IDN-InDepthNews

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2015-11-022023-07-12

UN Security Council Considers Eritrea a Threat to Peace

By Martin Plaut* and Mirjam van Reisen** | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The UN Security Council has concluded that the Eritrean regime remains a serious threat to peace in the Horn of Africa and the region as a whole. In a resolution adopted on October 23, the Council expressed concern at the evidence provided by UN experts who accused President Isaias Afewerki of organising “ongoing Eritrean support for certain regional armed groups.” The Security Council went on to re-affirm its arms embargo against the Eritrean government.

Behind these bland phrases lies a catalogue of evidence carefully assembled by experts of the UN Monitoring Group. They explain in graphic detail how the regime operates: It supports rebel movements in neighbouring Ethiopia and Djibouti, something that has been known for quite some time. What is new is that – cynically enough – Eritrea is now embroiled in the Yemeni civil war in return for the Saudi and UAE financial support.

Global Goals2015-11-022023-07-10

Abrüstung: Saudi-Arabien befeuert Spekulationen über eigenes Atomwaffenprogramm

Von Emad Mekay*

KAIRO (IDN) – Als sich die USA und der Iran im vergangenen Juli auf ein Atomabkommen einigten, kommentierten die staatlich kontrollierten Medien Saudi-Arabiens, die westlichen Mächte hätten einem mächtigen neuen Feind in der Nachbarschaft klein beigegeben. Die saudi-arabischen Behörden gaben sich wie üblich verschwiegen. In sozialen Netzwerken im Internet, in Wissenschaftskreisen und in staatlichen Nachrichtenmedien ging jedoch die Furcht so weit, dass nicht mehr ausgeschlossen wurde, das an Erdöl reiche Land könne seinen Wohlstand für ein eigenes Nuklearprogramm nutzen.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-11-022023-07-10

USA Committed to Deepen Ties with Five Central Asian Countries

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepthNews Report

WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is “strongly committed to the prosperity, sovereignty, stability, and security of the five Central Asian countries as well as a vision of regional economic connectivity through its New Silk Road initiative,” says the Office of the Spokesperson of the U.S. State Department.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-11-012023-07-10

Mega Church Scandal in Singapore Reveals Religion as Business Model

By Kalinga Seneviratne* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

The guidance note on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism helps charities familiarize themselves with how they may protect themselves from potential abuse related to money laundering or terrorist activities.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Over the centuries, all great religious leaders and philosophers, including Jesus Christ, have drawn attention to the evils of excessive greed and taught honesty and integrity to overcome it. The guilty verdict by a Singaporean court in October, convicting six leaders of a large Christian Evangelical Church in a 36 million U.S. dollar fraud case, has raised question marks on whether so-called Mega Churches with thousands of devout followers generously donating to their coffers are a business or a religion?

VIDEOS2015-11-012023-07-10

Lesotho’s Award-winning Chief Talks Climate Change, Supporting Small Farmers

{youtube}RSrJsOjlyhs{/youtube} In this interview with IFAD, Mosotho chef and entrepreneur Ska Moteane discusses the impact of climate change in Lesotho, cooking local and why she is so passionate about supporting smallholder farmers.

ARMAMENTS2015-10-302023-07-10

Nuclear-Weapons-Free Africa Keen To Harness Atomic Energy

By Jeffrey Moyo | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

HARARE (IDN) – Nuclear disarmament is a non-issue in Southern Africa. Because no African country possesses nuclear weapons. In fact the 38-nation African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (ANWFZ) Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Pelindaba, signed in 1996, established a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Africa. The treaty came into effect on July 15, 2009.

Latin America & the Caribbean2015-10-302023-07-12

Uruguay Joins Prestigious OECD Development Centre

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – Uruguay has become the 10th member country in Latin America and the Caribbean to join a group of 50 OECD and non-OECD countries that are already members of the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Explaining the accession, a press release said, Uruguay’s structural characteristics, development experience and challenges offer rich opportunities for knowledge sharing among the Centre’s member countries.

Since its banking and financial crisis in 2002, it added, Uruguay has made remarkable progress. Stable macroeconomic policies and a favourable external environment permitted brisk growth and the financing of social policies, yielding the longest period of economic growth in decades.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-302023-07-10

Uncertainty Prods Europeans to Yearn for a Better Yesterday

By Roberto Savio | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

ROME (IDN | Other News) – The recent elections in Switzerland and Poland are good indicators of what will happen elsewhere in Europe in the face of an irresistible growing wave of refugees. But let us first consider a few key elements.

First, the present system of international relations and national governance is not functioning any longer. We are in a period of transition, but nobody knows to where. The Left is without a manifesto, and the Right is just riding the status quo. There is no long-term political thinking.

Second, we are living in a “new economy,” based on the supremacy of finance over man’s production. Unelected officials, like governors of central banks and bankers, have increasingly more power than ever before. This “new economy” considers job insecurity and lay-offs as natural, social inequality as a legitimate reality, the market as the sole basis for societal development and the state as inefficient and a brake on the private sector.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-292023-07-10

Kazakh President Urges One Percent of Arms Budget for Development Agenda

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN’s post-2015 development agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is desperately in need of funds for its successful implementation. The goals include an ambitious target: the elimination of hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-10-282023-07-10

Using Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development

By A.D. McKenzie | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

PARIS (IDN) – Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September, global citizenship education has been receiving increased attention for the role it can play in both sustainable development and in keeping youth from joining the ranks of “violent extremists”.