THE WORLD

Image: Male and female capelin. Credit: The Navigator

Ocean Warming Blamed for Lack of Iceland’s Capelin

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish.

According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at the institute, capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a cold-water fish and mostly chooses to be at a marine temperature between 1-3°C. “Concomitant with ocean warming north of Iceland before the turn of the century, changes started to appear in the distribution of capelin off Iceland and instead of being spread out to the north of Iceland and the West Fjords, it was mostly found off the east coast of Greenland,” he said.

: Lowana Veal; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 02 April 2019

Photo: Atewa forest. Source: Save Atewa Forest

Bauxite Mining Threatens Ghana’s Crown Jewel of Biodiversity

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Environmental groups in Ghana are waging an eleventh-hour battle to stop the government of Ghana from opening the Atewa Forest Reserve – a crown jewel of biodiversity and a source of three rivers – to commercial large-scale bauxite mining.

Their resistance conforms to the Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly's resolution on mining resource governance in Nairobi from March 11-15. The resolution stresses in particular Sustainable Development Goal 7 calling for 'affordable and clean energy' and Goal 12 on 'responsible consumption and production', "reminding the important contribution of mining to their achievement".

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 April 2019

Photo: The Inner Circle that helped Jammeh (centre) steal Gambia. Source: OCCRP. Credit: Edin Pasovic.

Gambia’s Ex-President Plundered Nearly One Billion Dollars

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Experts who follow the money are still scratching their heads as to how a quarter of a billion dollars vanished from the national coffers along with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh at roughly the same time.

Before his flight into exile in 2017, Jammeh ruled the small palm-fringed country in West Africa with an iron fist. Through the army and his private mercenaries, known as “the Jungulars”, he ruled by torturing and imprisoning political opponents and human rights activists, murdering journalists and depriving citizens of their right to exist.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 April 2019

Photo: Governor-General of New Zealand, Dame Patsy Reddy, lays flowers for the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings at Hagley Park on 19 March 2019. CC BY-SA 4.0

Why a White Christian Isn't Called a Terrorist

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 31st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series.

SYDNEY (IDN) – After a White Australian of Christian background Brenton Tarrant gunned down 50 Muslims praying at a Christchurch mosque on a Friday, it took the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern more than a day to call it a “terrorist” act, and when she did so, the mainstream media in Australia and New Zealand quoted Tarrant’s mother as describing him an “angelic boy”.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 01 April 2019

Moving the ACP Group to Centre Stage of Multilateralism

Viewpoint by Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

The writer is the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).

BRUSSELS (IDN) – In today’s global situation that bears the features of turbulence, fragility and an increasingly precarious balance between peace and possible nuclear annihilation, the role and relevance of the United Nations Organisation has assumed unparalleled importance.

It was a perceptive comment of the late Nelson Mwalimu Mandela, who in his landmark speech to the United Nations on October 3, 1994, posed the question and demanded a response to what he considered to be the enduring imperative confronting the United Nations today, more than ever.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 31 March 2019

Photo: Jamal Khashoggi offers remarks on "Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Arabia: A Deeper Look" during Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) on 21 March 2018 in Washington, DC. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Expert Demands from Saudi Arabia Public Trials of Khashoggi's Accused Killers

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Six months after veteran Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has in a report criticised Riyadh's closed-door trials of accused killers, which have thus far fallen short of meeting "international standards".

In her report released on March 28, Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur leading an independent human rights inquiry into Khashoggi's killing, renews her "request for permission to undertake a country visit to Saudi Arabia".

: Jamshed Baruah; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 30 March 2019

EU and International NGOs Exploit Aid to Fortify Forced Labour in Eritrea

Viewpoint by Makeda Saba

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Dutch Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans, an organization of exiled Eritreans, is taking legal action against the European Union. It is demanding of the EU to immediately stop funding a project in Eritrea which involves use of forced labour and enslavement.

The European Union has allocated €20 million for the project aimed at “reconnecting Eritrea and Ethiopia through rehabilitation of the main arterial roads in Eritrea”. It will finance the reconstruction of the Nefasit-Dekemhare-Senafe-Zalembessa road, the main route that allows the easy transportation of goods between landlocked Ethiopia and Eritrea.

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 March 2019

Photo: Malian women protesting massacre of Fulanis. Credit: Hilltop Monitor

Senior Malian Officers Removed from Posts After Massacre of Fulani Herdsmen

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Jihadist groups dislodged from Middle East battlegrounds are reportedly regrouping in West Africa, exploiting longstanding grievances between the Dogon farmers and the Puelh-Fulani nomadic herdsmen of Mali over access to limited supplies of land and water.

A militia in Dogon attire entered Ogossagou, a Fulani village and suspected jihadi hideout at about 4 a.m. local time and murdered over 100 men, women and children.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 March 2019

Photo: Parliament building (west wing) in Bridgetown, Barbados. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

ACP Countries Urged to Intensify Cooperation to Confront Global Challenges

By Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC)

The original report by CMC has been slightly modified.- The Editor

BRUSSELS | BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (ACP-IDN) – A two-day inter-regional high level consultation on comparative regionalism in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP) began here on March 26, 2019 with Barbados underscoring the need for the 79-member grouping to build a strong, vibrant and energetic relationship among themselves especially in a changing global environment.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 27 March 2019

Photo: Russian President Putin with U.S. counterpart Trump during the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, 2017. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Not Collusion with Russia but Trump’s Confrontational Policies Threaten Peace

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Donald Trump has been exonerated of collusion with Russia. As I wrote a while back, I expected this conclusion from the investigation carried out by Robert Mueller.

The big clue lay in Trump’s anti-Russian posture. Trump has continued the expansion of NATO which Russia, more than understandably, sees as a provocative, unfriendly and dangerous move. Then there is the unwillingness to step forward to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian situation.