A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – While upholding the importance of international solidarity in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, a “dangerous enemy” to all humanity, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has regretted “the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in funding” to the UN health agency.…
By Devendra Kamarajan
NAIROBI (IDN) – The Government of Kenya, the United Nations and humanitarian partners have launched a Flash Appeal requesting $267.5 million to respond to the most immediate and critical needs of 10.1 million people.
Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning, Ukur Yatani Kanacho, said: “When times are challenging you get to know your friends better. I would like to commend the Kenya United Nations Country Team and humanitarian partners for being real friends and fighting with us shoulder to shoulder as we fight this deadly pandemic.”
Viewpoint by Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada
Following is the text of a press release conveying President Harada‘s Message in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. [Read in Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.]
TOKYO (IDN) – Japan, where until recently we hoped that we would contain the spread of COVID-19, has now entered into a state of emergency, facing a surge in the number of confirmed cases and redoubling its efforts to save precious lives.
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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. and France are treading unexpected paths to besiege COVID-19 with African assistance. Striking a different note, the Nigerians have strong reservations about a team of Chinese specialists invited to support them in combating the pandemic in the West African country.
While the desperate USAID relief agency has been seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) from poor countries to safeguard much needed supplies in the U.S., and a French doctor wants to test drugs on Africans. But the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is bashing the government for inviting an 18-man team of Chinese specialists in helping to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.…
By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – Responding to requests for support from around 90 Member States in controlling an increasing number of infections worldwide, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is dispatching a first batch of equipment to more than 40 countries to enable them to use a nuclear-derived technique to rapidly detect the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Also known as the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA said that several countries have shown strong support for this emergency assistance and announced major funding contributions for the IAEA’s efforts in helping to tackle the pandemic.…
Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue and something that we needed to invest much of our emotional and political energy in countering.
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN (IDN) – The world’s oldest peace NGO, the 1910 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Peace Bureau (IPB), is calling for a “dramatic reduction” of military spending in favour of healthcare and meeting social needs. A petition launched on March 27 and signed by all interested will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly on the first day of the next session opening on September 15, 2020.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – In a clarion call for “an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on March 23 urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind.The ceasefire would allow humanitarians to reach populations that are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, which first emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has now been reported in more than 180 countries. (P33) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | THAI
Viewpoint by Simone Abram*
DURHAM, UK (IDN) – How do you respond to a crisis? It’s obvious that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been dramatically different to anything provoked by repeated scientific warnings about climate change. The many organisations that declared climate emergencies throughout 2019 and 2020 have so far enacted nothing like the scale and speed of action to limit the spread of coronavirus.…
