By Saltanat Suraganova ALMATY (IDN | Kazinform) – The name of Abai is known worldwide just as Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pushkin are well-known in many countries. His books were translated into many foreign languages. So, we can say definitely that Abai made a contribution to not only Kazakh culture and folklore but world literature as […]
UN Survey Finds COVID-19 Has Enhanced Online Shopping
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover,” says Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The acceleration of online shopping globally underscores the […]
UN Agency Points to Linkages Between Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage
By Richard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) – A new UN report has documented the interlinkages between trafficking in persons and marriage, and specified steps for governments and other authorities to strike back. Published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the report points out that across the world, girls as young as 12 are […]
Post-COVID-19 Sustainable Cities: What Can Universities Do?
Viewpoint by Juan Romo* This article is one of two published by the UN Chronicle providing commentary by a distinguished scholar on the Secretary-General’s Policy Brief: “COVID-19 in an Urban World”. Click here to read the other article. NEW YORK (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to large cities. The high levels […]
‘Glasgow Agreement’ Seizes the Initiative on Climate Action
Viewpoint by Andrea(s) Speck* SEVILLE (IDN) – After more than 40 years since the first UN conference on climate change in 1979 – and after more than 25 years of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) – the world is still far from any serious climate action. Although carbon emissions keep rising, there has […]
A Long Road Ahead to COVID-19 Immunity Even with Vaccines
Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha* NEW DELHI (IDN) – As the pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, many countries seem to have given up the fight against COVID-19 and are now waiting for a vaccine to protect against the virus. With cases exceeding 32 million, and more than a million dead, the world economy has […]
COVID-19 Highlights the Global Structural Dependence on Exploitable Labour
Viewpoint by Randall Hansen* TORONTO (IDN) – In November 2019, a federal government official visited the University of Toronto’s Munk School and asked its faculty to delineate coming global threats. We spoke of inequality, hunger, climate change, sanitation, and plastic pollution, among others. No one mentioned a microbe; a discussion of the threat of immunity […]
New Caledonia Votes to Remain a French Colony, But Indigenous Kanakas Smell Independence of the South Pacific Islands
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) – Voters in the South Pacific Islands French colony of New Caledonia have narrowly voted to remain with French rule, but indigenous Kanaks have been celebrating the outcome of October 5 vote as taking a step closer to independence. A third referendum needs to be held in two years’ time […]
China Intimidating Taiwan
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) – China has decided once again – as it does periodically – to up the ante with Taiwan, the big off-shore island, it claims as its own. Last month China sharply increased its military manoeuvres close to Taiwan’s borders. In return, Taiwan sent its fighter planes aloft every […]
Cash-Strapped Sudan Faces New Demands Before Painful Sanctions Are Lifted
Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. has now conditioned the lifting of painful sanctions on Sudan until it agrees to Washington’s Middle East agenda and to normalizing relations with Israel. If Sudan agrees before U.S. elections in November, sanctions could be lifted, opening the floodgates to desperately needed investment for […]