By Sean Buchanan GENEVA (IDN) – A list of urgent, global health challenges released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the beginning of 2020 reflects deep concern that leaders are failing to invest sufficient resources in core health priorities and systems. This, says the Geneva-based UN agency, is putting lives, livelihoods and economies in […]
US-China Trade Deal – The Show Isn’t Over Yet
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Dr. Yiyong Liang* NEW DELHI | BEIJING (IDN) – Trade wars are fascinating where not only the outcomes but also the tactics and strategy matter. Sun Tzu said: “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory […]
Putin Promises Incentives to Boost Russia’s Population
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – “We need to address large-scale social, economic and technological tasks facing the country more quickly and, without delay. Our society is clearly calling for change. People want development,” President Vladimir Putin said in his wide-ranging address on January 15 to the Federal Assembly at the Manezh Central Exhibition […]
Militant Youth Pin Hopes on Uganda’s ‘New Nightmare’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – He’s elusive. He escapes, he hides. Police keep chasing him like a video game character or a superhero in a movie. But despite their best efforts, authorities have been unable to stop Robert Kyagulanyi – a member of parliament and a popular reggae singer who […]
Australia Burns Furiously but Still Remains an Attractive Destination to Sri Lankans
By Dr Palitha Kohona The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. COLOMBO (IDN) – Summer temperatures continue to establish new records. The capital clocks up an unprecedented 44 degrees Celsius, a more familiar figure in Middle Eastern cities. Bush fires have continued to […]
Ghana’s Year of Return Brings Call to Broaden Scope
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – When Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo pronounced 2019 as the Year of Return, his words resounded with warmth and joy to all people of African descent. So began a year-long calendar of events including concerts, art shows, visits to heritage sites, fashion shows, movie premieres and […]
Passing of Acclaimed Nigerian Novelist Grieved
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike, novelist extraordinaire, passed this month into eternity, writes Nigerian author Okey Ndibe. Born April 28, 1931, he had a rich life as an academic, bureaucrat, father to an only son, Osita Ike (who preceded him in death), husband (to Adebimpe Olurinsola Ike, […]
Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
Breaking the Impasse on Donbass
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The struggle for the Donbass region in the eastern and southern Ukraine goes on, seemingly never endingly. It’s now six years since dissident militias threw off the yoke of the central government in Kiev and declared their de-facto independence. They were supported by Russian troops which at […]
Experts Plead for Foiling Collapse of the Iran Nuclear Deal
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) – Since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA, also known as the “Iran nuclear deal”, in May 2018, a widespread view is that the regime in Tehran is yearning for an atomic bomb. Washington experts, however, maintain that while Iran’s violations of the JCPOA “are serious, they are […]