By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 13 June 2023 (IDN) — The widespread proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI)—and its CHATBOT search engine—has prompted the United Nations to propose a “set of guardrails” to prevent abuses and disinformation. The motive is to help governments with guidelines that “promote facts, while exposing conspiracies and lies, and safeguarding freedom […]
Spending on Nuclear Arms Reaches a Hefty $83 Billion & Rising
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 12 June 2023 (IDN) — As geopolitics take a turn for the worse—with Russian nuclear threats in Ukraine, the saber-rattling by North Korea and the increasing political confrontation between the US and China—there are rising investments in the world’s expanding nuclear arsenals. Global spending on nuclear weapons increased in 2022 […]
Corruption Is a Growing Threat to Africa’s Precarious Economies
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 12 June 2023 (IDN) — Declining profits from oil and gas production may no longer be sufficient to cover up weaknesses in African economies, including surging food prices, high rates of food insecurity particularly among the rural population, and corruption. With its once abundant oil fields, Equatorial […]
U.S. Evangelical Group Promotes Anti-Gay Agenda Across Africa
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 12 June 2023 (IDN) — An American evangelical lobby group has been coaching high-ranking African politicians and religious and civic leaders to oppose comprehensive sex education (CSE) across the continent. According to openDemocracy, an independent news website, African ambassadors to the UN have gone to the Arizona […]
Investigative Global South Journalists to Receive Awards for Excellence
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 12 June 2023 (IDN) — A select group of investigative reporters from the global South will be recognized this year for outstanding work at the 11th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, from September 19-22. Their prize, the Shining Light Award, honors journalists whose work was […]
Universalization of Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty Is Essential
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | TOKYO, 11 June 2023 (IDN) — Peacebuilder and Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda, who is president of the Tokyo-based Soka Gakkai International (SGI), issued a statement ahead of the meeting of the Group of 7 (G7) countries in Hiroshima May 19-21, calling on the G7 leaders to take bold steps toward […]
Behind Water Stresses Around the World
By John P. Ruehl Around the world, significant issues are negatively impacting water security. While the situation appears dire, cooperation initiatives show some signs of relief. This article was produced by Globetrotter. John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to […]
Reversing Child Labour is Possible
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal, 9 June 2023 (IDN) — A little more than an year ago the international community gathered in Durban, South Africa to chalk out a way forward in the fight against child labour. The gathering, officially the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, did indeed provide a roadmap, […]
WHO and the Global Fund Commit to Enhance Collaboration
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA, 9 June 2023 (IDN) —The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) intend to build stronger and more resilient health systems. With this in view, they signed a new and revised Strategic Framework for Collaboration on June 8. It aims at […]
Nuclear Clouds Over the 38th Parallel
Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BONN, Germany, 8 June 2023 (IDN) — North Korea has continued to advance its nuclear weapons program and has launched more than 100 missiles since the beginning of 2022, some with intercontinental range. In South […]