By Santa Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) — COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods around the world in 2020, pushing back into poverty an additional 119-124 million people, says a new United Nations report. An equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs was lost, and the number of people suffering from […]
Indian Univ. Fight against the Pandemic Adopts ‘Communication from Within’ Strategy
By Moumita Maji* SANTINIKETAN, India (IDN) — Different units of Visva-Bharati University have come together since the onset of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, in an attempt to fight the virus and ensure the safety of the community with minimum expenses but maximum courage. The home-grown strategy developed is unique with an emphasis […]
Miles to Go Before the World Moves Further from the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe
By Aar Jay Persius BERLIN (IDN) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed at their June 16 summit in Geneva the principle agreed on by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. They also decided to […]
Growing Calls for Nigerian President to Step Down
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — New troubles are facing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, already struggling to rein in the kidnappings of Nigerian schoolchildren in the country’s Northwest. Now, a federal High Court has ordered the Government to pay $951 million to the Bayelsa State government, while another court has ordered […]
Moving Tributes for South Africa’s Iconic Composer
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Two anthems, one country. Such was the inspiration for President Nelson Mandela in 1994 to declare that both “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (Lord bless Africa) and “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika” (English: “The Call of South Africa”)—the state anthem inherited from the previous apartheid government—would be the […]
Putin Confirms That Africa Is One of Russia’s Foreign Policy Priorities
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — While Africa has moved to center stage as a Russian foreign policy priority, questions are being raised about the record of human rights abuses by Russian mercenaries in Chad and the Central African Republic, among other countries. United Nations investigators are examining allegations of atrocities […]
Europe Should Be Taking the Lead to Agree on Putin Summit
Merkel and Macron Ready to Talk Despite EU Refusal Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — That bar, the Red Star, on the far side of eastern Europe is closed. So why is the Black Star on this side of the street still open, and even extending its drinking hours? Once the Warsaw Pact […]
Militarization, Environment, and Hybrid Maritime Trade War Under a Covid-19 Mask
By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake The writer, Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, is a Social and Medical Anthropologist, at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. COLOMBO (IDN) — On June 24, Poson Poya (full moon) day, one of the most sacred days in a Sri Lankan Buddhist’s calendar, the day that Buddhism arrived on […]
WHO Issues First Global Report in Artificial Intelligence in Health
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great promise for improving the delivery of healthcare and medicine worldwide, but only if ethics and human rights are put at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO’s report, Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for […]
Generation Equality Forum Will Consider Seven Ways to Change the World
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) — Convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with youth and civil society, the Generation Equality Forum is taking place in Paris, from June 30 to July 2. The Forum will bring together governments, feminist leaders, youth, and change makers from […]