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Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group
with IDN-InDepthNews as the Flagship Agency
Dear Reader,
We are pleased to send you Edition 45 | 2020 of BEYOND BREAKING THE NEWS, a flagship news product, now in the fifth year, meanwhile published every Monday by the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group, with registered offices in Canada, Germany, Japan and Singapore, and correspondents around the world. Previous editions are available on https://newsletter-archive.indepthnews.net. Read. Share. Publish; free of charge but mention us as the source. We would appreciate your Feedback.
Kind regards from the Non-Profit
International Press Syndicate
Viewpoint by Thomas Marois and Maria Jose Romero *
BRUSSELS (IDN) – Those who work in the world’s public development banks will meet virtually on November 11-12 to discuss their response to the Covid-19 pandemic and their role in a more sustainable future.
This new summit, which they have called ‘Finance in Common’ (FiC), will also bring together the governments that own them and other key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society, think tanks and academia.
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Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson*
NEW YORK (IDN) – That was one roller coaster of a week! A nasty four years!
Celebrating Biden’s election with others in my hometown, there was joy as drivers’ faces lit up with smiles, women in hijabs and Central American landscapers gave us thumbs up, and hundreds of car horns rang out in support.
People’s joy was an expression of relief at the anticipated departure of a would-be dictator more than a love for Joe Biden. The African-American commentator Van Jones' tearful words spoke for so many:
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By Raphael Ahren
The writer is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel, which published it on November 7, 2020.
JERUSALEM (IDN) – Joe Biden, the newly elected 46th president of the United States, is a true friend of the Jewish state, friends and even political adversaries of the emerging president-elect agree.
“He has a deep feeling for Israel,” said Michael Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the US when Biden was vice president. Oren opposed almost all of the Middle East policies championed by Biden and his boss, Barack Obama, especially on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian question. Still, he annually attended Biden’s Rosh Hashanah party, and asserts that the former Delaware senator is genuinely concerned about Israel’s well-being.
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A Landmark Victory for the United Nations
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached on October 24 the required 50 signatories for its entry into force on January 22, 2021. It will eventually make nuclear weapons — the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction — illegal under international law.
Unquestionably, it is a landmark victory for the United Nations that continually for 75 years had on its agenda the issues relating to disarmament and abolition of nuclear weapons. It is remarkable that it coincided with the UN’s 75th anniversary, and also the infamous use of atomic bombs in August 1945.
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By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) – Despite the worsening coronavirus situation in Russia, at least during the months of October and November, Russian tourism agencies have briskly been organizing group tours to the Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar, Seychelles and Mauritius.
Obviously, because the islands seem to have the lowest cases of the pandemic and have taken strict measures to halt the spread of COVID-19. And, these islands are favourite destinations for foreign tourists and have closely diverse geopolitical relations with the world.
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Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA (IDN) – I suspected the pregnancy will not be carried to full term and now, it’s playing out. Even before the US electoral monster conceived by President Donald J. Trump was weaned, a few African countries are already taking delivery of their own premature electoral monster babies.
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By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan's Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York has joined the call of civil society for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons at least by 2045, arguing that setting the 2045 goal would provide a global rallying call to build a strong movement and that would leave no room for being dismissed as unrealistically early by those who rely on nuclear deterrence.
They were speaking at a Webinar on November 2, co-sponsored by Basel Peace Office, IDN-InDepthNews, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), UNFOLD ZERO and #wethepeoples2020. It explored the political value of setting 2045, the 100th anniversary of the United Nations, as the target date by which the global elimination of nuclear weapons should be achieved, if not before.
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By Manlio Dinucci
This article was originally published in Italian on Il Manifesto. It is being republished from Global Research. Manlio Dinucci is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
MONTREAL (IDN) – It was not Covid-19, therefore the news went almost unnoticed: Japan will release over a million tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. The catastrophic incident in Fukushima was triggered by the Tsunami that struck the north-eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, submerging the power plant and causing the core of three nuclear reactors to melt.
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By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (IDN) – The profound importance of data is underlined by the fact that the United Nations is measuring progress towards the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of a global network working together to ensure the new opportunities of the data revolution.
Youth are being referred to as the "torchbearers" of the 2030 Agenda and have a pivotal role to play both as beneficiaries of actions and policies under the Agenda and as partners and participants in its implementation. Indeed, both explicitly and implicitly, the 2030 Agenda calls for the development and activation of sound, evidence-based youth policies and actions to ensure its full realization.
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Viewpoint by Glenn Greenwald*
This article is being republished from Information Clearing House.
NEW YORK (IDN ) – The richest and most powerful country on earth — whether due to ineptitude, choice or some combination of both — has no ability to perform the simple task of counting votes in a minimally efficient or confidence-inspiring manner. As a result, the credibility of the voting process is severely impaired, and any residual authority the U.S. claims to “spread” democracy to lucky recipients of its benevolence around the world is close to obliterated.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Foul play may have been the winner in recent national elections in Tanzania, where the ruling party swept up an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats and the leaders of both top opposition parties lost theirs.
Citing “seditious language”, the election commission suspended the campaign of opposition challenger Tundu Lissu. Heavily armed police blocked his entire convoy for hours as he headed to launch new offices earlier this month. In a similar fashion, opposition candidate Seif Sharif Hamad was arrested on October 29, soon after holding a press conference in Zanzibar.
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Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – France has its back to the wall, unnecessarily so. Its coronavirus policy is in a mess. (How come the Asians and Africans can get it right and the Europeans and Americans can’t? Perhaps we are racially inferior.) And now there is the appalling act by an 18-year old fanatic who, in the name of Islam, decapitates a teacher for showing his class the notorious caricatures of Mohammed, published in the satirical magazine, “Charlie Hebdo” five years ago. Two weeks later three worshipers in a church in Nice were gunned down by another young fanatic of Muslim origin.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Sudanese refugees who live in Israel are wondering what their future holds if ties are normalized between the two countries as predicted and the Israeli government launches deportation proceedings against them.
There are around 6,500 Sudanese nationals in Israel, representing 20 per cent of all the asylum seekers in the country. Of these, 4,500 have submitted requests for political asylum and have been awaiting a decision for many years.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Backed by an overwhelming number of World Trade Organization (WTO) delegates, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was on a fast track to become the head of the global trade group.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was set to become the first woman and first African to lead the global trade watchdog. A selection panel of WTO trade ministers found she had far more support than a South Korean rival and it was expected that the Asian candidate would be withdrawn because the African candidate would be most likely to attract consensus among the members.
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By Lautaro Rivara *
PORT-AU-PRINCE (IDN) – Thirteen United Nations peacekeeping missions are underway in various countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Haiti has been the epicenter of the UN peacekeeping missions in Latin America and the Caribbean; there have been eight UN missions since the International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH) was deployed in Haiti in 1993. On October 15, 2019, the UN finally ended its 15-year-long peacekeeping mission in Haiti that began in 2004, leaving behind a “mixed legacy.”
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