By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | VIENNA | ASTANA (IDN) – The Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo have called on all States Signatories “to spare no effort to ensure that the nuclear test ban becomes legally binding by achieving the entry into force” of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban […]
California Leads the Way in Support of Nuclear Disarmament
By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – The State Senate of California, the most populous state in the United States, has adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 33 (AJR 33), which calls upon the federal government to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of national security policy, and spearhead […]
Guterres Urges Security Council to Work with Myanmar, Says Rohingya Refugees Lack Life-Saving Assistance
By António Guterres A report released on August 27 by UN investigators accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings and gang rapes of the Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for prosecution of the country’s commander-in-chief, senior General Ming Aung Hlaing, and five generals. On August 28, UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke “with a […]
Kofi Annan: A Man of Rare Warmth, Wit and Wisdom
By Shashi Tharoor Those who worked with him and those whose lives he touched knew the former United Nations Secretary-General possessed a rare ingredient not always found in successful men – he was a wonderful human being, writes Shashi Tharoor, former UN Under-Secretary-General under Kofi Annan, currently a Member of Parliament in India. This article […]
Memories of Iraq-Iran War Haunt U.S. Involvement in Yemen
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The evidence that has come out from the UN and NGOs makes clear, without any reservation or ambiguity, that on August 9, 2018 dozens of school children on a bus in Yemen were killed by a Saudi Arabian air-strike, and that American supplied weapons had been used, […]
Kenya Signs Deal with U.S. to Finance Wind Power
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – Kenya has signed agreements with a U.S. wind energy company, providing a major boost for wind power and food security. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said the ‘Big Four agenda’ projects – boosting manufacturing industry, promoting food security, providing affordable housing and universal healthcare coverage […]
Settlers Face Eviction in Kenya as Gov’t Plan to Save Trees
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Some 40,000 settlers in the Maasai Mau forest in Kenya face imminent eviction by the Kenyan government which says it is protecting the forest in the name of conservation. Deputy President William Ruto said those who encroached on the forest should be flushed […]
Southern African Governments Pressed for Land Reform
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The day of reckoning is arriving in Southern Africa for the hundreds of thousands of blacks whose lands were taken forcibly by white settlers – a crime that goes unpunished despite promises for land reform year after year. Pressure is growing on governments to take […]
Indigenous Peoples in the Grip of ‘Criminalization’, Warns New UN Report
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) – A new United Nations report warns that “in a wide variety of countries,” both physical violence and legal prosecution are used against Indigenous Peoples defending their rights and lands. They are “criminalized”. The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to the […]
Space Science Vital to Achieving Global Development Goals
By Justus Wanzala NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Space science and earth observation are some of the key pillars in the attainment of most of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to experts participating in an international conference, organized by the Regional Centre for Mapping Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Kenya’s capital city. The […]