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India's Free Trade Woes in the Face of Deteriorating Balance

Viewpoint by Biswajit Dhar

The author is Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. This article first appeared on October 9, 2018 in EastAsiaForum.

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Leaders at the sixth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting in August 2018 appear to have taken steps towards concluding the deal by the end of the year. With a possible endgame in sight, India’s stance in the negotiations should be of utmost interest. The viability of the proposed grouping hinges on India’s response to the more active RCEP participating countries’ calls for a highly ambitious trade liberalisation agenda.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 18 October 2018

Photo: Lesedi solar power plant panels. Credit: MyBroadBand

Southern Africa Experiencing Energy Boom

By Jeffrey Moyo

LUSAKA (IDN) – Letina Phiri waits at a bus terminus in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, as loaders carry her baggage of huge solar panels to pack on the bus.

“I will sell some of the panels as soon as I get home. Where I live, not far from Kabwe town, many people in rural communities there have started electrifying their homes with solar and I want to do the same,” 51-year-old Phiri told IDN.

Even in Zimbabwe, solar energy has started to gain ground in remote areas like Seke in the country’s Mashonaland East Province.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 October 2018

Photo: The wide-angle photograph of the sun and inner planets (not visible), with Pale Blue Dot superimposed on the left, Venus to its right. Credit: NASA/JPL

A Provocative and Inspiring Look at the Future of Humanity

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “Suppose aliens existed, and that some had been watching our planet for its entire forty-five million centuries, what would they have seen? Over most of that vast time-span, Earth’s appearance altered very gradually. Continents drifted; ice-cover waxed and waned; successive species emerged, evolved and became extinct.

But just in a tiny sliver of Earth’s history – the last hundred centuries – the patterns of vegetation altered much faster than before. This signaled the start of agriculture – and then urbanization.” We are at the very end of that “sliver”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 October 2018

Photo: Zimbabwe Finance Minister Dr Mthuli Ncube at Chatham House early October 2018. Credit: YouTube

Zimbabweans Urged Calm as Economy Veers Toward Collapse

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – Citing “these difficult times,” Kentucky Fried Chicken has closed its doors, prices are soaring, bread shelves are empty and fear is growing that an economic collapse is bearing down on a fragile population that was so full of hope not long ago.

Under cover of night, Zimbabwe streets fill with street vendors, supplying necessities that shops can no longer provide. But shortages have become so acute that even the street-sellers have run out of bread and fuel.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2018

Photo: Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), killed by a faction of Boko Haram. Credit: Business Day

Young Medical Worker Executed by Boko Haram Caliphate

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "We urge you: spare and release these women,” begged Patricia Danzi, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Africa. .. “Like all those abducted, they are not part of any fight."

"They are daughters and sisters, one is a mother – women with their futures ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to." Nonetheless, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a self-declared caliphate of Boko Haram, rejected their entreaties and executed 24 year old Hauwa Liman, an aide worker. The insurgents further vowed to make another captive, schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, a slave for life.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2018

Photo: The Port of Salvador on All Saints Bay, Bahia, Brazil. As one of the bigger, emerging economies reliant on commodity exports, Brazil can expect some economic improvement, according to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. Credit: World Bank/Mariana Ceratti

Foreign Direct Investment on Decline, Leaves Developing Countries Unaffected

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA (IDN) – Foreign direct investment is critical for developing and emerging market countries. Their companies need the multinationals' funding and expertise to expand their international sales. The countries need private investment in infrastructure, energy, and water to increase jobs and wages. In fact the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2017 report warned that climate change would hit them the hardest.

The UNCTAD says in its report on October 15 that global foreign direct investment (FDI) tumbled by 41 percent in January-June 2018, to an estimated USD470 billion from USD800 billion in the first half of 2017.

: Ronald Joshua; UN INSIDER; 15 October 2018

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at the IMF Development Committee meeting in Bali, Indonesia. Credit: Grant Ellis/World Bank

Trust Deficit Disorder Jeopardising Sustainable Development

By António Guterres

The following are extensive extracts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to finance ministers and central bank governors at the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) in Bali, Indonesia, on October 13, 2018. Stressing that the meeting was taking place "at a time of enormous uncertainty", he cautioned that high debts in many countries are limiting fiscal space and taking away much needed resources vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). – The Editor

BALI (IDN-INPS) – As Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, you are accustomed to dealing with deficits every day.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 15 October 2018

Image: The flag of Saudi Arabia (centre) flying at United Nations headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Loey Felipe

UN Urges Saudi Arabia to Release All Incarcerated Women Human Rights Defenders

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – For the second time since July 31, UN human rights experts are calling on Saudi Arabia to "immediately and unconditionally" release all women human rights defenders, including six imprisoned on charges relating to their peaceful defence of human rights.

The detained have been charged for being involved in pro-democracy demonstrations, and previously campaigning for the right of women to vote and drive. In late June 2018, a long-standing ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, was lifted by royal decree, UN News reports.

: Jamshed Baruah; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 14 October 2018

Photo: Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS Multimedia Director

World Religious Leaders' Astana Congress Pledges 'Unity in Diversity'

By Ramesh Jaura

ASTANA (IDN) – At a critical point in time when religious tolerance is being consigned to oblivion, an international conference has appealed "to all people of faith and goodwill" to unite, and called for "ensuring peace and harmony on our planet".

The appeal emerged from the two-day Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, the Kazakh city founded on the principle of "unity in diversity". The Congress concluded with a 'peace concert' in which 500 choir singers from five continents of the world took part.

: Ramesh Jaura; CENTRAL ASIA; 14 October 2018

Photo: Ali Baba founder Jack Ma addressing the conference via skype. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

U.S. Foolish To Start Another Cold War, Says Jack Ma

By Kalinga Seneviratne

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – U.S. will suffer more from the current trade war with China, warned Alibaba founder Jack Ma addressing over 1000 business leaders, government officials and economic experts from Malaysia and across the region attending the China Conference here on October 10-11. He added that America has been growing and unemployment has been on the decline, even with the deficit in the trade balance with China.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly cited the huge trade deficit with China as the reason for putting up tariff walls against Chinese goods. Ma warned that such trade wars could cause problems for anyone who trades with China or the U.S.