By Devendra Kamarajan ACCRA (IDN) – A young inventor, Frank Darko, has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta region reach schools. Currently, they must swim or wade through at least one river every day to get to the nearest school. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy […]
Silk Road: A Debt ‘Trap’ or an Opportunity for the West Joining China to Assist Developing Countries?
By Dr. Palitha Kohona The author is former Foreign Secretary and former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. COLOMBO (IDN) – “Any conflict between the U.S. and China, including a trade war, would do irreparable damage to both, not to mention the rest of the world. However, the two giants have a unique opportunity […]
UN Specialised Agency IFAD Joins 79-nation ACP to Rescue African Agriculture
IDN interviews IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE (IDN) – Smallholder rural farmers in Zimbabwe are set to benefit from international funding intended to improve access to inputs, irrigation and the adoption of smart farming practices in the face of predicted El Nino-induced drought. On the first visit to Zimbabwe of a president […]
It is High Time for the U.S. and Russia to Get Off the Treadmill to Catastrophe
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball The author is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. He wrote this editorial for the December issue of Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “[t]he Cold War is back…but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage […]
Let’s Train Humans First … Before We Train Machines
Viewpoint by Hazel Henderson* JACKSONVILLE, Florida (IDN) – We humans are at the absurd stage in our technological evolution when we seem to have abandoned our common sense. Billions are spent by governments, corporations and investors in training computer-based algorithms (i.e. computer programs) in today’s mindless rush to create so-called “artificial” intelligence, widely advertised as […]
Sri Lanka’s Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 2
By Dr. Palitha Kohona The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 2 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka’s University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1. COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) […]
Leaders Pledge to Boost Blue Economy, Protect Water Bodies
By Justus Wanzala NAIROBI (IDN) – The Kenyan capital was literally painted ‘blue’ for the first-ever global conference on the blue economy attended by over 18,000 participants from 180 countries. Running from November 26 to 28, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference ended with various countries signing commitments to ensure that humanity benefits from the blue […]
China Not Interested In Any ‘Cold War’
Viewpoint by Shen Dingli The author is a professor at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai. This article first appeared on China Daily on 4 December 2018. SHANGHAI (IDN-INPS) – Of late, there has been talk of and concern over a possible “Cold War” between the United States and China. The argument goes […]
Sri Lanka’s Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 1
By Dr. Palitha Kohona The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 1 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka’s University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – We look back on a […]
U.S. INF Treaty Termination May Once Again Trigger Nuclear Arms Race
By Daryl G. Kimball and Kingston A. Reif The following is the text of the analysis in Issue Brief (Volume 10, Issue 10, December 4, 2018) by the Arms Control Association (ACA). Daryl G. Kimball, is the executive director and Kingston A. Reif the director for disarmament and threat reduction policy of ACA. – The […]