By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than twenty African and international organizations have signed a letter which slates the European Union and its member states for externalizing migration policy through direct and indirect cooperation with regimes and militia forces that are utterly unaccountable for their actions, and violating its constitutional values and international obligations, including the responsibility to protect.…

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations is at risk of running out of cash, Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a letter to UN staff in July 2018 and stated that he had “written to Member States regarding the troubling financial situation facing the United Nations”. The situation has not changed for the better since.

In fact, nearly one year later, the situation is preventing the Organization from reimbursing troop- and police-contributing countries in a predictable and timely manner, hindering their ability to provide lifesaving support to peacekeeping operations, Guterres cautioned on June 4, 2019.…

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-19) that brought together thousands of foreign delegates, including those from Africa, prioritized “sustainable development” as the key theme. It offered an opportunity to discuss in-depth the significance, challenges and prospects of sustainable development, and cooperation among state institutions and businesses as well as between countries in achieving the global development goals endorsed by world leaders in September 2015 at the UN Headquarters in New York.…

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | BEIJING (IDN) – The world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs) will fail to achieve global sustainable energy targets by 2030 unless urgent and enhanced action is undertaken. This was the backdrop to discussions which took place on May 30-31, 2019 at a United Nations conference on ‘Scaling-Up Energy Access and Finance in the Least Developed Countries’ in Beijing, China.…

Flays Feminization of Voice Assistants

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – “I think if we wake up 20 years from now and we see the lack of diversity in our tech and leaders and practitioners [that we see today], that would be my doomsday scenario,” said Li Fei-Fei, co-director of Stanford University’s Human-Centered AI Institute and one of the few female leaders in the field of Artificial Intelligence, during testimony to the U.S. Congress.

Sounding alarm about the dearth of diversity in AI development, she added: “There’s nothing artificial about AI. It’s inspired by people, and – most importantly – it impacts people. . . . [The deep learning systems that undergird AI are] bias in, bias out.”…

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – One of the biggest cross-nation collaborations currently, is between the European Union and Kenya. This unusual pairing provides Kenya with the resources to implement development strategies with a Sh8 billion line of credit (USD 78.922.800,00) from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

While the loan is earmarked for the private sector to improve development, there is a definite need for support in all areas to make these funds go even further. One of the biggest cost items for any development project is labour. While paid labour will still be a component, a large form of relief is through skilled volunteers.…