By Devinder Kumar | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
MUMBAI (IDN) – With the urban population in Asia expected to grow by 1.1 billion over the next two decades, 20% of respondents to a blog poll by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) believe that “transforming the region’s sometimes chaotic, polluted and poverty-blighted cities into competitive, equitable, and environmentally sustainable urban spaces should be a priority in 2016”. The blog poll was conducted in December 2015.
BERLIN (INPS | IDN) – In an unprecedented bid, U.S. President Barack Obama plans to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the United Nations Secretary-General and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has got wind of the plan, is determined to lead the effort in thwarting the bid, reports the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, cited by The Jerusalem Post.
While Ban’s second term as the UN Secretary-General ends on December 31, Obama’s finishes in January 2017. The U.S. Presidential election is due on November 8, 2016.
By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
BERLIN (IDN) – In an unprecedented bid, U.S. President Barack Obama plans to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the United Nations Secretary-General and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has got wind of the plan, is determined to lead the effort in thwarting the bid, reports the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, cited by The Jerusalem Post.
While Ban’s second term as the UN Secretary-General ends on December 31, Obama’s finishes in January 2017. The U.S. Presidential election is due on November 8, 2016.
By Richard Falk*
Makarim Wibisono announced his resignation as UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, to take effect on March 31, 2016. This is a position I held for six years, completing my second term in June 2014.
The prominent Indonesian diplomat says that he could not fulfill his mandate because Israel has adamantly refused to give him access to the Palestinian people living under its military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way,” Wibisono explains.
Although it was established 40 years ago, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is still relevant today says secretary general Dr Patrick Ignatius Gomes.
Guyanese-born Dr Gomes, who is in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) for a few days before flying back on Tuesday to Brussels, Belgium, where the ACP headquarters is located, said the ACP was trying to shift from a dependency syndrome.
Now ten months into his five-year term at the ACP, Dr Gomes said his experience as secretary-general has so far been encouraging, demanding, challenging and interesting.
By Marte Hellema*
This year the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) celebrates its 25th anniversary: 25 years of promoting and protecting human rights. This is both a reason for celebration and reflection. To reflect on what we have done, what lessons we have learnt, and what we see as priorities for the future.
To commemorate this milestone FORUM-ASIA launched an anniversary campaign during an event on January 8, 2016 at the Pridi Banomyong Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. As part of the campaign a new publication was composed, ‘Our Struggle for Human Rights – 25 Years of FORUM-ASIA’. An online version of this publication can be found on http://25.forum-asia.org.
NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea defied world powers, on January 6, by announcing that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device – in contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.
The miniaturizing allows the device to be placed on a missile thereby significantly increasing its strike capabilities not only against Japan and South Korea but also against the United States.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “This test, once again, violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities.”
By Somar Wijayadasa* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea defied world powers, on January 6, by announcing that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device – in contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.
The miniaturizing allows the device to be placed on a missile thereby significantly increasing its strike capabilities not only against Japan and South Korea but also against the United States.
Donald Trump at a presidential campaign rally, September 3, 2015 | Wikimedia Commons
TORONTO – Trump’s latest TV ad says it all, even before you listen. The caption is: Paid for by Donald J Trump, Inc., Approved by Donald Trump. It’s almost as if he’s running his campaign as a send-up of the other hopefuls, beholden to lobbyists and the mainstream media.
The only one with name recognition is Jeb Bush, and that, only because his brother was president (disastrously) eight years ago. Think of Trump as The Joker in the film “The Dark Knight” (2008): “I’m not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.”
SANA’A (INPS | ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for an urgent political solution to alleviate the suffering of millions of people in the country. The ICRC’s Regional Director for the Near and Middle East, Robert Mardini, says Yemen is fast-becoming one of the world’s ‘forgotten conflicts’.
The people of Yemen have suffered conflict for nine long months. Since fighting began in March 2015 more than five thousand people have been killed and more than thirty-thousand injured. Over two million have fled their homes in search of safety. Even for those who can still live at home, normal life has become virtually impossible.
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