SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: Knox Msebenzi (credit: Msebenzi), Managing Director of Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA) in South Africa (Credit: NIASA)

South African Nuclear Energy Chief Pleads for Energy-Mix

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – The power industry in South Africa is faced with huge challenges. Knox Msebenzi, Managing Director of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA), discusses the impact of challenges on the country's economy and a way out of the power generation difficulties in South Africa.

The Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa is a body committed to promoting the highest standards in the development and application of nuclear technology in South Africa. NIASA is composed of organisations, groups, and individuals, from not only the established nuclear sector but also any entities involved in any technology endeavour related to the development and operation of nuclear technology.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 26 January 2021

Photo: Late Mrs. Djene Kaba Conde, First Lady of Guinea, with the map of Guinea on the left. Sources: Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon and the World Fact Book.

Court Finds Israeli Tycoon Guilty of Bribing Guinean Officials

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The gavel came down on January 22 on billionaire Israeli-French tycoon Beny Steinmetz who, a criminal court in Geneva ruled, bribed government officials in Guinea, West Africa, to enrich himself and his mining company with valuable assets of the African country.

The ruling caps a seven-year investigation into the shady and complex world of corrupt practices employed with near impunity by foreign corporations which harm poor people in resource-rich countries.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 26 January 2021

Photo: France to form a commission for reconciling with Algeria. Credit: Anadolu Agency

Macron Willing to Reconcile with Algeria But No Official Apology

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Time marches on but murderous crimes committed during war may demand an apology regardless of the number of years that elapsed since the crimes took place.

Such is the current case presented by Algerians who have renewed their demand for an apology for colonialization and the crimes against humanity that took place during Algeria’s war of independence from 1954-1962. This follows the much-anticipated release of a government-sponsored report by the historian Benjamin Stora.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 January 2021

Photo: Africa needs timely access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Credit: WHO

COVAD-19 Decimating Ranks of Zimbabwe’s Government

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The coronavirus is reaping a “grim harvest” in Zimbabwe. Those were the words of President Emmerson Mnangagwa acknowledging the deadly reach of the virus in the nation’s highest ranks of government.

Zimbabwe’s transport and foreign ministers both succumbed to the coronavirus less than two days of each other. Four ministers have died so far, with several more reportedly fighting for their lives in hospital.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 25 January 2021

The Three-Country Alliance Against Tigray Might Jeopardise Ethiopia's Future

By Martin Plaut

LONDON (IDN | Eritrea Hub) – The Tigray war has turned into an all-out conflict, pitting Tigrayan forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation front (TPLF) against Ethiopian federal troops, the Eritrean army, Amhara militia and – as revealed last week – Somali soldiers.

Despite what would seem to be overwhelming odds against them, the Tigrayans appear to be holding their own in large areas of the region.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 January 2021

Overcoming Vaccine Inequities and Enabling Small States' Post-Covid19 Recovery

Viewpoint by P. I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The “catastrophic moral failure” into which the world is seen as heading, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, can readily be understood as having its ideological basis in the callous principle of “profits before people for optimum shareholder-value”.

Our 21st century world of increasing gross inequality need not sound so “catastrophic”. Its origin lies in the historically dominant practice of large multinational pharmaceutical corporations delivering well-researched products, supposedly, to improve/save the plant, animal or human life.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 23 January 2021

Photo: Collage of images from the White House.

UN Chief Welcomes the US Move to Re-Enter the Paris Accord as Biden and Harris Are Sworn in as New Leaders

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warmly welcomed President Joe Biden’s "steps to re-enter the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and join the growing coalition of governments, cities, states, businesses and people taking ambitious action to confront the climate crisis". Biden signed an executive order accepting the Paris accord "and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America" on January 20 after he and Vice President Kamal Harris were sworn in as America's new leaders.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 20 January 2021

Photo: A worker observes construction at a harbor in Colombo, Sri Lanka, commissioned by China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd on Dec 1. Credit: XINHUA

2021 Yet Another Testing Year for COVID-19 Hemmed Sri Lanka’s Economy

Viewpoint by Dushni Weerakoon

The writer is the Executive Director and Head of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO (IDN) — The unprecedented disruptions of COVID-19 are causing a geopolitical reset — and as the global order is redrawn, small emerging market economies like Sri Lanka are vulnerable to the fallout. Sri Lanka straddles vital shipping routes and is at the centre of diplomatic spats between China and the United States, who called on Sri Lanka to make ‘difficult but necessary choices’ over its growing economic and political ties to China.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 January 2021

Photo: Biden at his presidential kickoff rally in Philadelphia, May 2019. CC BY 2.0

President Joe Biden Marks the Start of a New Era in the US

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – President Joe Biden is more peacenik than war-monger. Compared with all recent previous presidents, apart from Jimmy Carter, he has been a dove. But be warned. When Barack Obama became president he forswore “more dumb wars” yet he got involved in more than any of them did. We had mistakenly believed him because of his vote in the Senate against the Second Iraq War.

Nevertheless, Obama, with Biden’s support, did resist a big push by Congress, the military and most of the media to send troops into Syria and he did try hard to get troops pulled out of Iraq. Biden supported Obama in his decision to negotiate with Iran a deal to put into cold storage its plan to enrich uranium to the point where it could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 January 2021

Photo: FAO DG Qu Dongyu. Credit: WTOCC BY-SA 2.0

People’s Movement Launched in South Africa To Defeat Covid-19

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A call to action endorsed by over 500 organizations and individuals in South Africa is aiming to unite millions of the nation’s citizens in order to acquire 40 to 80 million doses of vaccine to defeat the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic is wreaking havoc,” organizers proclaimed in a recent letter published in the Mail&Guardian. “Vaccinating a significant part of the population is the only way to defeat the pandemic.”