By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 22 April 2024 (IDN) — Moderna, the drug company made famous for its COVID vaccines, has abandoned plans to construct vaccine plants in Kenya, drawing criticism from the African Union’s public health agency that the company is not committed to ‘vaccine equity’. Africa’s Centers for Disease […]
Africa Marks Earth Day With a Campaign Against Plastics
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 22 April 2024 (IDN) — Earth Day today has been marked around the world with demonstrations, conferences and awards for environmental activists. Africa is part of the program. The theme is “Planet vs Plastics” bringing attention to the serious issue of plastic pollution and how it […]
China-Nepal Military Relations: Risks and Opportunities for India
By Atul Kumar* Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Website carried this article on 20 April. The writer was an expert, who took part in Raisina Debates organised by the New Delhi-based organisation. SYDNEY | 21 April 2024 (IDN) — On 9 March 2024, a Chinese military delegation headed by Major General Zhang Baoqun visited Nepal. They […]
Why Not the Whole World as A “Zone of Peace”?
By P. Soma Palan* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 21 April 2024 (IDN) — I refer to your Article under the Heading “Indian Ocean – a zone of peace sinking in troubled waters”. I wish to express my seemingly radical views on the subject of attaining world peace in the backdrop of the increasing militarization of […]
US Bashed for Vetoing the State of Palestine’s UN Full Membership
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 20 April 2024 (IDN) — As the United States vetoed the Palestine State’s bid for full United Nations membership, the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the US veto was “blatant aggression … which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss”. In a […]
Plastic Pollution: Delayed Action or No Action Will Have Disastrous Consequences
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 20 April 2024 (IDN) — Plastic Pollution Coalition, based in Washington, DC, is one of the strongest third-sector organizations engaged in the Global Plastic Treaty negotiations. The Coalition has been busy preparing for the upcoming fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) negotiating the draft treaty. The sessions will be […]
Will the Ukraine and Gaza Wars Encourage Russia to Support Nuclear-Armed Iran?
By Meir Javedanfar* TEL AVIV | 19 April 2024 (IDN | ELN) — According to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s recent report, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) currently has sufficient uranium enriched to 60% to build three nuclear weapons if it decides to do so. Building a nuclear bomb would provide the IRI […]
The Pitfalls of Investor-State Dispute Settlements Designed to Favour Corporations
By Pedro Labayen Herrera and Guillaume Long* PARIS | 19 April 2024 (IDN) — On February 9, less than 100 days into his transitional one-and-a-half-year term, Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa announced an 11-question referendum to take place on April 21. Amid a historic security crisis that has made Ecuador one of the deadliest countries in […]
An International Treaty to Fight Plastic Pollution is Heading Towards its Final Run
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 18 April 2024 (IDN) — The overwhelming threat of plastic pollution, mostly on high seas and oceans, has long been described as one of the world’s impending environmental disasters. “With a garbage truck worth of plastic entering the ocean every minute, the ocean has long been ground zero for […]
The Fall of Myawaddy Is the Latest Humiliating Defeat for Myanmar’s Military Regime
By Jan Servaes BANGKOK | 18 April 2024 (IDN) — Operation 1027 has caused a change in Myanmar. Since October 2023, the advance of the anti-junta coalition of the Arakan Army (or AA, a mainly Rakhine group), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (or MNDAA, a predominantly Kokang group, a Han Chinese minority) and the […]