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By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK (IDN) — A head of state, who presided over an authoritarian regime in Southeast Asia, was once asked about rigged elections in his country.
“I promised I will give you the right to vote,” he was quoted as saying, perhaps half-jokingly “But I did not say anything about counting those votes.”
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A sweeping draft bill framed in the guise of “family values” has put a bullseye on Ghana’s LGBTQ community, proposing some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws on the African continent.
The bill gives LGBTQ members 2 options: Jail time or conversion therapy—practice which aims to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It has been condemned by more than 60 associations of doctors, psychologists and counsellors worldwide.
Interview with ProHumane Afrique International's Executive Director
MOSCOW (IDN) — Globally, violence against women and girls persists. Besides, there are all kinds of gender discrimination. Some governments are steadily making efforts to eradicate violence and discrimination using legislation, and supporting public platforms devoted to discussing these. In this interview with Kester Kenn Klomegah* of IDN-InDepthNews, Mrs. Baptista S. Gebu, Executive Director of ProHumane Afrique International, discusses the situation of women and girls in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — What do we in the West know about Islam? Perhaps more than we did before 9/11 but not much. Now the US and NATO have withdrawn from Afghanistan we are again reminded how little we understand about Islamic fundamentalism and how its adherents justify their beliefs, not least their use of violence.
When Tony Blair was prime minister of the United Kingdom, he was photographed walking along holding the Koran. I wonder how much of it he read. Did he read the verses on violence?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Once again the CIA and MI6 are publishing dire warnings of the vitality of Al Qaeda. Once again the Islamic world as a whole is being tarnished by association. Are we returning, as we sadly commemorate the destruction of New York’s Twin Towers on 9/11, to what the late U.S. presidential contender John McCain said: “America needs a leadership to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism".
Viewpoint by David C. Speedie
This article was produced by Globetrotter in partnership with the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord. David C. Speedie, a Board Member of ACURA, was formerly Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on U.S. Global Engagement at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. Prior to this, he chaired the Program on International Peace and Security at Carnegie Corporation. Source: Globetrotter.
Viewpoint by Jan Servaes
Jan Servaes was Head of the Department of Media and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong (2013-2016). He taught ‘international communication’ in Australia, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, the US, the Netherlands and Thailand, in addition to short-term projects at about 120 universities in 55 countries. He is editor of the 2020 Handbook on Communication for Development and Social Change https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-981-10-7035-8
Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani
This article is the 15th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile a social activist and commentator.
By Catholic News Agency (CNA)*
ROME (IDN) — More than 220,000 people left Catholic Church in Germany in 2020, according to official figures. The statistics issued by the German bishops’ conference on July 14 showed that 221,390 people exited the Catholic Church last year.
The figure was almost 19% lower than that of 2019 when a record 272,771 people departed. But it was higher than the 2018 figure of 216,078, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — New troubles are facing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, already struggling to rein in the kidnappings of Nigerian schoolchildren in the country’s Northwest. Now, a federal High Court has ordered the Government to pay $951 million to the Bayelsa State government, while another court has ordered the Federal Government to pay over $3.3 billion to Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, as a share of the revenue from crude oil sales.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.