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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | WINDHOEK (IDN) – The Namibian government has leased four farms for 99 years to a company, Comsar Properties SA, owned by a Russian billionaire, Rashid Sardarov. Valued at USD$3 million and measuring a total 42,000 acres, the farms were registered as state property by the land reform ministry.
Land reform minister Utoni Nujoma has been flip-flopping on whether or not he was involved in the transaction, according to The Namibian.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – At last a book that attacks the "Blob" and holes it below the water line. Whether it can sink it is another matter. I'm talking about 'The Hell of Good Intentions: America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S Primacy' by the Harvard professor of international affairs, Stephen M. Walt, released on October 18, 2018. [Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN: 9780374902612. Publicity: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
The "Blob" is a wonderful word conjured up by President Barack Obama's deputy National Security Advisor, Ben Rhodes. It means the group of congressmen, generals, industrialists, academics and journalists who specialize in foreign policy and have an influence promoting what Walt calls "Liberal Hegemony".
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu has expressed her "gratitude" to the Kazakhstan for their continued partnership with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), including through a series of Nuclear Discussion Forums (NDF), now in its eighth year.
She was addressing a side event of the UN General Assembly's First Committee on October 18 at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations. The event featured a panel discussion about Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs). It was chaired by Yerzhan Ashikbayev, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan.
Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu
The following are extensive excerpts from a statement by Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at a side event on October 18, 2018, organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations on Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones. – The Editor
NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Between the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which was signed in in 1967, to the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, which entered into force in 2009, the world has experienced a growing adherence from States to nuclear weapon-free zones treaties.
By Ronald Joshua
GENEVA (IDN) – Bahrain, India, Lesotho and South Africa have won 2018 United Nations Investment Promotion Awards for excellence in boosting investment into sectors that will have social and economic benefits and help countries meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the awards honour investment promotion agencies (IPAs) and their governments for their achievements, but also showcase best practices in attracting investment into SDG-related projects that can inspire investment promotion practitioners in developing and developed countries.
Viewpoint by Alice Slater
The author is a member of the World Beyond War Coordinating Committee and the UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
NEW YORK (IDN) – With 122 nations having voted last summer (July 2017) to adopt a treaty for the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons, just as the world has banned chemical and biological weapons, its seems that the world is locked in a new Cold War time-warp, totally inappropriate to the times.
By Naimul Haq
DHAKA, Bangladesh (IDN) – Despite a well-coordinated effort to address the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal town bordering Myanmar, some major challenges still need attention.
The local administration admits that with over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens arriving in such a short time, it is indeed difficult to manage the environmental damages and rising crime rates faced by the local people.
Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Md Kamal Hossain told IDN that in terms of supplies of food, commodities and household basics efforts have been well coordinated. However, “environmental damage and the crimes rising by the day are major concerns but they are being addressed now and hopefully we would soon find solutions.”
By Justus Wanzala
NAIROBI (IDN) – Incessant humming noise emanating from air conditioners welcomes one into an in expansive warehouse at Twiga Foods pack house in Syokimau area of Kenya's capital. It is mid-morning and workers are busy sorting, cleaning and packing fresh produce ready for the market.
Established in 2014, Twiga sources produce from Kenyan farmers for sale to vendors in urban areas. It handles 14 products among them onions, bananas, capsicums, carrots, tomatoes, pineapples, pawpaws, passion fruits and mangoes. It buys produce from 8,370 farmers and sells to an estimated 5,226 vendors.
By J. Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – A top priority of the new UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, who replaced Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on September 1, 2018, is "to do what my mandate tells me to do, to be the voice of the voiceless." In addition, it is "also to engage with governments so they respect human rights, protect people from rights violations, and promote human rights."
In an extensive interview with UN News, twice-elected President of Chile and the first head of UN Women describes advancing human rights, a "never ending process". Watch video.
![Photo: Saudi writer and media personality Jamal Khashoggi [Beforeitsnews.com/Facebook]](/images/Jamal_Khashoggi.jpg)
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – While UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement released on October 19, said that he is "deeply troubled" by the reported confirmation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi, independent UN human rights experts have commended business leaders who have decided to pull out of a high-level investment conference – also known as 'Davos in the Desert' – taking place October 23-25 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
A tweet posted by the Saudi Foreign Ministry on October 19 stated that the missing Saudi journalist, a columnist with the Washington Post newspaper, was killed, claims reportedly echoed on Saudi State TV.
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