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Photo: Joseph Owona Kono. Credit: La Tribune Afrique

Playing A Decisive Role In Shaping Global Governance

By Joseph Owona Kono

The author is Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 June 2018 in Brussels. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – I have been associated with the Joint Parliamentary Assembly for a while. I have found this assembly to be a great opportunity for parliamentary exchanges on development and democratic processes. As representatives of our various peoples and as policy and decision makers overseeing government functions, we are in a unique position to engage with policy makers in ACP and EU institutions.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 21 June 2018

Photo: Neven Mimica. Credit: EU Commission

ACP and the EU Should Stand United, Shoulder-to-Shoulder

By Neven Mimica

The author is EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – First and foremost, 2018 is a defining year as we get ready to discuss together the shape and direction of the partnership between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union beyond 2020.

Uniting over a hundred countries and around one and a half billion people, our longstanding partnership is unique one not only in terms of its cultural richness and diversity, but also in terms of its geographical scope and potential.

: Jaya Ramachandran; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Striving For Modernized Partnership

By Yuri Sterk

The author is Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. He represented the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The 35th session of the Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly is of particular importance. The opening of negotiations on our future ACP-EU relations, after the expiry of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, is fast approaching and negotiations are due to start by September 1, 2018. The outcome of parliamentarians' deliberations will feed into the shaping of our future ACP-EU relations.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: The writer addressing UN Open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament on May 2, 2016 in Geneva. Credit: Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

Nuclear Ban Treaty Beacons the End of Nuclear Age

By Rebecca Johnson

Dr Rebecca Johnson is founding President of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. She contributed this viewpoint as foreword to the publication titled 'Toward A World Without Nuclear Weapons' published by the International Press Syndicate Group with IDN-InDepthNews as its flagship agency, and the Global Cooperation Council as part of a media project with Soka Gakkai International (SGI). – The Editor.

LONDON (IDN) – If we survive this turbulent period, histories may record that 2017-18 marked the end of the nuclear age and the beginning – we hope – of a new era of peace-building and security.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, leader of Ambazonia.

Amnesty Finds Troubles Brewing in Cameroon

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a new 37-page report, the rights watchdog Amnesty International has documented “unlawful killings, destruction of private property, arbitrary arrests and torture” in two restive regions in Cameroon tied to a power struggle pitting French- against English speaking Cameroonians.

In the Amnesty report titled, A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon, victims gave harrowing accounts of beatings and allegations of simulated electrocution and torture carried out by the military as well as attacks on schools and teachers by armed Anglophone separatists.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 June 2018

Photo: Brian Gitta (centre) has been named a finalist for the prestigious Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Source: Daily Monitor, Uganda.

Young Ugandan Wins Major Prize For Malaria Detector

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ugandan inventor Brian Gitta, 24, has scooped a major prize for his device that detects tell-tale signs of malaria – the leading cause of death in his country.

In fact, Gitta developed the device, called “Matibabu” after blood tests failed to diagnose his own malaria. It took four blood tests to diagnose him with the disease, said Shafik Sekitto, part of the Matibabu team in an interview with the BBC.

"Matibabu is simply a game-changer," said Rebecca Enonchong, a judge for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation and Cameroonian technology entrepreneur.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump before the start of their one-on-one meeting. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Peace with DPRK would be a Victory for the UN Charter

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Give the man a break. Donald Trump found out in Singapore that, as Churchill said, “Jaw-Jaw is better than War-War”. If war can be avoided by a warm, long, very private chat without advisers, with effusive body gestures and promises of a world stage when his opponent, Kim Jong Un, is invited to the White House, then Trump has showed the way.

It was learning the hard way because a few months ago when Trump threatened to incinerate North Korea he met counter threats from North Korea that could have led to the deaths of 30 million people in South Korea alone, never mind what numbers might die in an attack on American troops stationed in Japan and Guam naval base.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 June 2018

Photo: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli (left) at Janakpur, Nepal on May 11, 2018. Credit: pmindia.gov.in

SPECIAL REPORT: India-Nepal Ties on Uncharted Terrain

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – As Nepalese Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli embarks on a six-day visit to China on June 19, his effort to assign the northern neighbour a larger role in Nepal’s infrastructure development would be watched with immense interest in New Delhi and several world capitals. The visit, although it follows Oli’s customary first prime ministerial visit to India after assuming office, comes at a time when India-Nepal relations will never be the same again. It may have changed for all time after the way India has dealt with Nepal under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal under Prime Minister Oli has responded.

: Shastri Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 19 June 2018

Photo: Screenshot of swearing in on 29 January 2017, left to right: Donald Trump, wife Melania, children Don Jr., Barron, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, with Chief Justice John Roberts administering oath. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Trump Tweets the Track to the World He Wants

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" 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) – Donald John Trump, 45th and current president of the United States, has been seen in many illustrious circles as an anomaly that cannot last. Well, it is time to look at reality.

If we put on the glasses of people who have seen their level of income reduced and are afraid of the future, Trump is here to stay, and he is a result and not a cause.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 18 June 2018

Photo: The “Non-Violence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors' Plaza. Credit: UN

A Call To 'Action Now' On United Nations Disarmament Agenda

By A.L.A. Azeez

The writer is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva. While analysing the UN Secretary-General António Guterres' new disarmament agenda entitled, Securing Our Common Future, Ambassador Azeez calls for" the increased availability of disarmament education and fellowship opportunities" to make up for the loss of a generation of professionals and experts in many countries, resulting from "the inaction or lack of progress in disarmament over two decades.