By Taro Ichikawa TOKYO | SEOUL | 6 June 2024 (IDN) — Three decades after Japan organised the First International Conference on African Development (TICAD)—in collaboration with the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Bank—its immediate neighbour and former colony (South) Korea convened its first […]
Mexico Elects First Woman President with A Thumping Majority
By Yesko Quiroga* MEXICO CITY | 5 June 2024 (IDN) — It came as no surprise that Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was elected Mexico’s new president on Sunday (June 2). For a year now, the candidate of the ruling coalition has had a lead of between 50 and 60 per cent in most polls. The surprise […]
Jayantha Dhanapala: An Outstanding Practitioner of Multilateralism at its Best—Part 2
By HMGS Palihakkara* Read Part 1: https://indepthnews.net/jayantha-dhanapala-an-outstanding-practitioner-of-multilateralism-at-its-best-part-1/ COLOMBO | 5 June 2024 (IDN) — On the challenge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), there is an animated ongoing discourse about the vistas of material advances AI promises as well as the dangers it can morph into. The human penchant to weaponise almost every technology they invent is […]
Jayantha Dhanapala: An Outstanding Practitioner of Multilateralism at its Best—Part 1
By HMGS Palihakkara* COLOMBO | 4 June 2024 (IDN) — May 27 marked the first year since we lost that voice of reason and warmth—our dear friend and respected senior colleague, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala. The person as well as the persona of JD, as we used to call him fondly, meant many things to most […]
Still a Few More Chapters to be Written Before Guantánamo Disappears
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 4 June 2024 (IDN) — “Guantánamo has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the law”. Did you say that? Did I? No. It was the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, speaking in June 2014. How come that the most powerful […]
Promotion of Technology Will Not Help the Poor to Access Water
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK | 4 June 2024 (IDN) — The recently concluded 10th World Water Forum (WWF) in the Indonesian tourism island of Bali focused on adoption of technology—that will include desalination plants and solar power—as the savior to provide safe drinking water to millions of the poor communities across the world. But activists […]
Debate Brews Over New National Anthem Adopted by Nigerian President
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 3 June 2024 (IDN) — Nigerian President Bola Tinubu hardly anticipated a dust up when he signed a law restoring the country’s 1960 anthem “Nigeria We Hail Thee”—and deleting “Arise O Compatriots”—a tune written by a group of Nigerians in 1978 in the aftermath of a […]
Accusing Israel of Genocide is Factually Wrong
By Alon Ben-Meir* The Israel-Hamas war, which was precipitated by Hamas’ savage attack on Israel, has tragically inflicted massive death and destruction on the Palestinians in Gaza. Although Israel’s retaliation is deemed disproportionate to the number of Israelis slaughtered by Hamas, Israel’s onslaught on Gaza should not be sinisterly classified as an act of genocide […]
South African Activists Win Prestigious Environmental Prize
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 2 June 2024 (IDN) — Indigenous activists Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu of South Africa are among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. The prize celebrates grassroots leaders who prove that ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the environment. The South […]
For The First Time, ANC Loses Its Parliamentary Majority In Historic Election Defeat
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 2 June 2024 (IDN) — The African National Congress, South Africa’s liberation party, appears to have lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in a historic election defeat. Results show that after 30 years as the majority party, the ANC tallied only around 40% of […]