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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – He’s elusive. He escapes, he hides. Police keep chasing him like a video game character or a superhero in a movie.
But despite their best efforts, authorities have been unable to stop Robert Kyagulanyi – a member of parliament and a popular reggae singer who records under the stage name Bobi Wine. He plans to seize the seat held by aging President Yoweri Museveni when elections are held in 2021.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – As the United Nations launches an ambitious global effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the fate of the world’s 47 most impoverished nations – the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – has assumed added importance. UNCTAD, an organization of the UN, is therefore urging them to use external aid to structurally transform their economies. Donors, it adds, should align their support with the national development plans of the poorest nations.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – As the Trump administration turns down an ever-growing number of applications for asylum, it surprised many that some 5,000 Liberians in the United States have been granted a path to citizenship.
In fact, it was the product of decades of effort by the Liberian community and its allies.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Some called her Princess. Others labeled her the beautiful face of the dictatorship – always beaming from the pages of Fortune, Forbes and other high-finance magazines which flattered her as Africa’s “First Woman Billionaire”. Today, the daughter of Angola’s ex-president is in a messy fight over millions siphoned from state funds, now frozen as part of the current president’s anti-corruption drive.
By Manish Rai
MUSCAT, Oman (IDN) – It’s widely believed that there are two main branches of Islam i.e. Sunni and Shia, which differ in their understanding of early Islamic history and hence they have different ideas about how Islam’s leadership should have been organised in subsequent eras. But there is a third, lesser-known body of believers with deep historic roots, and their identity fractionally predates the Sunni-Shia split in the seventh century. They are the Ibadis, who number less than 3 million in total. Only in one country, Oman, do they form a majority. However, significant pockets exist in North Africa, especially Libya, and along the east African coast, particularly on the island of Zanzibar.
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*
ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – In a world in which the institutions that govern us are rapidly losing their moral compass, it is difficult not to realise that in 2020 we are now entering – or have already entered – a new low point in the history of humankind.
Today, for example, we face an unprecedented existential threat brought about by the climate crisis. According to scientists, we have until 2030 to stop climate change, after which the writing is on the wall for the planet. Yet, we have just had a world conference in Madrid on climate change, which ended in nothing.
Viewpoint by HMGS Palihakkara*
The following are extensive excerpts from the remarks by Sri Lankan civil servant, diplomat and former Governor of Northern Province, Hewa Matara Gamage Siripala Palihakkara, at the launch of the book ‘Sri Lankan Son and Global Diplomat’ about one of the country’s most outstanding public servants and internationally recognized diplomats, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala. The book has been edited by Randy Rydell and Neluni Tillekeratne. Published by Sri Lanka Unites (2019). 204 pages.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his Agenda for Disarmament on May 24, 2018 underlined the need to establish a platform for youth engagement. This would include “a cadre of youth from around the world,” who will work assiduously to promote disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control in their communities.
Engaging with youth groups and community organizations in support of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with synergistic linkages to youth, disarmament and non-proliferation education and conflict prevention is the second pillar of the platform for youth engagement.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) – Independent experts of a UN Working Group are “deeply concerned about the human rights situation of people of African descent” in Ecuador. After an official visit, a follow-up of a similar mission in 2009, the experts said, despite the progressive provisions of the Constitution, recognition of the collective rights of people of African descent and several other positive measures, “there has not yet been effective implementation and enforcement of laws and policy to protect the rights of people of African descent”.
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