IDN-InDepthNews – Page 770 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-302023-07-10

U.S. Controls Global Arms Market, Says Congressional Report

By Ramesh Jaura | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN (IDN) – “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed,” declared U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in April 1953. A new report shows that these remarks remain relevant and yet unheeded 62 years later.

While hunger, poverty and depravity continue to stalk developing lands, the report by the prestigious Congressional Research Service (CRS) finds that the United States remains the single largest weapons supplier to developing nations, controlling more than 50 percent of the global arms market. From 2011 to 2014, Washington made arms supply agreements worth nearly $115 billion with developing nations.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-302023-07-10

El Niño Might Continue Through First Months of 2016

By Humberto Jaime and Jennifer Guralnick* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

PANAMA, Panama (IDN) – While in North America, cities such as New York and several others in the United States have witnessed the hottest Christmas on record and with extreme flooding and tornados resulting in more than 40 deaths in states such as New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, Mexico experienced unusual snowfalls whereas flooding is being faced in the United Kingdom as well as in South America where heavy rains and severe flooding have led to more than 170 thousand people being evacuated in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

ARTS & CULTURE2015-12-302023-07-10

Art under Occupation in Gaza: Interview with Abdullah al-Rozzi

Abdullah al-Rozzi was born in Gaza in 1982, and gifted with artistic talent, he completed his studies in the field of visual arts at the University of Al-Aqsa in Gaza in 2005. His works have been shown in several art exhibitions inside the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as well as abroad. Abdullah is currently working in a public transport department in Gaza to make both ends meet, and cannot devote himself to art.

GLOBAL ISSUES2015-12-292023-07-10

Strong El Niño Threatens Southern Africa at the Start of 2016

By Veronica Nicolosi | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

ROME (IDN) – The El Niño weather phenomenon is expected to be the fiercest in 18 years at the start of 2016 and threatens to adversely affect crop and livestock production prospects in Southern Africa, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

A reduced agricultural output would follow on 2015 disappointing season, which has already contributed to higher food prices and “could acutely impact the food security situation in 2016,” said to a special alert released on December 22 by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

SYNDICATION, Think-Tanks2015-12-292023-07-12

Modi’s India Forging New and Improved Global Partnerships

India’s foreign policy think tank ‘Gateway House’ based in Mumbai sifted through the speeches of Prime Minister Narenda Modi during his visits abroad in 2015 to assess the terms—such as cooperation and economy—he used most frequently. As the terminology pattern shows, India’s foreign policy is now focussed on forging new and improved global partnerships. And as the most-travelled head of state in the world, Modi’s words indicate India’s new global positioning.

Global Goals2015-12-292023-07-10

Asien: Journalisten vor neuer Aufgabe – Frieden stiftender Kommunikationsansatz

Von Kalinga Seneviratne*

BANGKOK (IDN) – Anti-Stress-Seminare für Eltern, Bewusstseinstrainings für Manager oder Kurse für “achtsames Führen”. In den USA werden in den vergangenen Jahren immer mehr Kurse und Workshops angeboten, die sich den Grundlagen der sogenannten Achtsamkeit verschrieben haben. Auch in Europa versuchen gestresste Arbeitnehmer zunehmend, ihren Alltag mit Hilfe von Achtsamkeitstrainings zu bewältigen.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2015-12-282023-07-12

Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons High on UN Agenda in 2016

By Jamshed Baruah | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – An open-ended working group of the United Nations General Assembly for achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world is, along with the Sustainable Development Goals, an important agenda item that the year 2015 has bequeathed to 2016.

Africa2015-12-272023-07-10

African Bank Upbeat About Sustainable Development

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepthNews Feature

TORONTO | ABIDJAN (IDN) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) is upbeat about 2016 and hopes to build on unprecedented development in 2015 which in its view would go down in history as a year “when the world decided that the time had finally come to set aside individual differences and to forge a new development paradigm for the planet”.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2015-12-262023-07-12

Ban Ki-moon Unhappy With UN’s 5.4 Billion Dollar Budget

By J Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

A wide view of the General Assembly. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas (file)

NEW YORK (IDN) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is far from satisfied with a budget of $5.4 billion the 193-member General Assembly adopted on December 23 for the United Nations to carry out its vital work in 2016 and 2017. This two-year budget is less than 7% of the $77.7 billion preliminary budget New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed for 2016 in February 2015.

ARTS & CULTURE2015-12-252023-07-10

UN Condemns Destruction of World Heritage Sites as ‘War Crimes’

PARIS (IDN) – With extremist assaults continuing unabated on striking symbols of Syria’s cultural diversity, the United Nations has condemned archaeological devastation of yet another major World Heritage site. Earlier, in October, it had declared such acts as “war crimes” and assured that those responsible “would be tried and punished”.

After the destruction of Palmyra’s ancient temple of Baalshamin in August, of the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra in October, yet another World Heritage site has fallen prey to fighting in Syria. According to the Syrian Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, parts of the ancient city of Bosra were severely damaged during combats on December 22, 2015.