By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Some of the 80 ethnic groups that form the nation of Ethiopia are demanding great autonomy and are voting with their feet for self-government. The Sidama people voted overwhelmingly in November to become self-governing, casting 98.5 percent of the votes backing the change. The Sidama […]
How Nuclear False Warning Could Have Unleashed a Catastrophe
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON (IDN) – Forty years ago, on November 9, the U.S. Defense Department detected an imminent nuclear attack against the United States through the early-warning system of […]
Communities at The Forefront in the HIV/AIDS Response
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the first identification of HIV/AIDS in the United States of America (USA), in 1981, approximately 80 million people have been infected with HIV, and over 40 million have died of AIDS – the highest global death toll of all time – and also one of the […]
Action Needed to Face Looming Danger of Cyberwar
By Arul Louis * NEW YORK (IDN) – The terrifying potential for cyberwar between nations and also asymmetrical cyberwar by non-state actors now looms over the world with the same intensity of the threat of a nuclear holocaust. The danger was writ large in a recent cyber intrusion into a nuclear power plant in India […]
Australia’s ‘Quit Nukes’ Campaign Targets Superannuation Funds
By Neena Bhandari SYDNEY (IDN) – A new campaign is encouraging Australians to urge their superannuation funds to exclude nuclear weapons producers from their investments, consistent with the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 33 states and needs another 17 ratifications to become enforceable under international […]
Anxiety Looms Over the 10th NPT Review Conference Next Year
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. NEW YORK (IDN) – The contentious start of the 74th Session of the First Committee of the General Assembly last October in New York was a harbinger of the difficulties to be faced in the run-up to the […]
End Rape and Usher in A Far-Reaching Shift for Our Society
Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The following statement by Executive Director of UN Women is for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2019. [Also available in ar, es, fr, ru] NEW YORK (IDN) – If I could have one wish granted, it might well be a total end to […]
Greta Thunberg and Schwarzenegger’s Bike Ride Conveys a Climate Message
By J W Jackie RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – Greta Thunberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger are two names uncommonly seen together, but they made November headlines after sharing a cycle ride together. Generations apart and from wildly different backgrounds, it would be easy to think the two would have little in common, but they share a […]
The Humanitarian Emergency the World is Ignoring
By Kwame Buist ROME (IDN) – Almost daily violent attacks in the Sahel nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have displaced nearly one million people and caused emergency levels of malnutrition, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. “Conflict is moving forward and moving fast,” says Margot van der Velden, Director of WFP’s Emergencies […]
Odds Still Stacked Against Poorest Children
By Sean Buchanan NEW YORK (IDN) – Although there have been historic gains over the last 30 years in improving children’s lives, urgent action is needed if the poorest children are to feel the impact, warns a new UN report. The report, published on November 18 by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and released ahead […]