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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, warned as far back as the 1960s that political independence from European colonial oppressors without economic independence was a recipe for disaster.Nkrumah, who authored The struggle continues, Class Struggle in Africa and Neo-colonialism – the last stage of imperialism, among others, was deeply aware of the threats faced by the new states and the ploys of their former oppressors.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – European nations are building a wall – a sea wall – to keep African migrants from reaching their shores. With funds paid by the European Union and cooperating African governments, refugees are being sent to distant centers where they are expected to make their asylum appeals.Rwanda has just signed on to hold some 500 migrants fleeing a deadly civil war in Libya.
By Devinder Kumar
NEW DELHI (IDN) – As COP14, the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) entered the second week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the ministerial segment calling on the international community to set up a global water action agenda as the central theme to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN).
Viewpoint by Kingston Reif
The writer is the Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy at the Arms Control Association. This article was first published in Arms Control Today (ACT).
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – The estimated cost of sustaining U.S. nuclear warheads and their supporting infrastructure continues to rise, according to the Energy Department’s latest annual report on the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.
Viewpoint by René Wadlow*, TRANSCEND Media Service
GENEVA (IDN) – It has often been mentioned that the Chinese characters for “crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and for “opportunity”. Thus it is today for the Iran Crisis. The dangers are evident and have been around for a while. The Persian Gulf region has long been one of the flashpoints for conflict in the Middle East. The strategic significance of the region has been magnified by the region’s oil resources.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
KATHMANDU (IDN) – The democratically elected Communist Party government in this former Hindu Kingdom is trying to change decades old media laws that were enacted before the digital age and is running into opposition from journalists who fear that the government is trying to muzzle a free media.
“The communist party came to power with a two-thirds majority in 2017 and they didn’t come to enhance media freedom,” argues Kunda Dixit, Editor and publisher of the popular weekly Nepali Times. But he believes that the government does not want to do it suddenly.
BRUSSELS (ACP Press) – Dr Pendo Maro, team leader of the Intra-ACP GCCA+ Programme – an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group funded by the European Development Fund (EDF) – recently chaired a panel discussion on the progress and successes of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the Caribbean region during the Regional Dialogue on NDCs for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Regional Dialogue was held on 19 to 20 August during the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week 2019 (LACCW), from 19 to 23 August in Salvador de Bahía, Brazil.
By Shanta Roy
NEW YORK (IDN) – India, Pakistan and Israel, three countries armed with nuclear weapons, are not recognized as nuclear weapon states by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – a “privilege” bestowed only on the world’s five major nuclear powers: the U.S., UK, Russia, France and China, which are also members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
But in a report titled “António Guterres backs India’s coveted NSG membership”, the New Delhi-based Economic Times said “India has received a shot in the arm for its civil nuclear program from the UN, with Secretary-General António Guterres announcing support for Delhi’s NSG membership in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi” (on August 25).
By Kalinga Seneviratne
This article is the 34th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles.
GANGTOK, Sikkim (IDN) – Since the special status accorded under section 370 in the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, 2019, there has been a sense of unease among the people of the northern Indian state of Sikkim – which also enjoys special status under Section 371F enshrined in the Indian constitution. This unease is felt mainly by the Buddhists who feel that the special protections given to them could be taken away.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – As state-sponsored violence threatens Latinos in the U.S., xenophobia is again threatening Nigerians and other Africans whose shops in Johannesburg are being targeted for looting and destruction by unknown groups.
The latest spate of violence broke out in suburbs south of Johannesburg’s city center and spread to the central business district.
More than 50 mainly foreign-owned shops and business premises were destroyed, according to local news accounts. Cars and properties were torched and widespread looting took place.
