By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – “I love you, that’s why I beat you.” So ends a poem by the Ghanaian writer Mariska Araba Taylor-Darko about a violent spouse and an abused woman who lays the blame of the daily beating on herself. The poem, A Beating for Love, takes special […]
Verification is Key to Denuclearization of North Korea
Viewpoint by Lassina Zerbo “The CTBTO and its technological tools are uniquely placed to provide adequate verification and to monitor an end to nuclear tests in North Korea,” writes Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. This article first appeared on Arms Control Association website on November 1, 2018. – […]
Experts Push for Trump-Putin Accord on Nuclear Forces Treaty
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – In the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to “terminate” the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty “in response to Russian violations of the agreement”, an international group consisting of high-level experts and former officials is warning of the dangers of the collapse of the treaty and urging […]
UN Kicks Off 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – Worldwide movements and corporate walk-outs have exposed the magnitude of violence against women and girls and highlighted how often such violence is normalized. Research shows that violence against women and girls affects one in three women worldwide and that no country is immune to this pandemic. Yet instead […]
Technology Comes to Rescue as Freshwater Becomes Scarcer
By Anna Kucirkova UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas (IDN-INPS) – Fresh water is the most important resource for human life on earth. People can survive far longer without food than without water, and virtually all of our food sources require fresh water to grow or create. Global climate change and the exponential increase in population has led […]
UN Inching Towards Peace Talks on Yemen
By J Nastranis Fourteen million civilians are on the edge of famine in Yemen. Starvation is on the horizon, warns WFP‘s chief David Beasley. What he has seen during a recent visit to the country is “the stuff of nightmares, horror, deprivation and misery”. UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Martin Griffiths is therefore at pains to […]
China Chides U.S. for Portraying Silk Road as ‘Trap’
By Devinder Kumar PORT MORESBY (IDN) – China’s President Xi Jinping has rejected U.S. criticism of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, vowing it is not “a trap” and that it is not designed to serve any hidden geopolitical agenda. The project is also known as Silk Road Economic Belt. Xi was addressing a meeting of […]
Finland Eyes Nuclear Power to Hit Climate Targets
By Jeffrey Donovan The author is Press and Public Information Officer of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), based in Vienna. This article first appeared on the IAEA website on November 16, 2018. VIENNA (IDN-INPS) – Along the pine-lined shores of Finland’s bucolic western coast, a clean energy vision of the Nordic country’s future is quietly […]
A Punitive Approach to Iran’s Missile Activities Will Not Fix the Problem
Europe Should Promote a Regional Security Mechanism in the Middle East Viewpoint by Dr Tytti Erästö * European powers deserve credit for their efforts to maintain the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but their current coercive approach to Iran’s missiles is counterproductive, writes Dr Tytti Erästö, a researcher in the Stockholm International Peace […]
ASEAN Refrains from Taking Sides as Trade Dominates Summit
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – Addressing a media conference at the close of the three-day 33rd ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit on November 15, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed fears that “circumstances may come” where the regional organization would have to “choose one over the other”. Though not naming […]