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Collage: Ambassador Richard Bernal, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Global Affairs at The UWI (left) and Professor Robert Dussey, the Chief Negotiator ACP-EU Post-Cotonou 2020 by IDN-INPS with photos from public domains.

Lending a Research Hand to CARICOM, Strengthening the ACP

By Desmond Brown

This report is part of a series focusing on the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States working to "modernize" their relations, and in the process giving the ACP Group "a greater presence" at the United Nations. – The Editor.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (IDN) – In the face of a rapidly changing global environment, a top Caribbean diplomat and technocrat strongly suggests the establishment of an independent research institute to supplement and support governments and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) secretariat.

: Desmond L. Brown; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 11 May 2019

Photo: Putin addressing the plenary meeting of the Congress of the Russian Rectors’ Union. Credit: Mikhail Metzel.

Russia Targets Foreign Students to Boost Image Abroad

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – The Russian Ministry of Higher Education, the Russian Rectors' Association and Education NGOs have been on their heels to realize important tasks given them by President Vladimir Putin. As an integral part of educational reforms, he has stressed the importance of enormous initiatives and modernization efforts.

He also pointed to the growing contribution of universities to research, new technology development, and implementing and training qualified personnel for projects at various levels, ranging from national to regional and municipal initiatives.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 10 May 2019

Photo: Most of Eritrea’s population are disenfranchised due to forced conscriptions and a life below the poverty line. Source: face2faceafrica.com

Exodus of Eritreans in Post-Peace Era Continues

By Kristina Melicherová

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Hope for change in Eritrea after the July 2018 Ethiopia-Eritrea peace agreement has faded. Nearly a year after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced his country would accept the Algiers Agreement of 2000 and make peace with Eritrea, the flow of refugees fleeing the repressive regime continues unabated.

A senior official from Ethiopia’s refugee agency recently confirmed that the situation in the border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea has not changed since the official closing of all border crossings for vehicles in April 2019. He confirmed that the number of refugees from Eritrea to Ethiopia continues to increase, with as many as 250 people being processed every day.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 May 2019

Photo: Iran has warned that if the other 2015 nuclear deal signatories fail to deliver sanctions relief, it will resume construction on the unfinished Arak nuclear reactor. The picture shows IR-40 (Arak) Reactor in 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0

Experts Exhort Nuclear Deal Signatories to Help Iran

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Arms Control Association (ACA), a Washington-based nonpartisan organization, has warned that Iran’s "threat to violate" the landmark 2015 nuclear deal is "a very worrisome but predictable response" to U.S. President Donald Trump's "dangerous decision" to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) one year ago.

The Washington-based organization said: "The Trump administration’s systematic campaign to deny Iran any benefits from the agreement has driven the leadership in Tehran to take these retaliatory steps."

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 May 2019

ACP-UNCTAD Workshop Targets at Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA (IDN) – Well ahead of the High-Level Political Forum in July 2019 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with the focus on "empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality", the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held an all-day workshop at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on May 2, 2019.

: Ronald Joshua; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 08 May 2019

Photo: Inundated victims of two cyclones in Africa. Credit: -cdn.com. Source: USA Today.

World Bank Ups Aid Package For Cyclone-Hit Countries

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The new head of the World Bank has approved emergency support for the three African countries slammed by record-strength cyclones in what has been called the worst weather catastrophe in decades.

Tropical Cyclone Idai ripped through Mozambique with 110 mph winds and a storm surge topping 20 feet before moving inland into Zimbabwe and Malawi. Heavy rains accompanied the storm on March 15 affecting 1.7 million people in Mozambique and 970,000 in neighboring Malawi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 May 2019

Beware of Negativity Bias Running Riot

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Do we, especially our politicians and media, focus more on threats than on opportunities, dwell on loses more than on gains, and learn more from past failures than from successes?

When we are children we are frightened of bogeymen. When we are adults we often inflate dangers.

When two years ago Steven Pinker published his book telling us how the number of battlefield deaths had gone dramatically down since World War 2 and pointed out how life had been transformed for poor people in the Third World because of immunization, contraception, disease eradication and widespread literacy many were taken by surprise.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 07 May 2019

Photo: On March 19, 2019 under the Chairmanship of Yury Ushakov, an Aide to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Organizing Committee on Russia-Africa held its first meeting in Moscow. But the two sides known very little about each other. Credit: Modern Diplomacy

Russia and Africa Stay Uninformed about Each Other

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Experts and researchers have observed that, since the collapse of the Soviet-era politics in December 1991, an appreciable level of media cooperation has never been on the side of Russia’s public diplomacy with Africa.

In practice, Russian officialdom has not encouraged and supported the idea of media that could, in a way, present the positive changes and emerging economic opportunities in the Russian Federation to the general reading public, political elite and business community in Africa.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 May 2019

Photo credit: SDG Global Festival of Action

Global Festival Looks Beyond Promises of Agenda 2030

By Sean Buchanan

BONN (IDN) – The SDG Global Festival of Action, which takes place in Bonn every year, is an occasion for bringing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) campaigners and multi-stakeholder partners together for inspiring and broadening the global movement to take action for the SDGs.

It provides a dynamic and interactive space to showcase the latest innovations, tools and approaches to SDG advocacy and SDG action.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 07 May 2019

UN Report Calls for 'Transformative Changes' to Halt Nature’s Dangerous Decline

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – UN biodiversity experts have warned in a hard-hitting report into the impact of humans on nature that "the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide" are being eroded. Current efforts to conserve the earth’s resources will likely fail without radical action, said Sir Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).