By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 21 Feb 2023 (IDN) — At the opening of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa this weekend, UN Secretary General António Guterres scolded an “unfair financial system” for denying many African countries the debt relief and concessional financing they need. “Systems and structures, from health and […]
Nigerian Central Bank on Hot Seat After Sweeping Banknote Recall
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | LAGOS, 20 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Chaos! It’s hard to find a better word to describe the confusion, frustration and anger felt by many Nigerians discovering that, in a surprise move by the Central Bank, their naira currency was being pulled from circulation and replaced by […]
Sankara Family Rejects Plot Chosen by Government for His Reburial
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 20 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The military government in Burkina Faso announced this week that the burial of the country’s former president, Thomas Sankara, will take place in a private ceremony next week at the spot where he was assassinated in a coup more than three decades […]
As Russian Invasion Enters its Second Year, the UN Remains Paralysed
By Arul Louis The writer is a New York-based non-resident senior fellow of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank. He can be contacted @arulouis. UNITED NATIONS, 20 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Paralysed by its own Charter and structure, the world organisation that is charged with preventing wars confronts an existential challenge […]
Ukraine Needs to Learn About US-Russia Proxy Wars
By Jeffrey D. Sachs This article was published in JDS and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK, 19 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The greatest enemy of economic development is war. If the world slips further into global conflict, our economic hopes and our very survival could go up in flames. The Bulletin […]
China’s COVID-19 Data Flawed: 82,238 ‘Official’ to 1.5 million ‘Estimated’ Deaths
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 19 Feb 2023 (IDN) — “China has created a miracle in human history, in which a highly populous nation has successfully pulled through a pandemic.” The above quote can be read in the report published by the state news agency Xinhua of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the […]
Is the Non-Aligned Movement Struggling to be Re-Born?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 18 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In the 1960s and 70s, the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), founded in Belgrade in 1961, was one of the largest and most powerful political coalitions (now numbering 120) led initially by countries such as Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Zambia, Algeria, Cuba and Sri Lanka. […]
UN Chief Urges World’s Rich to Finance SDGs with $500 Billion
By J Nastranis NEW YORK, 17 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In view of the failure of the global financial system to effectively cushion the impacts of current global crises on the Global South—the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing climate emergency—the UN has called for an increase of about $500 billion each […]
Universities Step Up Focus on SDGs in Post-Pandemic Revival
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY, 16 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Universities are sometimes seen as ivory towers aloft from the communities they are supposed to serve. But, in reviving a sector that was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, universities are now taking the lead in working with the communities to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable […]
Debate About Military Use of Artificial Intelligence
By J C Suresh TORONTO | WASHINGTON 16 Feb 2023 (IDN) — As an increasing number of States are developing military AI capabilities, which may include using AI to enable autonomous systems, the United States has proposed a “Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy” during a conference on the issue […]