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Photo credit: Lesotho's MMN Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Thirteen-Year-Old Defies Family, Escapes Forced Marriage

By Billy Ntaote

This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.

MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.

This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 August 2018

Photo: Nikki R. Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addressing the Security Council meeting on 9 July 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

Nikki Haley Blames Rights Groups for Her Misguided 'Reform'

By Kenneth Roth

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries. This article was published in The Hill on 29 July 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Shortly after arriving in New York as Donald Trump’s representative to the United Nations, Nikki Haley said she would be “taking names” of those who stood in her way. Most assumed she was referring to governments that blocked U.S. initiatives at the United Nations Security Council.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 02 August 2018

Photo: Putin gifts Trump a Telstar Mechta, the official match ball for the knockout stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. CC BY 4.0

The Media Is Misleading On Trump's Remarks in Helsinki

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – I don't think I've ever witnessed in all my years of journalism such a hysterical outpouring against a presidential statement as I've seen in the aftermath of Helsinki summit. President Donald Trump has even been accused of treason by prominent columnists and politicians. There’s barely a voice of dissent in the media. (Maybe it's written but not published.) No wonder that even some of my normally open-minded friends feel that things are as bad as they are made out to be. Sorry to say it, as I've told them, they are being brainwashed.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 July 2018

Photo: Vladimir Putin (right) and Donald Trump (left) at a news conference after their summit meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

A U.S.-Russia Summit That Left Trump In The Hot Seat

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) – In a historic bilateral summit, the United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. The summit took place notwithstanding myriad objections, conjectures and apprehensions from many U.S. political leaders who oppose rapprochement with Russia over a plethora of issues: Crimea, East Ukraine, Syria, and Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Just two days before the summit, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 Russians for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, giving impetus to a steady drumbeat of demands that Trump cancel the meeting. The New York Times reported, "according to an internal government document, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on 213 Russian-related targets".

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 21 July 2018

Photo: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, and Chantal Biya. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

Why Must President Biya Follow President Robert Mugabe?

By LIsa Vives | Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Cameroon's President Paul Biya is seriously considering a re-election bid despite having served 36 years in the job and despite approaching 90 years of age. The President-for-Life syndrome is sadly alive and well. An editorial in the Liberian Daily Observer expressed on July 16 its frustration in dramatic fashion.

The text of the editorial follows.

It was announced late last week (July 13, 2018) that Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has said he would run for re-election in October, in a bid to further extend his 36-year term of office. If re-elected, Biya would, like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, be well into his 90s as president.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 July 2018

Elections Pose Yet Another Challenge To Pakistan

By Sajjad Ashraf*

ISLAMABAD (IDN-INPS) – Though some legal challenges on constituency delimitation remain, Pakistan is well on its way to a general election. Caretaker Prime Minister Nasir-ul-Mulk took the oath of office at the beginning of June, setting the stage for elections to take place on July 25, 2018.

Punjab province is the main electoral battleground where the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has held power for 30 years, more or less. It is being challenged by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). A substantial win in Punjab is necessary for any party to form government at the national level.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 July 2018

Photo: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Source: East Asia Forum.

Mahathir Appears To Be Setting The Stage For A New Malaysia

By Shankaran Nambiar*

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN-INPS) – Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appears to be setting the tone for a revision of Malaysia’s geo-economic policy, if the bilateral meetings with his Indian and Japanese counterparts in the early days of his administration are anything to go by.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Mahathir not too long after the latter assumed office. The meeting was significant in so far as Modi is keen on ‘Acting East’ and forging stronger ties with ASEAN. With Mahathir at the helm, Modi may well have an active and influential partner in the region. India is likely to be an economic powerhouse in the coming decade or two, and any long-term economic architecture in the region will have to take this reality into account.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 July 2018

Photo: Alice Slater | Credit: channel.tv

Trump-Putin Summit A New Opportunity To Ban The Bomb

By Alice Slater, World BEYOND War

The writer serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War. Following is the text of her article first published with the caption Watch Out World: Peace May be Breaking Out!! https://worldbeyondwar.org/watch-out-world-peace-may-be-breaking-out/

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Less than a week or so before Donald Trump's groundbreaking meeting planned with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, to take place after the July 11-12 NATO summit, the new Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons celebrated its first birthday on July 7 when 122 nations voted a year ago in the UN General Assembly to ban the bomb, just as we have banned biological and chemical weapons.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 08 July 2018

Photo: The expanded bilateral meeting between both the United States and North Korean delegations on June 12 in Sentosa. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Revolutionary Change Bringing in DPRK From the Cold

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

KANDY (IDN) – Sentosa, the Singapore venue of the historic June 12 summit meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, is today an ultra modern pleasure island with a name derived from the Sanskrit ‘Santosa’, but with its old Malay name Pulao Blakang Mati (Island of Death Behind) clinging to it as a reminder of a murky past as a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and a disease ridden swamp.

The Janus faced island history represents a future of peace and prosperity and a past of conflict and tension confronting the two leaders trying to reverse hostile relations spanning over seven decades.

: Jayantha Dhanapala; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 June 2018

Photo: On June 20, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs China.

SPECIAL REPORT: Ten Years After the Abolition of Monarchy, Communists Blaze a New Trail in Nepal

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The coming together of Nepal’s two communist parties – Unified Marxist-Leninist and Maoist Centre – which are already in office as the Left Alliance is a landmark development signifying a decisive political turn in the Himalayan country. The unified Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is South Asia’s largest communist party and one of the three ruling in Asia – the other two being bigger ones in China and Vietnam.

Unlike the ruling parties of China and Vietnam, the NCP has the unique distinction of rising to office through the parliamentary process by proving its superior credentials as people’s representatives in a free and fair election, which saw discredited mainstream liberal democratic parties bite the dust.