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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Celebratory messages of love and appreciation for Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu poured in from across the world on the Nobel Peace laureate’s 90th birthday on October 7.
A week’s worth of events culminated on his birthday with the 11th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture delivered this year by four global leaders.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Out of 118 Nobel Prize laureates between 1901 and 2021, only six have gone to African writers with only two to Black Africans. So, there was a measure of celebration, excitement, and pride when this year’s prize was awarded to Zanzibar-born writer Abdulrazak Gurnah.
By Rita Joshi
BONN (IDN) — People all over the world celebrated on October 9 World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.
Two environmental treaties—the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) — and the non-profit organization, Environment for the Americas (EFTA), joined the UN-backed campaign.
Viewpoint by BM Jain
The writer is a Professor of Political Science and the Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Journal of Asian Affairs.
NEW DELHI (IDN) — China is determined to establish a geostrategic foothold in the new Taliban-led Afghanistan. A decade ago, China forayed into Afghanistan’s strategic space by inking deals with the Afghan government in the mining, power and oilfields sectors—although Afghanistan’s chaotic political environment prevented any real progress. China then played a key role in facilitating peace talks with the Taliban from 2014. With the Taliban back in power, China can once again advance its interests.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN | UNCTAD) — Barbados, Belize and Costa Rica are looking beyond the pandemic and climate shocks by developing and implementing national trade strategies strongly linked to resilience, conservation and the sustainable use of their marine resources.
A regional experience-sharing workshop held on September 23-24 highlighted the need to adopt, elaborate and implement evidence-based and policy-coherent oceans economy and trade strategies (OETS) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) framework.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) — Russian and foreign media have stepped up reports about rising Covid-19 infections. The reports also indicate high deaths in the country. Some new trends are noticeable. Interestingly, Tourism and Travel agencies have revealed that vaccine uptake has lagged in Russia and worse, due largely to mistrust, so many Russians are lining up for vaccine tourism in Serbia, Bulgaria and Germany and a few other foreign countries.
Viewpoint by Catrin Waters
The writer is a student at University of Virginia in the U.S. and a volunteer with the High Atlas Foundation, a U.S./Moroccan non-profit organization focused on sustainable development.
VIRGINIA, USA (IDN) — Before you read this, I challenge you to pause and ask your body the question: how do you like the thoughts I think about you?
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA (IDN) — The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is having a torrid time. One by one, his worst fears are coming true. According to Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, authors of An Ugly Truth, a scathing tell-all on Zuckerberg and his second-in-command, Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook founder, has been troubled for years by three deadly fears: the prospect of hackers breaching the site, his employees being harmed, and the breakup of his empire.
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*
NEW YORK (IDN) — President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic Senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema.
But the very week before the Dems’ $350 billion-per-year domestic package hit this wall of corporate money-bags, all but 38 House Democrats voted to hand over more than double that amount to the Pentagon. Senator Manchin has hypocritically described the domestic spending bill as “fiscal insanity,” but he has voted for a much larger Pentagon budget every year since 2016.
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball
The following statement by Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of The Arms Control Association, was issued on October 6, 2021.
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — The Biden administration’s decision to declassify updated information on the number of nuclear warheads in the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal is a welcome step that reverses an unwise decision by the Trump administration to classify this information. It also puts pressure on other nuclear armed states that maintain excessive secrecy about their arsenals, and highlights the need for further steps to reduce the number, role, and risk of nuclear weapons in the United States and world’s other eight nuclear-armed states.
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