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Image: (left) Kumi Nakazato (Nara, Japan); (right) Nadia Anthouli (Athens, Greece). Credit: UN Office of Disarmament Affairs: Posters for Peace.

Nuclear Weapons Are Now Banned, Prohibited, Outlawed!

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf

The writer is the former Head of Verification and Security Policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency and was a member of the Group of Eminent Persons for Substantive Advancement of Nuclear Disarmament established by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

VIENNA (IDN) – As the day broke today, 22 January 2021, a new era dawned in which nuclear weapons now are prohibited – finally banned – 75 years after the invention and use of nuclear weapons.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 January 2021

Asia Welcomes An “Engaging” US President Biden

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Asian newspapers have welcomed the new American President Biden’s “engaging with the world” message in his inauguration speech to that of his predecessor Trump’s “America First” rhetoric. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has welcomed President Biden’s “engaging” tone in his speech on January 20.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 January 2021

Photo: Gorman reading her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. Source: Chris Coons | Wikimedia Commons.

"The Hill We Climb": A Poem by Amanda Gorman

NEW YORK (IDN) – Amanda S. C. Gorman is an American poet and activist from Los Angeles. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. She was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book "The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough" in 2015. In 2021, she delivered her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden.

: UN Bureau; ARTS & CULTURE; 22 January 2021

Photo: Ebelechukwu Obiano, the wife of Willie Obiano, the governor of one of Nigeria’s five south eastern states, Anambra. Source: facebook.com/mamaananbra

Nigeria: A Governor's Wife Goes Houston To Take the Vaccine

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – Whether Jean-Jacques Rousseau miscredited the words to Marie Antoinette in Confessions or not, Nigeria is happy to supply a modern-day princess who has earned the title of Her Royal Spite-tress without controversy.

And unlike Antoinette reputed to have tossed the infamous pate, “Let them eat cake”, out her window when the mass of ordinary people in France was dying for breadcrumbs, her Nigerian cousin travelled thousands of miles to find her groove.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 January 2021

Photo: President Joe Biden. Credit: The White House.

Revisiting A Historic Day in Divided America

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – January 20 was a historically momentous day as Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America, and Kamala Harris, a person of colour was sworn in as the first woman Vice President – and now the highest-ranking woman in US history.

After taking the oath of office, President Biden said he wants “to restore the soul of America, bringing America together, uniting our people, and uniting our nation”.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 21 January 2021

Photo: Collage of images from the White House.

UN Chief Welcomes the US Move to Re-Enter the Paris Accord as Biden and Harris Are Sworn in as New Leaders

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warmly welcomed President Joe Biden’s "steps to re-enter the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and join the growing coalition of governments, cities, states, businesses and people taking ambitious action to confront the climate crisis". Biden signed an executive order accepting the Paris accord "and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America" on January 20 after he and Vice President Kamal Harris were sworn in as America's new leaders.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 20 January 2021

The Political Significance of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty

Viewpoint by Thomas Hajnoczi

The writer is the outgoing Director of Arms Control at the Austrian Foreign Ministry. He negotiated the TPNW*

VIENNA (IDN) – With its entry into force on January 22 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will become binding international law for the growing number of State Parties, for the moment 51 countries. Moreover, it is also having an effect on those states that do not intend to join it.

The nuclear weapon states themselves testify to the TPNW's effectiveness by their campaign against it. They could have ignored it instead of pressuring countries not to sign and ratify.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 20 January 2021

Photo: A worker observes construction at a harbor in Colombo, Sri Lanka, commissioned by China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd on Dec 1. Credit: XINHUA

2021 Yet Another Testing Year for COVID-19 Hemmed Sri Lanka’s Economy

Viewpoint by Dushni Weerakoon

The writer is the Executive Director and Head of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO (IDN) — The unprecedented disruptions of COVID-19 are causing a geopolitical reset — and as the global order is redrawn, small emerging market economies like Sri Lanka are vulnerable to the fallout. Sri Lanka straddles vital shipping routes and is at the centre of diplomatic spats between China and the United States, who called on Sri Lanka to make ‘difficult but necessary choices’ over its growing economic and political ties to China.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 January 2021

Photo: Biden at his presidential kickoff rally in Philadelphia, May 2019. CC BY 2.0

President Joe Biden Marks the Start of a New Era in the US

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – President Joe Biden is more peacenik than war-monger. Compared with all recent previous presidents, apart from Jimmy Carter, he has been a dove. But be warned. When Barack Obama became president he forswore “more dumb wars” yet he got involved in more than any of them did. We had mistakenly believed him because of his vote in the Senate against the Second Iraq War.

Nevertheless, Obama, with Biden’s support, did resist a big push by Congress, the military and most of the media to send troops into Syria and he did try hard to get troops pulled out of Iraq. Biden supported Obama in his decision to negotiate with Iran a deal to put into cold storage its plan to enrich uranium to the point where it could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 January 2021

Photo: FAO DG Qu Dongyu. Credit: WTOCC BY-SA 2.0

People’s Movement Launched in South Africa To Defeat Covid-19

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A call to action endorsed by over 500 organizations and individuals in South Africa is aiming to unite millions of the nation’s citizens in order to acquire 40 to 80 million doses of vaccine to defeat the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic is wreaking havoc,” organizers proclaimed in a recent letter published in the Mail&Guardian. “Vaccinating a significant part of the population is the only way to defeat the pandemic.”