IDN-InDepthNews

Africa2016-01-202023-07-10

Cobalt for Smartphones Mined by Children in the DRC

NEW YORK – Children as young as seven haul cobalt for foreign companies operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mineral ends up in smartphones, cars and computers made by such brands as Apple, Microsoft and Vodafone, according to claims by Amnesty International in a new report.

Children carrying back-breaking loads and working in intense heat receive between one or two dollars a day. They work without face masks or gloves, the investigators reported, and are beaten by security guards employed by mining companies.

UN INSIDER2016-01-192023-07-10

Ban Ki-moon Appoints 17 Eminent Advocates to Achieve 17 SDGs

NEW YORK – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a group of eminent persons to assist in the campaign to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the world leaders unanimously adopted in September 2015.

They include a queen, a crown princess, a president, a prime minister, a Chinese e-commerce pioneer, and a player often ranked as the world’s best footballer.

With a mandate to support the Secretary-General in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030, the newly named SDG Advocates will add powerful voices to spur action on the visionary and transformational sustainable development agenda. The 17 SDGs aim to end poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while leaving no one behind.

ARMAMENTS2016-01-192023-07-10

New Study Says Next Generation Remains Oblivious To Nuclear Dangers

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – For over 70 years since the disastrous bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, peace activists have continued their relentless global campaign for a world without nuclear weapons.

The United Nations, which has remained engaged in a longstanding debate, continues to adopt scores of resolutions every year on nuclear disarmament.

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-01-192023-07-12

Peace is a Long Shot in Afghanistan, But Well Worth Trying

LONDON – The so-called Quadrilateral Coordination Group – comprising representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the U.S. – met in Kabul on January 18 to hold discussions on a roadmap to peace in Afghanistan.

A former Taliban senior official said that “military confrontation is not the solution” and that a “political solution” was needed to end the war in Afghanistan. “The motivation for peace talks was very weak in the past,” Mohammad Hassan Haqyar said. “But now the situation has changed and the parties seem to have a readiness for dialogue.”

Asia-Pacific2016-01-192023-07-10

Digital India Has Much To Attract China

By Shastri Ramachandaran* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BEIJING (IDN) – Although India and China are politically, culturally and economically different, the two countries have much more in common than the border and Buddhism. India’s economy, for one, is very much on a China-like trajectory. That has been so since the economic reforms piloted by Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister after P V Narasimha Rao became India’s Prime Minister in 1991.

Climate Action2016-01-182023-07-10

UNFCCC Chief Praises UAE Founder’s Vision at Crown Prince’s Court

ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has abundant opportunities to diversify its economy away from oil as a result of the impulse of the Paris Agreement, the head of the UN climate convention said to a distinguished audience at the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Addressing the Court, Christiana Figueres said opportunities ranged from displacing coal on world markets via low cost gas supplies to ramping up the global deployment of renewable energy.

ACP Group of States2016-01-182023-07-10

India Shares South-South Cooperation Experience with the ACP Group

BRUSSELS (INPS | ACP) – Representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in Brussels joined a stimulating discussion on South-South cooperation, during a special presentation by one of India’s leading experts on the issue, at ACP House on January 13.

Director General of the New Delhi-based think-tank, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Professor Sachin Chaturvedi presented his new book titled The Logic of Sharing: Indian Approach to South-South Cooperation.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-01-182023-07-10

‘Iranophobia’ Gives Way To A New Era For Iran’s Soft Power

By Mahmoud Reza Golshanpazhooh* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

TEHRAN (IDN | Iran Review) – Finally, after about two years of negotiations and talks, the nuclear marathon between Iran and six big powers of the world reached its finishing point with the announcement of the Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and official announcement of the lifting of the European Union’s sanctions along with an important part of U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Of course, any smart analyst and politician knows that this good ending is also a beginning for foreign obstructionist efforts, domestic conflicts, doubts on the part of trade partners about the volume and extent to which economic relations should be developed as well as magnification of any weakness by governments and media that were opposed to this process from the very beginning.

News Media, SYNDICATION2016-01-182023-07-12

‘Iranophobia’ Gives Way to a New Era for Iran’s Soft Power

By Mahmoud Reza Golshanpazhooh*

TEHRAN – Finally, after about two years of negotiations and talks, the nuclear marathon between Iran and six big powers of the world reached its finishing point with the announcement of the Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and official announcement of the lifting of the European Union’s sanctions along with an important part of U.S. sanctions against Iran.

UN INSIDER2016-01-182023-07-10

Greening the Blue Helmets a Key to Sustainable Development

NAIROBI | NEW YORK (IDN) – The idea of “greening the blue helmets” has become an accepted need and operational requirement for all UN peacekeeping missions, claims a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based in Nairobi.

Peacekeeping operations, it says, account for over 56% of the UN system’s total climate footprint as demonstrated by the greenhouse gas emissions inventory undertaken by UN Department of Field Support (DFS) in 2008.