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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – The palm oil industry is growing by leaps and bounds around the globe but its overnight success is worrying environmentalists.
An estimated 7.5 million acres of land traditionally used or inhabited by local communities has been acquired by palm oil companies, according to GRAIN, a nonprofit that supports small farmers.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, warned as far back as the 1960s that political independence from European colonial oppressors without economic independence was a recipe for disaster.Nkrumah, who authored The struggle continues, Class Struggle in Africa and Neo-colonialism – the last stage of imperialism, among others, was deeply aware of the threats faced by the new states and the ploys of their former oppressors.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – European nations are building a wall – a sea wall – to keep African migrants from reaching their shores. With funds paid by the European Union and cooperating African governments, refugees are being sent to distant centers where they are expected to make their asylum appeals.Rwanda has just signed on to hold some 500 migrants fleeing a deadly civil war in Libya.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – As state-sponsored violence threatens Latinos in the U.S., xenophobia is again threatening Nigerians and other Africans whose shops in Johannesburg are being targeted for looting and destruction by unknown groups.
The latest spate of violence broke out in suburbs south of Johannesburg’s city center and spread to the central business district.
More than 50 mainly foreign-owned shops and business premises were destroyed, according to local news accounts. Cars and properties were torched and widespread looting took place.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) - Gabonese President Ali Bongo is receiving medical treatment in London after his health deteriorated during a visit to the city, according to people familiar with the matter.
But news of the absent president was immediately contradicted in an official press release this week in a pattern common to many ailing leaders. The leader of this oil-producing country is merely spending time at his London residence while on a short period of leave, the official statement read. He is undergoing routine medical checks and will soon return to Gabon.
By Taro Ichikawa
YOKOHAMA (IDN) – "I see Africa as a dynamic continent of opportunity where winds of hope are blowing ever stronger. TICAD has played a critical role in focusing international dialogue on Africa, built on the twin principles of African ownership and international partnership," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres kicking off the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). The United Nations, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and the African Union Commission (AUC) co-hosted the conference in Yokohama city.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – As Sochi, a Russian city located on the Black Sea coast, prepares to host African leaders, experts have been discussing the possible outcome of this first high-level event in the history of Russian-African relations, with the heads of all states of the African continent invited, as well as leaders of major subregional associations and organisations attending.
According to official sources here, the summit on October 24 will play special attention to the current state and prospects of Russia's relations with African countries and to the expansion of the political, economic, technical and cultural cooperation.
The Trumpet Is a ‘Cool’ Instrument to Unite People
By Franck Kuwonu from Africa Renewal
NEW YORK (IDN) – Each year, on April 30, music lovers around the world celebrate International Jazz Day to “honour jazz and its enduring legacy, as well as its power to bring people together,” says Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which works to promote global peace, justice and rule of law.
Jazz events held each year in different countries around the globe culminate in the International Jazz Day, a star-studded musical concert in a major city. This year it took place in Melbourne, Australia. Other cities have hosted the event since 2012, when the UN headquarters in New York City hosted the inaugural.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – If the U.S. has 35,000 museums, a writer asked in 2014, why is only one about slavery? And if the wealth of this country was built on the backs of enslaved people from Africa, why has that story been vastly under-reported in our media, in our schools and in our political discourse?
The first question was asked by John J. Cummings III, a retired lawyer who redeveloped the Whitney Plantation in New Orleans as a memorial. The second question is being examined today by writers, artists, and citizens from perspectives running right to left.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.”
This must be one of the best opening lines ever penned by a novelist. It’s the work of the Nigerian novelist, Ben Okri, who won English literature’s premier annual award, the Booker prize, for his book, The Famished Road.
