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Photo: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Source; rse-venezuela.com

The Putrid Mess of Israeli Politics

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Israeli politics gets messier and messier. Now there is to be yet another election, hard on the heels of the last one which, in turn, was hard on the heels of the one before.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have two major aims in life. The first is to remain prime minister for as long as he feels like it. (He is already Israel’s longest serving premier.) The second is to escape prison. He has been charged with bribery and graft. Only if he is holding his high office can he escape prosecution.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 17 December 2019

Photo: Child labor in the mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Credit: UNICEF

Five Tech Giants Linked To ‘Cruel and Brutal Use of Children’ In Congo Mines

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Do kids work in coal mines?

In 1910, an estimated 2 million American children under the age of 15 were working in factories and mines for low wages and long shifts. Photographs by Lewis Hine of New York revealed the depraved exploitation of children, some as young as 8 years of age, in fields and in mines. Child labor was finally outlawed in 1938.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 December 2019

Photo Mary Mubaiwa Off To Remand. Credit: zimtrending.co.zw

Multiple Charges Against Ex-Wife of Zimbabwe's Vice President

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Marry Mubaiwa, estranged wife of Zimbabwe’s Vice President, faces a battery of charges – from fraud, money laundering to attempted murder – in a case that has startled even the most battle-hardened citizens.

Ms. Mubaiwa, 38, is accused of unlawfully transferring $919,000 to South Africa under the guise of importing goods, according to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) which, they believe, may have involved buying a home in the neighboring country.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 December 2019

South African Leader Sees End to Racism and Bigotry

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – President Cyril Ramaphosa struck a note of optimism in his message on December 16 – the Day of Reconciliation and the anniversary of two major historical events, now celebrated as a public holiday.

Since the nation attained democracy, he said, citizens have showed the capacity to look beyond their differences “in the quest to achieve true nationhood”.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 December 2019

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with President Vladimir Putin. CC BY 4.0

NPT Review Conference Should Not Repeat the ‘Sad Experience’ of 2015

Viewpoint by Sergey Lavrov

The following are extensive excerpts from Russiaan Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference on “Foreign Policy Priorities of the Russian Federation in Arms Control and Nonproliferation in the Context of Changes in the Global Security Architecture” Moscow, 8 November 2019.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 17 December 2019

Photo: African Island States. Credit: AfDB.

Helping Island States Build Resilience to Extreme Weather

By Ronald Joshua

JOHANNESEBURG | MADRID (IDN) – Fewer lives were being lost as a result of natural disasters, because of advanced early warning systems. However, many cash-strapped African countries – including the small island states, bearing the brunt of climate change – are not benefiting from new technologies to develop early warning systems, said the climate expert John Harding at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 December 2019

From Protecting Nature to Greenand's Raid Melt and Australia's Bushfires

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A young environmentalist in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has invented robots to help protect nature, reports the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Asked about the role of children in creating a positive impact on the environment in the UAE, 11-year-old Sainath Manikandan said: “The backbone of a nation is its youth.”

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 16 December 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya at the 9th ACP Summit in Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet | IDN-INPS.

79 ACP States Resolve to Combat Terrorism and Climate Crisis

By Robert Kibet

NAIROBI (IDN) – Threats of terrorism to global peace as an evolving transnational menace, coupled with the growing threat of climate change and the disruption it continues to cause among member states of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) requires them to lead from the front in providing recommendations on how the global community can counter terrorism and extremism as well as impact of climate change.

: Robert Kibet; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 15 December 2019

Photo: Manikandan at the "INNOVATOR 2018" event in Abu Dhabi, UAE in February 2018. His innovation, the Marine Robot Cleaner, won the first place as Best Technology Project. Credit: UN Environment.

News Briefs on Climate Action and Climate Emergency

By J Nastranis

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 14 December 2019

79-Nation ACP & the EU Call for Implementing the Paris Accord

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | MADRID (IDN) – The 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union, which together make up more than half of the signatories to the Paris Agreement on climate change, have called for increased ambition at global level to close the gap between the commitments made so far and what would be necessary to meet the long-term global temperature goal of the Agreement.