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A New Spectre Is Haunting Europe

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, a vehicle for "voices against the tide", and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia

ROME (IDN) – After Teresa May’s defeat in the British parliament on January 15, it is clear that a new spectre is haunting Europe. It is no longer the spectre of communism, which opens Marx’s Manifesto of 1848; it is the spectre of the failure of neoliberal globalisation, which reigned uncontested following the fall of the Berlin Wall, until the financial crisis of 2009.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 16 January 2019

Photo credit: Women's March Action Network

Women To March For Gender Equality Around The World

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Building on the vision and mission of the 2017 National Women’s March in the U.S., women around the world will mark January 19 with marches and other actions “supporting the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities".

The main march in 2019 will be in Washington D.C., but there are dozens of other marches that are scheduled for the same day. So far, there is least one in every state.

Some states will hold multiple marches: California will have 20; Michigan and Florida will each have eight; and Pennsylvania, New York and Texas will each have seven.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 15 January 2019

Photo: DR Congo President Kabila casts his vote during Presidential and Legislative elections in Kinshasa. Credit: MONUSCO/John Bopengo.

South Africa Calls For Solidarity With DR Congo As Security Council Debates Early Election Results

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – South Africa has called on the international community in general and the UN Security Council in particular to provide the necessary support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the aftermath of the December 30 provincial and presidential elections that will be the first democratic transfer of power in the country’s history.

"The DRC has come a long way in its quest for peace and security," Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, South Africa's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York told the Security Council during a three-hour debate on January 11 on preliminary results announced one day earlier, which put Félix Tshisekedi in first place for President, and the swift and varied reactions of some stakeholders.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 January 2019

Photo: Antarctica Iceberg. Credit: IAATO.

End of The Antarctic Ice Cap In Sight If We Do Nothing

By Dr Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. Dr Kohona visited Antarctica on board the expedition vessel Silver Cloud recently. This is the first of a two-part report .

COLOMBO (IDN) – The thick ice cap above the Antarctic continent will not disappear in our lifetime. It will continue to glisten disarmingly in the summer sun, its soft outlines concealing its unforgiving ferocity. But if we do nothing, it will disappear, over time. Sooner than later. This could spell catastrophe for life on Earth. Already there is convincing evidence of something unusual happening. Large chunks of the glaciers are breaking and floating away and the mammoth Antarctic glaciers are in observable retreat.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 13 January 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes addressing the United Nations Summit for the adoption of Agenda 2030 for global development on 26 September 2015, United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Amanda Voisard.

ACP Group Chief Calls For Strengthening The UN System

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – In the face of burgeoning unilateralism and generally "turbulent" global environment, the 79-nation African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States has urged “vigorous support” for the United Nations.

”Vigorous support for the United Nations to advance multilateralism will loom large in all the programmes and projects of the ACP in 2019,” according to ACP Secretary General, Dr. P. I. Gomes.

The Guyana-born Secretary General said that in a turbulent global environment and increasing violence of regional and civil conflicts, “strong and unequivocal action by the UN system is needed now more than ever."

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 12 January 2019

Photo: Skyline of Abu Dhabi, UAE, which will host 18th session of UNIDO's General Conference in November 2019.

UAE Hosts UNIDO's Supreme Policy Making Organ in November

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – When the Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and other official representatives, gathered in 2013 at the fifteenth session of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Peru's capital Lima, they agreed that eradication of poverty – Goal 1 of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – deserves priority.

Six years on, industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability will be the principal issues at the eighteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in Abu Dhabi, from November 3 to 7 at the invitation of the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 12 January 2019

Photo: The Joint Security Area (JSA) in the DMZ, looking toward South Korea from the North. Conference Row seen from the northern side of the JSA. CC BY-SA 3.0

Pyongyang And Washington Do Not Speak The Same Language

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport

The writer is the Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, where she provides research and analysis on the nuclear and missile programs in Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan and on nuclear security issues. This article was posted on January 8 on the Association's website as part of the current issue of 'Arms Control Today'.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – North Korea reiterated that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula must include removal of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region, a statement that underscores that diplomatic advances in 2019 will require addressing simultaneously North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its security concerns.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 11 January 2019

ILO Connects With The Public On World Of Work Issues

By ILO News

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – To coincide with its 100th year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced a Global Campaign, “Taking the ILO to the people”, that demonstrates the relevance of the Organization’s founding mandate to contemporary challenges and its central role in helping build a fairer future for all.

“Work and the search for it touches all of our lives, yet many don’t know the international organization that has helped shape the world of work since 1919. Our objective, through a unified global outreach effort, is to show how the ILO has benefited and continues to benefit people’s world of work experience,” said ILO Communications Director Martin Murphy.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 10 January 2019

Photo: The new UN Building at Tuanaimato. Credit: Government of Samoa/2017

UNCTAD Helps Pacific Islands Build New Economic Links

By Jamshed Baruah*

GENEVA (IDN) – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has opened an office in Samoa to coordinate a trade and transparency project for Pacific small islands, ahead of a regional free trade agreement coming into force in 2019.

UNCTAD has joined agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN Women in new premises in the capital of Samoa to support coordinated multilateral assistance to small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific region.

: Jamshed Baruah; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 10 January 2019

Photo: The Sule Pagoda and Bengali Sunni Central Mosque located side by side in Central Yangon. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Myanmar Buddhists Say International Media Is 'Unfair'

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 26th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

YANGON, Myanmar (IDN) – When I checked into a hotel at 10.00 pm in Central Yangon near the iconic Sule Pagoda, seeing a lot of South Asian Muslims around the place, I asked the hotel reception if it was safe to walk up the road to get some dinner. The receptionist laughed and said: "It is very safe here, sir."

For the next eight days in December, I lived in the heart of a Muslim Bengali/Indian community. I walked around the place late at night and early mornings and found that it is a very peaceful community where the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians interact well.