THE WORLD

Photo credit: Pixabay.com. Source: Eyewitness News.

South Africa Needs Tackling Air Pollution Hot Spots Urgently

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The world’s largest air pollution hotspot is not where you might think. No, it’s not in New Jersey. But if you said South Africa you’d be right, according to a newly-released study by the environmental group Greenpeace.

With coal and transport as the two principal sources of air pollution, Eastern Mpumalanga province in South Africa has the most polluting cluster of coal-fired power stations in the world, producing record levels of nitrogen dioxide, according to the Greenpeace report.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 October 2018

Photo: Minister of State Müntefering during the open debate on women, peace and security in the UN Security Council on 25 October 2018. Credit: German Foreign Office.

Women, Peace and Security is Germany's Priority in 2019-2020 Security Council Membership

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – When Germany joins the UN Security Council next January as a non-permanent member for 2019-2020, promoting the 'Women, Peace and Security Agenda' by ensuring a greater political participation of women and prevention of sexual violence in conflicts, will be one of its priorities. The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in which women play a central role.

Before speaking in the Security Council's open debate on women, peace and security on October 25, Germany's Minister of State Michelle Müntefering said, the unanimous adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security on October 31, 2000 was a milestone in the UN Security Council.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 27 October 2018

Photo credit: Audrey Tirtaguna | The Daily Pennsylvanian

Experts Underline the Gravity of a Potential Nuclear Conflict

By Claire Ochroch

This report first appeared on October 25, 2018 in The Daily Pennsylvanian.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Speakers from across the world stopped by Penn's Perry World House on October 23 evening to discuss the importance of denuclearization.

The event, called the Penn Peace Project, was hosted by the International Affairs Association. Speakers included Veronique Christory, Senior Arms Control Advisor of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Susanne Hammer, Austrian First Secretary Disarmament Officer, who touched on how nuclear weapons affect people's daily lives.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 27 October 2018

Photo: People at a borehole, one of the groundwater sources people have turned to in Zimbabwe's towns and cities as climate change impacts bite. Credit: Construction Review Online.

Southern Africa Turns to Groundwater to Counter Climate Change

By Jeffrey Moyo

CHIMOIO, Mozambique (IDN) – As the blazing heat of the sun beats down on her, 25-year-old Maria Sinorita from Chimoio, a Mozambican town lying approximately 100 km east of the country’s border with Zimbabwe, struggles to draw water from the well in her yard.

For Sinorita, even the water she is drawing from the well is running out and, because she has no option as climate change impacts hit her and many other Mozambicans, she has to dig deeper and deeper for the precious liquid.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 October 2018

Participation in Landmark NATO Exercise Reveals Iceland's Dilemma

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Iceland, the most sparsely populated country in Europe, has no standing army. But it is a founding member of the 29-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and is therefore taking part in Trident Juncture 2018, the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War in December 1991.

Briefing the media on October 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, the exercise includes around 65 ships, 250 aircraft, 10,000 vehicles and 50,000 personnel. In addition to all NATO Allies, Finland and Sweden are also participating.

: Lowana Veal; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 26 October 2018

Photo: Land reform minister Utoni Nujoma. Credit: The Namibian

Land Deal with Russian Billionaire Causes a Stir in Namibia

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | WINDHOEK (IDN) – The Namibian government has leased four farms for 99 years to a company, Comsar Properties SA, owned by a Russian billionaire, Rashid Sardarov. Valued at USD$3 million and measuring a total 42,000 acres, the farms were registered as state property by the land reform ministry.

Land reform minister Utoni Nujoma has been flip-flopping on whether or not he was involved in the transaction, according to The Namibian.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 October 2018

A New Book Proposes an Alternative U.S. Foreign Policy

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – At last a book that attacks the "Blob" and holes it below the water line. Whether it can sink it is another matter. I'm talking about 'The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S Primacy' by the Harvard professor of international affairs, Stephen M. Walt, released on October 18, 2018. [Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN: 9780374902612. Publicity: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]

The "Blob" is a wonderful word conjured up by President Barack Obama's deputy National Security Advisor, Ben Rhodes. It means the group of congressmen, generals, industrialists, academics and journalists who specialize in foreign policy and have an influence promoting what Walt calls "Liberal Hegemony".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 23 October 2018

Photo: Yerzhan Ashikbayev, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, chairing a side event at the Kazakh Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. Source: UNODA

Kazakh Initiated Forum Underlines Importance of NWFZs

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu has expressed her "gratitude" to the Kazakhstan for their continued partnership with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), including through a series of Nuclear Discussion Forums (NDF), now in its eighth year.

She was addressing a side event of the UN General Assembly's First Committee on October 18 at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations. The event featured a panel discussion about Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs). It was chaired by Yerzhan Ashikbayev, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 23 October 2018

Photo: Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Credit: UNODA

Full Potential of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones Has Yet to be Recognised

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The following are extensive excerpts from a statement by Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at a side event on October 18, 2018, organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations on Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Between the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which was signed in in 1967, to the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, which entered into force in 2009, the world has experienced a growing adherence from States to nuclear weapon-free zones treaties.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 23 October 2018

Photo: Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Md Kamal Hossain visiting Rohingya camp Kutupalong. Credit: Md Mojibur Rahman Rana.

A Crisis Within a Crisis for the Rohingyas

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, Bangladesh (IDN) – Despite a well-coordinated effort to address the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal town bordering Myanmar, some major challenges still need attention.

The local administration admits that with over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens arriving in such a short time, it is indeed difficult to manage the environmental damages and rising crime rates faced by the local people.

Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Md Kamal Hossain told IDN that in terms of supplies of food, commodities and household basics efforts have been well coordinated. However, “environmental damage and the crimes rising by the day are major concerns but they are being addressed now and hopefully we would soon find solutions.”