By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – It was inevitable during a lockdown that sales of Kenya’s flower exports would dry up as buyers make fewer impulse purchases of carnations, roses and other blossoms. According to data from the Kenya Flower Council, sales of cut flowers in overseas markets have fallen below […]
America Should Not Be Number One Because It’s A Spent Star
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power The US needs first and foremost to look after itself-– its often counterproductive foreign policy, its poverty, its third rate health services, its misdistribution of income, to save the economy and to save those most hurt by the Coronavirus crisis. LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It might seem that the world is […]
Africans Mourn the Passing of a Distinguished Thinker and two Outstanding Artists
By Lisa VIves, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – While the rate of fatalities in Africa is still much below that of developed countries, every life lost is a library gone, according to a saying. Here are three noted Africans who passed this year just as thousands of lives were tragically lost to the […]
Kenyans Are Innovative in Finding Ways to Fight COVID-19
By Justus Wanzala BUSIA, Kenya (IDN) – It is a hot afternoon at a bus station at Mungatsi market centre, Nambale Sub-County, in Busia County, Western Kenya. Many people, many travellers, are queuing to wash their hands. Each person is maintaining a distance from the other as they wash their hands and board public service […]
Women Leaders Rise in Solidarity to Save Lives and Protect Livelihoods
By UN Women “Rise for All” calls on all leaders to meet the human crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and fully fund the UN Response and Recovery Trust Fund NEW YORK (IDN) – Supporting the UN Secretary-General’s call for solidarity and urgent action in response to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, an initial group of […]
COVID-19: The Trump Administration’s Attack on China and the WHO Is Unfounded
Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad* This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared. This is the first part of a two-part series. The second is available here. KOLKATA, India (IDN) – On April 14, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a news […]
COVID-19: This Is No Time to Start A Coronavirus Blame Game
Viewpoint by John McCarthy * MELBOURNE (IDN) – Australia’s decision to spearhead an international enquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — read China’s lack of transparency and the WHO’s mistakes — is a nice hoary bellow from the domestic political ramparts, but it is a policy mistake. The Australian opposition’s support for the […]
One Year on, Easter Bombing in Sri Lanka Continues to Puzzle
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 39th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports. SYDNEY (IDN) – A 22-year-old Sri Lankan law graduate became the first Islamic suicide terrorist a year ago in the predominantly Buddhist Sri […]
ISRAEL: How ‘Centrist’ Gantz Resurrected Rightist Netanyahu
By Ramzy Baroud * This article was first published on the author’s website www.ramzybaroud.net on 22 April 2020. MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Washington (IDN) -– It was intended to be a Machiavellian move, but the decision by Benny Gantz, leader of Israel’s Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) coalition, to join a Benjamin Netanyahu-led government is likely to […]
Why the OPEC+ Deal Is a Many-Splendoured Thing
Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar The writer is a former Indian diplomat. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared. NEW DELHI (IDN) – A perfect deal is where all protagonists get something out of it. All oil-producing countries stand to gain […]