By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, […]
New Study Asks Asia-Pacific to Raise Ambitions Beyond Mere Economic Growth
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is United Nations Under–Secretary–General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) – Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up […]
2020 Trump Budget Aims to Boost U.S. Nuclear Capabilities
Viewpoint by Kingston A. Reif The writer is director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at Arms Control Association (ACA). This article appeared in Volume 49: April 2019 of the Association’s monthly journal ‘Arms Control Today’. WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – .Consistent with the recommendations of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration’s fiscal […]
China Thwarts India’s Central Asian Ambitions
By Micha’el Tanchum* TEL AVIV (IDN-INPS) – A recent investigation revealed that Chinese troops are stationed on Tajikistan’s south-eastern border, 30 kilometres from Pakistan-administered Kashmir across Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor. India has unsuccessfully sought to establish its own military base in Tajikistan for over 15 years. The discovery of Chinese troops constitutes a severe setback to […]
Forthcoming Book on CIA Meat for Global Criminal Court
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) which prosecutes crimes against humanity is under attack again by the Trump Administration for pursuing Americans. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama supported it. George W. Bush tried to close it down but then decided to cooperate with it. Donald Trump is against […]
Ocean Warming Blamed for Lack of Iceland’s Capelin
By Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish. According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at […]
Bauxite Mining Threatens Ghana’s Crown Jewel of Biodiversity
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Environmental groups in Ghana are waging an eleventh-hour battle to stop the government of Ghana from opening the Atewa Forest Reserve – a crown jewel of biodiversity and a source of three rivers – to commercial large-scale bauxite mining. Their resistance conforms to […]
Gambia’s Ex-President Plundered Nearly One Billion Dollars
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Experts who follow the money are still scratching their heads as to how a quarter of a billion dollars vanished from the national coffers along with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh at roughly the same time. Before his flight into exile in 2017, Jammeh ruled […]
Why a White Christian Isn’t Called a Terrorist
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 31st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series. SYDNEY (IDN) – After a White Australian of Christian background Brenton Tarrant gunned down 50 Muslims praying at a Christchurch mosque on a Friday, […]
Vatican Encourages Faith Communities to Help Achieve SDGs
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | VATICAN CITY (IDN) – Much water has flown under the Tiber bridges since the Holy See declined an invitation in 1923 to join the League of Nations stating that its only competency was in matters of elucidation of questions of principle in morality and public international law. Forty-one years later, […]