THE WORLD

Individuals with Disabilities Need U.S. Lawmakers’ Attention

Viewpoint by J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – Nearly 12.8 percent of the U.S. population are living with disabilities, according to the latest report by the American Community Survey (ACS). Over the years, American lawmakers recognized the immediate need to provide the members of this community with their basic needs of employment, health, and accessible housing options. At the moment, there is a series of progressive legislative proposals existing for the cause.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 20 October 2019

Photo: 70 percent of the population in Africa are smallholder farmers. Credit: Crop Science Bayer.

Smallholder Farmers in Africa Get Lifeline from EU

By Jeffrey Moyo

MUREHWA, Zimbabwe (IDN) – Year after year since 2015, 56-year old Hapias Zindove has delivered hundreds of tonnes of soya beans to Zimbabwe’s Grain Marketing Board (GMB). With proceeds from soya beans, he – the father of seven children – has managed to send four of them to universities.

“I have risen from being a mere hands-to-mouth farmer to a big supplier of soya beans even to the GMB and big supermarkets in the country,” Zindove tells IDN in a ‘rugs-to-riches story’, as he rides on success in his farming endeavors.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 October 2019

Photo: View of Kibera in Nairobi, the largest urban slum in Africa. CC BY-SA 3.0

Burgeoning Urban Population Will Decide the Future of Africa

Viewpoint by Henrik Maihack *

NAIROBI (IDN-INPS) – In the next 25 years, Africa’s urban population is set to double. By 2040, the majority of Africans will be living in cities. There are numerous reasons for this: climate change, violent conflicts and the hope of finding work or education, although this list could easily be extended. Urbanisation thus constitutes one of the greatest transformations facing Africa in the 21st century.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 October 2019

Photo: 2019 Nobel Prize Winner for Economic Sciences Abhijit Banerjee. Source: Sroll.in

Nobel Laureate Banerjee’s Prescription for Indian Economy

By Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, Scroll.in

This article first appeared on Scroll.in on 14 October 2019.

MUMBAI (IDN-INPS) – Abhijit Banerjee, the renowned economist who was one of three awarded the Nobel prize for economics on October 14, put together some prescriptions for what the Indian economy needs right now. The last item on the list? “Pray.” On the next list, for the longer run? “Pray more.” Banerjee was speaking in response to Raghuram Rajan, another renowned economist and former Chief Economic Adviser to the Indian prime minister, as part of the OP Jindal Lectures at Brown University in the United States.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 October 2019

Ribbon-cutting ceremony opens ‘Everything You Treasure…’ exhibition (from left to right): Sapar Akhmetov, member of the Mazhilis (lower house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Amerkhan Rakhimzhanov, Director of the Library of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbassy, Kuanysh Sultanov, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Kazakhstan under the First President of Kazakhstan, Tatsuhiko Kasai, Ambassador of Japan to Kazakhstan, Bizhanova Gulnara Kadyrzhankyzy, member of the Mazhilis of Parliament of Kazakhstan, Hirotsugu Terasaki, Director General of Peace and Global Issues of the SGI. Photo credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS.

Nuclear Abolition Exhibition Boosts Japan-Kazakh Relations

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) – 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the end of nuclear weapons testing in Semipalatinsk, the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia, and the ratification by Kazakhstan as the 26th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Kazakhstan is known for its commitment to ridding the world of nuclear weapons. An estimated 1.5 million of its people suffered the effects of the testing of 456 nuclear weapons at Semipalatinsk over four decades.

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 October 2019

Photo credit: Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Timing of Nobel Peace Prize for Ethiopian Leader Questioned

Viewpoint by Makeda Saba

BRUSSELS (IDN) – On October 11, 2019, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace prize to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Dr Abiy Ahmed. He is the fourth African leader to be bestowed that honour after President Anwar Sadat in 1978; President FW de Klerk in 1993); and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2011.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2019

Uganda Outlaws Opposition Leader’s Trademark - The Red Beret

By Lisa Vives

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Uganda government is taking action against the popular red beret, calling it official military clothing that could earn the wearer imprisonment for life.

According to the new rule, the sale or wearing of any attire which resembles the army uniform is also banned. Prohibited items include side caps, bush hats, ceremonial forage caps and camouflaged baseball caps.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2019

Photo: German, French, and Spanish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria call for people to join the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in Turkey. CC BY 3.0

The EU Pulled the Rug from Under the Kurds

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Insurgencies may not die, but at least, like old soldiers, they usually fade away. Well, that seemed to be the case with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK. For the best part of five years between 2000 and 2005 there was a truce in Turkey’s bitter and savage civil war. But it did not last.

The Kurdish “problem” goes back to the Ottoman Empire. The rugged mountains where Turkey, Iraq and Iran meet have been called Kurdistan since the early 13th century, and the Kurds’ roots can be traced back at least 2,000 years. Most of the world’s 20m Kurds live in the region, although well over a million have emigrated to Istanbul, Baghdad, Tehran and Beirut, often assimilating well with the local people.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 October 2019

Photo: U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told reporters in May, he has delivered a letter to Saudi officials demanding they agree to refrain from enriching uranium or separating plutonium in exchange for peaceful U.S. nuclear technology. Credit: energy.gov

Saudi Arabia Seeks to Enrich Uranium

By Shannon Bugos

The writer is a Research Assistant at the Arms Control Association, where she contributes research and analysis, reports for Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Saudi Arabia intends to enrich uranium to fuel its planned nuclear power program, the country’s new energy minister said on September 9. The Saudi position could run afoul of a recently disclosed Trump administration policy to seek a Saudi commitment to refrain from such activities in exchange for U.S. nuclear technology.

: Arms Control Association; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 14 October 2019

Photo: Katya Dyachenko, FOUNDER & CEO of B2B-Export.com

Ekaterina Dyachenko Assesses Russia-Africa Trade

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – For decades, Russia has been looking for effective ways to promote multifaceted ties and new strategies for cooperation in economic areas in Africa. Now, Kremlin will hold the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on October 23-24 with high hopes of enhancing multifaceted ties, trying to reshape the existing relationship and significantly roll out ways to increase effectiveness of cooperation between Russia and Africa.