By Sugeeswara Senadhira COLOMBO (IDN) — Though Muslim women have been considered a group that shunned politics for generations, in recent months, there has been a remarkable change in their awareness of political rights. Reflecting this new awareness, a group of Muslim women displayed their desire to take up the cause of Sri Lankan women […]
Zimbabwe: Growing Lettuce in Empty Plastic Bottles
By Farai Shawn Matiashe MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Ruth Rugeje, 38, monitors plants of cabbages, a pale green leafy vegetable, grown in empty two-litre bottles in the backyard of her home in Mutapa, a high-density suburb in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru. This innovative farmer picked these plastic bottles from the illegal dumping sites […]
Pacific Leaders Urge Re-Focus on Climate Emergency
Viewpoint by Volker Boege Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission. BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — At the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022, the leaders of the small island—or ‘big ocean’—countries in the Pacific called for a re-focus on the global climate emergency. […]
Africa Would Do Well to Stop Playing with Fire
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — There is a fire in Ouagadougou. And who’s to say where it’s catching next? For the second time in eight months, the military in Burkina Faso struck in a palace coup that removed military leader […]
What If Russia Unleashes a Less Deadly Weapon on Ukraine?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine have triggered widespread speculation in the US that Russian President Vladimir Putin may unleash his stockpile of “tactical nuclear weapons”, which may be less devastating than the deadly US weapons that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki back in August 1945. […]
Doubts Whether Putin Can Defeat Ukraine and Maintain Power in Moscow
Viewpoint by John Feffer Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a project of the Institute for Policy Studies, issued this article on September 28, 2022. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — When a country starts casting around for 60-year-old veterans to send to the front, you know something’s wrong. All hands don’t go on deck unless the ship […]
Lessons of the Cambodian-UN War Crimes Trials
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Finally, finally, the over-long, fifteen-year-long trials of the leaders of the murderous Khmer Rouge leadership of Cambodia are concluded. It has been water on stone, but the conclusion is the stone has cracked. The New York Times reported on September 22: “The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts […]
ANC Youth League Defends Support for Referendum in Occupied Ukraine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — South Africa’s ANC Youth League is facing sharp criticism for endorsing Russia’s referenda in occupied parts of Ukraine, which many countries have dismissed as unacceptable, in violation of the United Nations Charter and illegal under international law. The referenda were designed to pave the way […]
Genocide Suspect Rebuffs International Court Trying Hate Speech Crimes
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A Rwandan businessman and alleged genocidaire failed to appear in court, where he is being tried on charges of masterminding and financing the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Felicien Kabuga, 87, is accused of aiding and abetting hit squads who slaughtered ethnic Tutsis and with using a […]
Russia & China Face Draft Resolutions at the UN Rights Council
By A.L.A Azeez GENEVA (IDN) — At the current session ≈ of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in addition to Sri Lanka, both Russia and China are facing a draft resolution and a draft decision, respectively. This must be the first time in HRC (or its predecessor—the Commission on Human Rights) that both […]