of humanity is now living in towns and cities … but this dramatic transition is far from over. In reality the beginning of a new urban era is being felt. It is projected that globally urbanization levels will rise dramatically in the next 35 years to reach 70 percent by 2050 when the world population is expected to hit 9 billion.