Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The arrival in Sweden of 163,000 refugees, mainly Syrians, in 2015 – making for a higher proportion of Sweden’s population than almost any other European country – has been used by the far right to drum up broader fears about immigration. A recent spate of shootings, grenade […]
Ugandan Leader Tarnished by Torture of Reggae Star Bobi Wine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | KAMPALA (IDN) – Images of a popular reggae music star in a wheel chair holding crutches have raised questions of whether Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered the arrest and torture of the star-turned-parliamentarian, Bobi Wine, who attended a rally of the opposition in the town of […]
Big Oil Locked in War with Institutions of the Art World
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – A growing number of museums in Europe are turning thumbs down on oil company dollars when the companies not only contribute to global warming but fund the “science” that supposedly disproves it. Oil company funding also misleads public perception of environmental devastation as in Nigeria […]
Mauritius Approaches UN Court for Return of Diego Garcia
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – When colonial powers redrew borders in Africa and picked choice lands for themselves and less desirable land for everyone else, some of those deals remained through this century. Few were undone. A case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will decide if colonial deals […]
BIMSTEC Viable, Though SAARC Deadlocked
By Sugeeswara Senadhira The author is Director (Research & International Media), Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. This article first appeared in Ceylon Today on September 3, and is being reproduced with the author’s permission. – The Editor COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – Sri Lanka, as the new Chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and […]
Conference Comes to the Aid of Drought-Stricken, Boko Haram Terrorised Lake Chad Region
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN (IDN) – Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Europe’s powerhouse Germany, which joins the UN Security Council next January as a non-permanent member for 2019-2020, has pledged 100 million Euros (116 million USD) in emergency aid until 2020 to lessen the sufferings of over 10 million people in Africa’s crisis-ridden Lake Chad […]
UN Chief Urges Greater Investment in Diplomacy for Peace
By António Guterres Inclusive mediation requires paying greater attention to the gender dimensions of conflict, including conflict-related sexual violence and the gendered impact of decisions around post-war reconstruction, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Following are his remarks, as delivered to the Security Council, to the open debate on the maintenance of international peace and security: […]
Uncertainty About Whether the U.S. and Russia Can Avert a New Arms Race
By Daryl G. Kimball The United States and Russia are rushing forward with costly, ambitious plans to upgrade their Cold War nuclear arsenals and develop new types of destabilizing nuclear weapon, writes Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in the September issue of Arms Control Today. The editorial appeared with the […]
Out of Africa into Asian Games Arena – ‘Shameful’, Critics Say
By Kalinga Seneviratne NEW DELHI (IDN) – It has been simmering since the Doha Asian Games of 2006, which is now perhaps coming to a boil, about whether Arab Gulf States flushed with petrodollars should be allowed to import athletes from Africa merely to win medals at Asian Games. There is a lot of resentment […]
EU Slates U.S. for Slashing Aid Funding to Palestinian Refugees, UN Urges Increased Assistance
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly three months after the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in its 2017 Annual Report warned about the deteriorating state of health across the agency’s five areas of operation – Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, and […]