IDN-InDepthNews

Europe2012-09-122023-07-10

Poland Gets Ready for First Nuclear Power Plant

By Richard Johnson
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

LONDON (IDN) – Despite widespread scepticism about nuclear energy in the aftermath of Fukushima disaster, Poland, which is heavily dependent on coal and imported gas, has decided to go in for its first nuclear power plant.

The move comes some three decades after the the Council of Ministers passed a decree in January 1982 on the construction of the Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant, which would have been the first in the country. But due to changes in the economic and political situation in Poland after 1989, as well as public protests in the late 1980s and early ’90s which escalated in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, the construction was cancelled.

USA and Canada2012-09-102023-07-12

US Election: Girding for Final Phase of Campaigns

By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

WASHINGTON (IDN) – They are done. Democrats and Republicans have completed their conventions, and President Barack Obama has secured the anticipated post-convention bounce.

The latest Gallup poll puts Obama at 49 percent among registered voters, compared with 45 percent for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. The Reuters/Ipsos poll also gives Obama a four-percentage-point lead over Romney, 47:43. Obama’s personal favourability rating has increased as well and his favourability:unfavourability score is up to 52:43. That’s a seven percentage point bounce.

Middle East2012-09-082023-07-10

Middle East Offers New Opportunities for Russia

By Eric Walberg*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

TORONTO (IDN) – The world is living through a veritable slow-motion earthquake. If things go according to plan, the US obsession with Afghanistan and Iraq will soon be one of those ugly historical disfigurements that — at least for most Americans — will disappear into the memory hole.

Asia-Pacific2012-09-072023-07-10

Pakistan: Sunni Militants Killing Shias

By Devinder Kumar
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Human Rights Watch has expressed concern about increasing violence against the minority Shia Muslim community in Pakistan and asked the government in Islamabad to protect it from sectarian attacks by Sunni militant groups.

“Deadly attacks on Shia communities across Pakistan are escalating,” HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams said. “The government’s persistent failure to apprehend attackers or prosecute the extremist groups organizing the attacks suggests that it is indifferent to this carnage,” he added.

ARMAMENTS2012-09-052023-07-10

ATOM Launched to Buttress Nuke Abolition

By Alyn Ware*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

NEW YORK (IDN) – The ATOM Project, an exciting new initiative to build global support for nuclear abolition, was launched at a parliamentary assembly in Astana, Kazakhstan on August 29, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

The project, entitled Abolish Testing: Our Mission (ATOM), highlights the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons – particularly the nuclear tests conducted in Kazakhstan that have adversely affected the health and lives of nearly 2 million people. The images of the survivors, though sometimes difficult to witness, are featured in the campaign in order to raise awareness surrounding the damage nuclear testing can cause.

OPINION2012-01-192023-07-10

Time is Right for the Human Right to Peace

By Anwarul K. Chowdhury*

(Note: This article first appeared on IDN on January 19, 2012 and is being reproduced because of its profound significance in view of the new UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ emphasis on sustained peace and development. Now follows the article as published five years ago. – Editor)

No time is more appropriate than now to build the culture of peace. No social responsibility is greater nor task more significant than that of securing peace on our planet on a sustainable foundation. Today’s world with its complexities and challenges is becoming increasingly more interdependent and interconnected. The sheer magnitude of these requires all of us to work together. Recognition of the human right to peace by the international community, particularly the United Nations, will surely generate the inspiration in creating the much-needed culture of peace in each one of us.

GLOBAL ISSUES2011-11-012023-07-10

Bad News for the World Economy

By Santo Das Gupta
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

PARIS (IDN) – The prospects for the world economy look rather gloomy in the coming two years, says a respectable international economic organisation of 34 countries. The situation can, however, be redeemed if leading industrial and emerging countries take “bold decisions” to get the global economy back on track, it adds.

ECONOMY2011-11-012023-07-10

Bad News for the World Economy

By Santo Das Gupta
IDN-InDepth NewsReport

GLOBAL ISSUES2011-10-272023-07-10

Free the World from the Nuclear Chain

By Xanthe Hall*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

Nuclear Power and the Bomb are inextricably linked through an atomic chain. The nuclear era began in Germany, so we have a specific responsibility to end it sooner rather than later.

BERLIN (IDN) – We talk about abandoning nuclear energy or abolishing nuclear weapons. But this is not enough. They are only the visible products of a whole chain of production that binds us – the nuclear chain. This chain does much more damage than we are aware of.

GLOBAL ISSUES2011-10-112023-07-10

Is Time Ripe to Abandon the IMF?

By Raúl de Sagastizabal
IDN-InDepth NewsEssay

Hedging behaviour, a high degree of groupthink, intellectual capture, a general mind-set that excludes contrary views, fiefdom battles, inadequate analytical approaches, and lack of accountability should make governments ask themselves whether the time has not come to withdraw their support for the IMF.