By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – A new study warns that a third of tropical African plants are on the path to extinction, with much of western Africa standing to lose more than 40 percent of plant diversity. Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are […]
The China-India Double Helix in the Reemergence of Asia as World’s Dominant Power
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn * NEW DELHI (IDN) – It has been posited that in the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, it is being Asianized. But is the story of the Asian success as blossoming as it looks. There are immense challenges […]
A Lot More Needs Be Done to Achieve Gender Parity
By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Government Ministers and senior officials from the Ministries of Women, National Planning, and Finance, representatives of civil society and other key stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region have gathered at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand for a three-day Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+25 Review […]
The two-state Solution is Dead as Netanyahu Pushes for ‘Greater Israel’
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It’s unbelievable that 102 years have passed since the Balfour Declaration when the British colonial government decided to give the Jews their own homeland – but also promised that “it be done without infringing on the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish population”. Now, this […]
Ethiopia‘s Fragile Union Threatened as Sidama People Vote for Self-Government
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 […]