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News for a Sustainable World
Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group
with IDN-InDepthNews as the Flagship Agency
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Dear Reader,
We are pleased to send you Edition 06 | 2022. This weekly is the flagship news product of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with registered offices in Canada, Germany, Japan and Singapore, and correspondents around the world. Feel free to share and re-publish articles pro bono mentioning the source. Previous editions are available on https://newsletter-archive.indepthnews.net. Your feedback is most welcome.
Kind regards from the Non-Profit
International Press Syndicate
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — North Korea, whose economy has been severely undermined by rigid sanctions imposed by the United Nations and the United States, in retaliation for its active nuclear weapons program, has long justified its growing military arsenal on sheer political and ideological grounds.
The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the ouster of Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, were perhaps facilitated by one fact: none of these countries either had nuclear weapons or had given up developing them.
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By R.M.Samanmalee Swarnalatha
POLLONNARUWA, Sri Lanka (IDN) — Sri Lankan government’s badly planned organic farming policy that has banned the use of chemical fertilizer in farms has upset farmers in this rice-growing heartland and a political stronghold of the ruling coalition. The policy has also drawn criticism from agricultural experts, who warn that Sri Lanka’s food security is at stake.
Chairman of Minneriya Integrated Farmer Organization, Anil Gunawardhna argues that the government organic fertilizer program is an utter failure because it was announced without any proper program and work plan to achieve its aims.
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A Memo to Congress
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies
NEW YORK (IDN) — While the Biden administration is sending more troops and weapons to inflame the Ukraine conflict and Congress is pouring more fuel on the fire, the American people are on a totally different track.
A December 2021 poll found that a plurality of Americans in both political parties prefer to resolve differences over Ukraine through diplomacy. Another December poll found that a plurality of Americans (48 per cent) would oppose going to war with Russia should it invade Ukraine, with only 27 per cent favouring U.S. military involvement.
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Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Are the West's chickens coming home to roost? If the Western powers had gambled 2% of NATO's budget and met the Soviet Union's economic needs in President Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost era there would have been a much less de-stabilising transition and today, there would have been a recognisable democracy.
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By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) — The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have a long-standing collaboration to support Member States to address their cancer burdens. The two specialized agencies of the United Nations work together to help countries improve cancer control planning, ensure safe delivery of cancer treatment through a dose audit service to achieve and maintain accurate dosimetry for radiotherapy, and to provide joint guidance on important topics relating to cancer, among others.
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By Rosemary A. DiCarlo
Ms DiCarlo is the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.
NEW YORK (IDN) — United Nations Security Council sanctions are no longer the “blunt instrument” they once were, having transformed since the 1990s into “a vital tool” that minimizes negative consequences for civilians, and States that are not directly being targeted.
That was the main message the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, conveyed to the Security Council on February 7 during a debate on sanctions, focused on the unintended consequences that stem from them, especially in the humanitarian context.
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By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) and the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that focuses on ending the COVID-19 pandemic, advancing Universal Health Coverage, addressing vaccine equity, strengthening digital health systems and working towards global health security
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was seven years old when he first heard that a newborn baby was found dead in the trash. A few weeks later, another baby was similarly found. Tragically, this was nothing out of the ordinary in a repressive society that denied women the right to control their bodies, to have babies when they were ready, or to refuse to be cut in the practice known as FGM.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Festival season is around the corner in West Africa despite ongoing insurgencies that have hurt tourism.
The region has long been known for its music, dance and cultural shows, among them the Amani festival in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which opened on Febuary 4. Congolese rumba took the place of honour after its recognition from UNESCO as the world's intangible cultural heritage.
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