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Photo: Agricultural countryside in Kenya with surrounding hills of Kapsowar with Mt. Kipkinurr in background. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Kenya ‘Hanging at the Edge of a Debt Trap’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lending institutions fear that Kenya’s foot may be stuck on the debt pedal with the latest loan of USD 750 million from the World Bank to be paid over 30 years. Several experts and players in the financial sector do not think all is well.

The Central Bank, which is the government’s banker, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) all say Kenya’s debt position is getting to dangerous levels and the country must engage a lower gear before it is too late.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 June 2019

Photo: A crowd in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with people holding up a sign in support of Étienne Tshisekedi's presidential campaign in November 2011. Source: Wikimedia Commons | CC BY 2.0

Thousands in DR Congo Trek to Opposition Icon’s Reburial

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | KINSHASA (IDN) – The father of Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi, opposition icon Etienne Tshisekedi, was laid to rest on June 1 in his homeland more than two years after he died in Belgium during a political stalemate over the country's long-delayed elections.

Thousands took part in the procession which made its way to the outskirts of Kinshasa following several days of tributes to the man who was the face of DR Congo's opposition for decades but died before his political nemesis agreed to step aside and allow a new presidential vote to go forward.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 June 2019

Volunteering Kicks Up a Notch in Kenya

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – One of the biggest cross-nation collaborations currently, is between the European Union and Kenya. This unusual pairing provides Kenya with the resources to implement development strategies with a Sh8 billion line of credit (USD 78.922.800,00) from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

While the loan is earmarked for the private sector to improve development, there is a definite need for support in all areas to make these funds go even further. One of the biggest cost items for any development project is labour. While paid labour will still be a component, a large form of relief is through skilled volunteers.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 June 2019

Photo: Grand Cascade of Peterhof. CC BY-SA 4.0

Russia Isn't a Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I’m on the 250 km/hour train hurtling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it suddenly clicks in my mind. My apologies for being so stupid, but despite regular trips to Russia over many years I have only suddenly got it – I too have been brainwashed about Russia by Western politicians, media and authors, like nearly everyone else.

What I noticed in Moscow and what I’ve seen in St Petersburg on previous trips is that, yes, I am, indeed I am, in a normal Western big city environment. Both cities are grand in different ways. St Petersburg, with its museums, palaces, great churches, canals and river, its rich store of art (probably second only to the Louvre) and its musical life (the Marriinsky theatre is the epicenter of world ballet) is arguably the most beautiful and imposing of all the world’s cities.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Call for Renewed Efforts to Resolve Asian Maritime Dispute

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) – June 8 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the World Oceans Day to highlight the important role that the United Nations has played in creating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Nevertheless there are maritime delimitation disputes that are currently dangerous and require good-faith negotiations to prevent increased tensions. World Citizens have played an important role in the Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS) negotiations and in the creation of the International Seabed Authority and its Tribunal on maritime deliberation issues.

: Rene Wadlow; OPINION; 04 June 2019

Photo: Screenshot of IISS Video of China’s defense chief Wei Fenghe addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting in Singapore, June 2, 2019.

Beware the Early Warning Signs of Legitimising Repression of Minority Rights

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Photo: A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam performs a flyover during the opening ceremonies of Aero India 2019 at Air Force Station Yelahanka, India Feb. 20 (U.S. Air Force/Senior Master Sgt. Pedro Jimenez)

U.S. Targeting of Iran Is a Grave Travesty of Justice

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – A dangerous flashpoint has emerged in world politics at the moment. There is widespread fear that the United States and its allies might launch a military operation against Iran at any time. A U.S. aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers are already deployed in the region. The alleged sabotage of four oil tankers, two of them Saudi, and the attack on a major oil pipeline are being linked in certain circles without an iota of evidence to Tehran. There is no need to repeat that scenarios of this sort are often manufactured to justify military aggression.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 03 June 2019

Photo: Russia prepares for opening of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2019) on June 6, 2019. Credit: SPIEF 2019.

Russia Considers Ways of Boosting Tourism

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – On the eve of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2019), government officials and tourism experts have been looking at systematic ways to remove barriers, adopt marketing strategies to improve the current inbound tourism figures and get effective institutional organizations to promote Russia’s image.

The SPIEF-2019, which has the theme 'Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda,' will take place on June 6-8 in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5 million inhabitants in 2012.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 02 June 2019

ACP-EU Projects Assist Africa to Unlock Innovation Potential

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (ACP-IDN) – The world’s first green power generator which can produce electricity using radio frequencies, an electric powered car which does not consume fuel, a multi-fueled helicopter: by any stretch of imagination, innovations like these will not be attributed to an African. But Maxwell Chikumbutso has meanwhile been recognized as an exception to the rule. The United States government has given him new home in the populous state of California.

In an interview with a Zimbabwean independent online media organization, Chat263.com, Chikumbutso expressed disappointment that Africa did not see what the U.S. Government saw in his ground-breaking inventions.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 01 June 2019

Protect Pristine Areas from Relentless Development

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple and Franz Baumann

This article was first published in San Francisco Examiner on May 29, 2019. While Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., is chief scientist for the Geos Institute in Ashland, William J. Ripple, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University and the initiator of the Alliance of World Scientists. Franz Baumann, Ph.D., is a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and a visiting research professor at New York University. – The Editor