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Photo: Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The People’s Republic of China, speaking at the General Debate of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2019. UN Photo | Loey Felipe

"China Today Is a Proud Member of the Global Community"

Viewpoint by Wang Yi

The following is the statement of Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The People’s Republic of China, at the General Debate of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2019

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1945, the United Nations was born in response to the call of the times. Four years later, the People’s Republic of China was founded, and the Chinese nation reemerged before the eyes of the world as a completely reborn nation.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 October 2019

Photo: The guards of honor formation takes part in a military parade during the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Cao Can)

China Rises to an Indomitable Superpower

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – On October 1, China’s President, Xi Jinping, celebrated 70 years of Communist party rule, and its rise to superpower status, at Tiananmen Square in Beijing that consisted of a military parade and hundreds of thousands of people participating in the event ending with a grand pageant.

The main attraction was the unprecedented military parade of around 15,000 military personnel, 580 pieces of military equipment and 160 aircraft including new hypersonic drones, and the Dongfeng-41 missile capable of striking the United States in 30 minutes with 10 nuclear warheads at once, each with a different target - irrefutably, a display of China’s military might.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 07 October 2019

Photo: Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, venue of the UNIDO General Conference November 3-7, 2019.

UNIDO Conference to Boost UAE as a Global Hub for the 4th Industrial Revolution

By Nour Salman, Emirates News Agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI (IDN-INPS) – The UAE capital is set to host the 18th General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, with the participation of 800 ministers, officials and representatives from 170 member states, revealed Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry.

The UAE Minister of Energy and Industry held a press briefing detailing the agenda of the general conference, which will take place from November 3-7, 2019 at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

: Africa & ME Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Industrialisation; 06 October 2019

Image: The fatalities (solid lines) and total casualties (dashed lines) in millions, immediately following nuclear attacks, versus the number of targets. Results for India (A) and Pakistan (B). Colours correspond to the yield assumed. Source: Science Advances.

India-Pak Nuclear War Would Kick Off Catastrophic Scenarios

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali *

FREMONT, California, USA (IDN) – Amid rising tension over Kashmir between the two nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan, a new U.S. study examines how such an hypothetical future nuclear conflict would have consequences that could ripple across the globe. [Read also New Study Warns of Devastating Global Consequences of an India-Pakistan Nuclear War.]

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50 to 125 million people that is more than the death toll during the six years of World War II, according to the research by Colorado University Boulder and Rutgers University.

: Suresh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 October 2019

Image: A map showing the changes in the productivity of ecosystems around the world in the second year after a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Regions in brown would experience steep declines in plant growth, while regions in green could see increases. (Credit: Nicole Lovenduski and Lili Xia). Source: University of Colorado Boulder.

New Study Warns of Devastating Global Consequences of an India-Pakistan Nuclear War

By Daniel Strain *

BOULDER, Colorado, USA (IDN) – A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50-125 million people—more than the death toll during all six years of World War II, according to new research.

A new study conducted by researchers from CU Boulder and Rutgers University examines how such a hypothetical future conflict would have consequences that could ripple across the globe. Today, India and Pakistan each have about 150 nuclear warheads at their disposal, and that number is expected to climb to more than 200 by 2025.

: Suresh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 October 2019

Photo: Zena Athumani, a member of the Kisanga Village Executive Committee, registering details of families which have qualified for the cash handouts as part of Social Safety Net Project run by TASAF. Credit: Edwin Mkendo

World Bank's Cash Handouts Lift Tanzanians from Poverty

By Kizito Makoye

KILOSA, Tanzania (IDN) – Hidaya Juma looks gaunt and weary. Her sun-parched skin and tattered clothes tell it all. She is poor.

Juma, a 43-year-old single mother of four, who lives in Kisanga village, Kilosa district, in Tanzania's eastern Morogoro region, lives in a mud-walled house that is prone to flooding.

Her 19-year-old daughter Zubeda shares a dusty bedroom with two siblings. Juma sleeps in the other room with two of her children, aged nine and six.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2019

Photo: Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa addressing a full house in the Kirsch Auditorium at the Stata Center, which included many students in the MIT Portugal Program. Credit: Allegra Boverman | MIT News.

Portugal an Oasis of Social Democracy

Viewpoint by Reinhard Naumann

LISBON (IDN-INPS) – Until recently, polls indicated a clear victory for the Socialist Party (PS) in parliamentary elections in Portugal on October 6. Even the absolute majority seemed within reach for the PS under the leadership of current Prime Minister António Costa.

At the same time, the liberal-conservative parties, the PSD and CDS, were heading for historic lows. They had to fear that their total share of votes would fall below the 30 per cent mark and, in this way, lose their blocking minority against constitutional amendments by the left. A horror scenario for the conservative camp.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 04 October 2019

Collage: South Centre Executive Director Dr Carlos Correa mounted on UN photo. IDN-INPS

2015 Agenda 2030 Off-Track

Viewpoint by Carlos Correa

The following is statement by Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director of the South Centre at the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 26 September 2019.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Four years after its adoption, Agenda 2030, “Transforming Our World,” the United Nations’ (UN) most recent and most ambitious development agenda, is off-track.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 04 October 2019

Photo: Chido Onumah. Credit: Oriental Times.

Advocates for Biafra and Journalists Against Corruption Face Gov’t Crackdown

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - The war may be over in a place called Biafra – a region of states in the southern part of Nigeria – but it remains a flashpoint for ethnic tensions that simmer just below the surface.

This September, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), announced a meeting with world leaders at the United Nations to present the grievances of the Igbo community, including unfair treatment by successive governments.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 October 2019

Collage: María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly (left) and Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury (right). Credit: IDN-INPS.

An ‘Arduous Journey’ Toward the Culture of Peace and Beyond

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – “Let’s Build a Culture of Peace,” exhorted Nobel Peace laureates in an urgent call to “all countries and organizations of the world, their leaders and citizens“, at the 17th World Summit in Mérida, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán.

“In the midst of the current challenges of war, fear, racism, intolerance, and populist nationalism, today more than ever it is necessary to promote a Culture of Peace that follows tolerance and respect for diversity as a fundamental principle of coexistence among human beings and nations,” they declared.