|
|
News for a Sustainable World
Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group
with IDN-InDepthNews as the Flagship Agency
Download Sustainable Development Observer
Dear Reader,
We are pleased to send you Edition 20 | 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
Viewpoint by Katrina van den Heuvel*
This article is distributed by Globetrotter in partnership with The Nation.
NEW YORK (IDN) — What are the United States’ goals in the Ukraine war? Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently announced that the United States wants “Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.” The U.S. commitment toward that end has been substantial.
Read More
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest United Nations forecast warns that growth prospects have weakened significantly amid the war in Ukraine, upending the fragile economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and exacerbating inflationary pressures worldwide.
Read More
By V Sridhar
This article was issued by NewsClick, and is being republished courtesy of that independent media organization in India.
NEW DELHI (IDN) — The month of May seems to be the Narendra Modi Government’s favourite month for conjuring a crisis out of thin air. Exactly a year ago, it was the vaccine fiasco; this year, it is the wheat crisis. About a month ago, (Prime Minister) Modi, accustomed to the bombast of a Vishwaguru (world guru), told US president Joe Biden that India, a non-existent player in the global wheat trade, could play a role in feeding the world.
Read More
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — An ugly cloud of pessimism hangs over many parts of the world. War that seemed to be in retreat, has returned with a vengeance with the second-largest military in the world, Russia’s, battling a very under-resourced neighbour, Ukraine. It’s getting a lot of people down. Yet there are many more grounds for optimism.
Read More
Viewpoint by Volker Boege
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
QUEENSLAND, Australia (IDN) — The latest IPCC report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability shows that the effects of climate change are more severe than previously thought, that the situation will deteriorate globally faster than expected if no decisive action is taken now, and it highlights that low-lying island nations and islands will be hardest hit and be faced with truly existential threats. This is bad news, particularly for the Pacific Island Countries (PICs).
Read More
By Ravindra Singh Prasad
SUVA (IDN) — Every year on May 14 Fiji’s Indian community mark the day when the first shipment of their ancestors came here as indentured labourers to work in British sugarcane plantations established in their Pacific Ocean colony.
Girmitiya is how they came to be known over time—the name derived from the term Girmit, a corruption of the English word, agreement.
Read More
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United States, which is holding the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, has summoned an “emergency session” of the Council on May 19 to focus largely on world food security in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told reporters May 15 the United States and Western allies are coming together to address “some of the broader consequences that are flowing from Russia’s aggression, primarily the global food shortages and rising food prices”.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Religious conflicts have escalated dramatically in recent years. Throughout the 1950-1996 periods, these conflicts constituted 33% to 47% of all conflicts.
Few continents are exempt from this picture of faith-based conflict and today Nigerians are grappling with a troubling theological issue following the stoning death of a Christian college student, allegedly for committing blasphemy on a social media site.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Oil companies and gold mines in Africa are facing increasingly fierce challenges from grassroots community organizations trying to address serious climate concerns.
Shell Oil, to give an example, was hit with legal challenges as both the company and individual Board members faced opposition from Friends of the Earth.
Read More
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Republic of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) is an archipelago island nation to the west of Senegal and Mauritania, consisting of 10 volcanic islands that lie between 320 and 460 nautical miles west of Cap-Vert, the westernmost point of continental Africa.
The official language is Portuguese, the language of instruction and government and in newspapers, TV and radio, but the recognized national language is Cape Verdean Creole, spoken by the vast majority of the population.
Read More
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A new study concludes that investments in girls’ education have failed to deliver economic equality for women.
The researchers found that while such investments have delivered many other benefits—including better health outcomes for women and their families—the economic returns are often disappointing.
Read More
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW l KIGALI (IDN) — The 12th Regional Conference of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa convened in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 3-7 under the theme: ‘Combating Corruption for Good Governance and Sustainable Development in Africa’.
The Conference was jointly organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Rwanda and brought together members of the Association of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, senior government officials, relevant international organisations, policymakers, and development partners to address key priorities toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16.
Read More
By Lekhanath Pandey
This article was issued by NewsClick, and is being republished courtesy of that independent media organization in India.
KATHMANDU (IDN) — Nepal's industrial sector has been hit hard by power cuts in recent weeks, with many small, medium as well as large firms forced to shut down operations due to a lack of electricity.
Read More
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN | NEW DELHI (IDN) — In the wake of Russia blocking Ukraine’s exports, on May 13 India decided to restrict wheat exports. Explaining the decision, the Government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) said the export curb will control food prices, and strengthen the food security of India and countries facing a deficit.
Read More
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) — The landslide victory in the May 9 presidential polls in the Philippines by Ferdinand Marcos jr the son of the former dictator of the same name who was forced to flee the country with his family (that includes his young son) in 1986 by a “peoples’ power” revolution throws another spanner into the adage that democracy gives people a voice to choose people to serve them and the nation.
Read More
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (IDN) — The Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans, a Netherlands based organization, has decided to sue the European Union and international bodies for failing to respond to human rights abuses by the Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki and his associates.
At the press conference on May 10, the Foundation’s lawyer, Emiel Jurjens from Kennedy van der Laan made the announcement of legal action by the Foundation on the Responsibility of Eritrea for Grave Human Rights Violations, the details of which can be found here.
Read More
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) — Despite the Russia-Ukraine crisis going on from bad to worse, with a visible geopolitical impact, the historic city of St. Petersburg is gearing up for the mid-June International Economic Forum. Titled "New Opportunities in a New World", it will take place from June 15–18 in the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Read More
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwen
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA (IDN) — After emerging as the consensus Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in March, Abdullahi Adamu was faced with a major crisis. Healing the deep divisions in the party was urgent but it was not even the most serious concern of the 75-year-old senator, former governor, and former member of the opposition party. Nor was the dilapidated, rudderless state of the party organs his most pressing task.
Read More
|
|
|