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By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) – Many African countries are looking for profitable business, investment and trade rather than development aid. Now Angola, a south-central Africa, has announced corporate plans to diversify its state business away from purchasing to full-fledged manufacturing of Russian military equipment for the southern African market, and possibly other regions in Africa – impeding realization of the Sustainable Development Goal 16 calling for peace and justice.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (IDN) – Parliamentarians of the compact of more than 105 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group and the European Union (EU) are demanding "a greater presence" at the United Nations (UN). As a minimum, an ACP-EU coordination unit should have a seat at the UN, says a landmark resolution of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It also pleads for "permanent ACP-EU working mechanisms across UN special agencies and other global institutions to enhance the global visibility of the ACP-EU partnership."
By Dr Palitha Kohona
The writer, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary, returned recently from a visit to New Zealand.
COLOMBO (IDN) – White extremism and terrorism may appear to be uncoordinated and spontaneous. It certainly lacks the 'viciousness incarnate' tag conferred by the media and certain commentators when referring to Islamic terrorism associated with the brands of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah or ISIS or to Tamil terrorism in the form of the LTTE.
By ACP Press
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Recent studies have shown that overhunting for wild meat is threatening hundreds of wildlife species with extinction, with the result that many indigenous peoples and rural communities are deprived of food and income.
An initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, established to tackle these challenges, has published their first newsletter to bring attention to these issues.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, marked a major milestone in helping to build Pacific island resilience to this threat with the start of a EUR 12 million project spanning 15 countries.
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
The writer is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
BANGKOK (IDN) – Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.
Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK (IDN) – After five research expeditions in search of capelin, Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (IMFRI) has decided not to recommend a quota for it this year, arguing that global warming is probably responsible for the lack of the fish.
According to Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, head of the Pelagic Division at the institute, capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a cold-water fish and mostly chooses to be at a marine temperature between 1-3°C. “Concomitant with ocean warming north of Iceland before the turn of the century, changes started to appear in the distribution of capelin off Iceland and instead of being spread out to the north of Iceland and the West Fjords, it was mostly found off the east coast of Greenland,” he said.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Environmental groups in Ghana are waging an eleventh-hour battle to stop the government of Ghana from opening the Atewa Forest Reserve – a crown jewel of biodiversity and a source of three rivers – to commercial large-scale bauxite mining.
Their resistance conforms to the Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly's resolution on mining resource governance in Nairobi from March 11-15. The resolution stresses in particular Sustainable Development Goal 7 calling for 'affordable and clean energy' and Goal 12 on 'responsible consumption and production', "reminding the important contribution of mining to their achievement".
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Experts who follow the money are still scratching their heads as to how a quarter of a billion dollars vanished from the national coffers along with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh at roughly the same time.
Before his flight into exile in 2017, Jammeh ruled the small palm-fringed country in West Africa with an iron fist. Through the army and his private mercenaries, known as “the Jungulars”, he ruled by torturing and imprisoning political opponents and human rights activists, murdering journalists and depriving citizens of their right to exist.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
This article is the 31st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series.
SYDNEY (IDN) – After a White Australian of Christian background Brenton Tarrant gunned down 50 Muslims praying at a Christchurch mosque on a Friday, it took the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern more than a day to call it a “terrorist” act, and when she did so, the mainstream media in Australia and New Zealand quoted Tarrant’s mother as describing him an “angelic boy”.
