THE WORLD

Photo: F. George Njoroge (left), Ambassador Robinson Njeru Githae (centre) and Prof. Makua Mutua (right)

U.S.-Based Kenyan Scholars Spar Over Election Outcome

By Global Information Network

ATLANTA (IDN) – The fierce contest between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition candidate Raila Odinga since their discarded election in August found echo here in Atlanta between Nairobi’s ambassador to Washington and a prominent U.S.-based legal scholar.

“I can categorically say here looking you straight in the eye that the Supreme Court robbed Uhuru Kenyatta of his win and stole the election from the Kenyan people,” Ambassador Robinson Njeru Githae was reported to say.

Not so, responded Prof. Makua Mutua, a human rights advocate and former dean at the University at Buffalo Law School.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 12 September 2017

Photo: The Twin Towers ablaze after the second plane crashed in to the Twin Towers. Credit: Dr Palitha Kohona, former Sri Lankan Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

9/11 – The Morning That Changed The World I Knew

By Dr Palitha Kohona*

COLOMBO (IDN) - It was another sunny September morning. The sky was a brilliant blue. As I gazed out of my kitchen window while having breakfast, in Mid Town Manhattan, the twin towers were glistening in the morning sun. I noted, as I often had, that they were still there, a familiar reassuring sight. The cute young blonde in the apartment across the street was drying her wet hair, as usual, by her plate glass window. The walk to the UN and my office on the 32nd floor of the Secretariat was uneventful. Not that I expected anything untoward to happen. A pre-scheduled closed-door management meeting began on time.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 11 September 2017

Photo: Lack of piped water across Africa has impelled villagers to turn to unprotected water bodies to access the precious liquid. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IDN-INPS

Safe Piped Water Remains a Luxury Across Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

MWENEZI; Zimbabwe (IDN) - Raviro Chawuruka scoops out sand from a well on a stream bank closer to her rural home in Rutenga, 443 km west of Harare, in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province.

At the age of 72, Chawuruka says she has known no rest while scavenging for water, this as she daily battles it out with the sand-filled water well in the vicinity of her home. She stands out among millions of Africans to whom piped water still remains a luxury, decades after several African nations gained independence from their former colonisers: Zimbabwe over 37 years ago.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, 65 percent of Zimbabwe’s 14 million people such as Chawuruka are domiciled in rural areas, where they have become the number one victims of lack of piped water.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 September 2017

Photo: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in the East Room of the White House on December 8, 1987. Credit: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

New U.S. Budget Threatens Nuclear Restraint Agreements

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – As the U.S. Congress prepares to enact legislation "that could further imperil the global nuclear order," a disarmament expert has urged the lawmakers "to seek to preserve and strengthen the existing architecture of arms control and non-proliferation agreements" – instead of rushing to hasten their demise.

The "key pillars" of the agreements "have their origin in the vision of President Ronald Reagan," says Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association (ACA).

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 September 2017

Photo: Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The camp is one of three, which house up to 300,000 Rohingya people fleeing inter-communal violence in Myanmar. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Suu Kyi Slams “Disinformation” As Information War Intensifies

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - The information war on Myanmar’s Bengali/Rohingya problem has intensified as Myanmar’s de-facto leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung Sung Suu Kyi finally broke her silence on the issue on September 6 and slammed the international media and human rights organisations for spreading “misinformation” on the conflict.

One day earlier, the London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) launched a report in Bangkok bashing Myanmar’s Buddhist majority. The following day India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi making his first official bilateral visit to neighbouring Myanmar pledged Indian support to fight cross-border Islamic terrorism.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 September 2017

Photo: People are evacuated by boats in southern Malawi. Credit: UNDA

Floods in Africa Go Unnoticed Despite High Death Toll

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LAGOS (IDN) – “Floods in Africa in August killed 25 times more people than Hurricane Harvey did.” That was the headline of a recent story in Quartz online by Lagos-based writer Yomi Kazeem.

“Like severe floods in southern Asia, the disasters in Africa have been largely under-reported compared to similar events in Houston where Hurricane Harvey, a once in a '500-year storm' has wreaked havoc,” wrote Kazeem.

Across Texas, 50 people have been reported dead due to the tropical storm but across Africa, intense rains and mudslides killed at least 1,240 people in August, he pointed out.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 07 September 2017

Photo: Selous Game Reserve. Credit: UNESO | Evergreen

Tanzania Plans Hydroelectric Plant on World Heritage Site

By Global Information Network

PARIS | NEW YORK (IDN) - "The Selous Game Reserve, covering 50,000 square kilometres, is amongst the largest protected areas in Africa and is relatively undisturbed by human impact," says UNESCO, which decided in 2014 to include it in the List of World Heritage in danger.

Notwithstanding the prominent status given to Selous Game Reserve by including it among world's 54 properties of "outstanding universal value", and much to the dismay of environmentalists, Tanzanian President John Magufuli has invited bids for a 2,100-megawatt hydroelectric plant. The project would more than double the country’s power generation capacity, ending chronic electricity shortages.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 07 September 2017

Stop Trump From Abandoning the Iran Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The big mistake, apparently about to be made by President Trump, in undoing the nuclear agreement made by President Barack Obama with Iran is not just that he intends to go backwards, it is that he doesn’t intend to go forwards. (To be fair, neither did Obama.)

What the Iranians negotiated about was not so much the “bomb” – to be or not to be – but about their pride and their position in the world and their right to become a thriving economic and political power inured from sanctions or military threats. (Sanctions were imposed before the nuclear issue came to the fore.)

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 September 2017

Two UN Agencies Hold First Ever Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment

By Shamshad Akhtar and Erik Solheim*

“Resource Efficient and Pollution Free Asia-Pacific” is the focus of the UN ESCAP- UNEP's First Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment from September 5-8 September 2017 in Bangkok, which is purported to motivate policy makers to embark on sustainable development pathways that will achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and contributions under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

BANGKOK (IDN) - The high-level meeting is a unique opportunity for the region’s environment leaders to discuss how they can work together towards a resource efficient and pollution-free Asia-Pacific.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2017

Photo: People in Pyongyang watch Kim Jong-un on North Korean TV, 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Use Sanctions Pressure and Diplomacy with North Korea: Expert

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have failed to competently execute their own stated policy of “maximum pressure and engagement” with North Korea, says the Arms Control Association (ACA), which is dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies.

In a statement on North Korea’s 5.9 to 6.3 magnitude nuclear test explosion on September 3, ACA's Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball says: "Trump has greatly exacerbated the risks through irresponsible taunts and threats of U.S. military force that only give credibility to the North Korean propaganda line that nuclear weapons are necessary to deter U.S. aggression, and have spurred Kim Jong-un to accelerate his nuclear program."