THE WORLD

Photo: Police firing tear gas to disperse protesters near Central Government Complex on 5 August 2019. VOA Cantonese. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Non-violence Is the Need of the Hour in Hong Kong

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The gloves are off in Hong Kong. Judging from the pictures on September 3 BBC News the police no longer have any compunction about beating protestors. Ironically, they don’t appear to get close to the fringe of protestors who are using violent tactics. Rather they are swinging their batons left right and centre at any young person they meet, even chasing them on to the metro trains where commuters get thwacked too.

It reminds me vividly of the tough sheriffs of Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960s who used dogs against the civil rights protestors and cracked heads.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 September 2019

Photo: Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in eastern Kazakhstan near the secret town of Semipalatinsk on August 29, 1949. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | INPS-IDN August 2019

It Is Time to Close and Lock the Door on Nuclear Testing

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Everybody knows that nuclear weapons have been used twice in wartime and with terrible consequences. Often overlooked, however, is the large-scale, postwar use of nuclear weapons: At least eight countries have conducted 2,056 nuclear test explosions, most of which were far larger than the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States alone has detonated more than 1,030 nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, underwater, and underground.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 02 September 2019

Photo credit: twitter.com/antonioguterres

UN Chief Applauds Japan-Africa Partnership Through TICAD

By Taro Ichikawa

YOKOHAMA (IDN) – "I see Africa as a dynamic continent of opportunity where winds of hope are blowing ever stronger. TICAD has played a critical role in focusing international dialogue on Africa, built on the twin principles of African ownership and international partnership," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres kicking off the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). The United Nations, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and the African Union Commission (AUC) co-hosted the conference in Yokohama city.

: Taro Ichikawa; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 September 2019

Photo (left to right): Ms Zerbo, her husband Nazarbayev Prize laureate CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo, Kazakh President Tokayev, First President Nazarbayev, Ms Yukika Amano, widow of late IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, Nazarbayev Prize laureate and his brother Mari Amano. Credit: akorda.kz.

Kazakhstan Honours Advocates of a Nuclear-Free World

By Ramesh Jaura with reports from Katsuhiro Asagiri

BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) – Kazakhstan, widely acknowledged as a leader in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, has availed of this year’s International Day against Nuclear Tests to honour two eminent advocates of a world free of nuclear weapons. The Central Asian republic was one-time holder of the world's fourth nuclear arsenal as a part of the Soviet Union, defunct since 1991,

: Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 31 August 2019

Photo (L-R): The ATOM Project Honorary Ambassador Karipbek Kuyukov, Kazakh Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev and UNODA Deputy High Representative Thomas Markram. Photo credit: inform.kz.

Kazakh Capital Hosts Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Delegates

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) – Representatives of five Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs) and Mongolia have been exploring ways of inter-zonal cooperation and further coordination at a seminar in the Kazakh capital, co-organized by the Government of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).

Inputs from the seminar are expected to contribute to preparations for the discussions at the Fourth Conference of the State Parties to Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones on April 24, 2020 in New York.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 31 August 2019

Photo: Participants in Vienna ceremony to mark International Day against Nuclear Tests 2019. Credit: CTBTO.

Need for Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty's Entry into Force Reiterated

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – Urgent calls to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force as a key pillar of the international non-proliferation and disarmament framework marked the International Day against Nuclear Tests 2019 commemorated around the world on August 29 with ceremonies to remember the devastating consequences of nuclear tests. The Day will also be marked by a high-level UN plenary meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 9.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2019

Photo: Aerial view of Sochi, located on the Black Sea coast. CC BY-SA 3.0

Sochi Summit Expected to Open Russia’s Door to Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – As Sochi, a Russian city located on the Black Sea coast, prepares to host African leaders, experts have been discussing the possible outcome of this first high-level event in the history of Russian-African relations, with the heads of all states of the African continent invited, as well as leaders of major subregional associations and organisations attending.

According to official sources here, the summit on October 24 will play special attention to the current state and prospects of Russia's relations with African countries and to the expansion of the political, economic, technical and cultural cooperation.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 30 August 2019

Photo: Kazakhstan officially hands over to UN document on ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Ratification Marks One Step Closer to Banning the Bomb

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan, the country where the Soviet atomic bomb was first tested exactly 70 years ago, has become the 26th State party by depositing with the United Nations Secretariat the ratification instrument to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) thus marking one step closer to the prospect of the entry into force of the landmark Treaty, which establishes a legal ban on nuclear weapons.

And this on August 29, the International Day against Nuclear Tests. This year, the UN officially commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of the Day.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 29 August 2019

Photo: Musicians perform on the streets of Maputo, Mozambique, on International Jazz Day 2019. Photo: Mauro Vombe

Peace Through Jazz Music

The Trumpet Is a ‘Cool’ Instrument to Unite People

By Franck Kuwonu from Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Each year, on April 30, music lovers around the world celebrate International Jazz Day to “honour jazz and its enduring legacy, as well as its power to bring people together,” says Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which works to promote global peace, justice and rule of law.

Jazz events held each year in different countries around the globe culminate in the International Jazz Day, a star-studded musical concert in a major city. This year it took place in Melbourne, Australia. Other cities have hosted the event since 2012, when the UN headquarters in New York City hosted the inaugural.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 August 2019

Photo: National Museum of Slavery (Portuguese: Museu Nacional da Escravatura) located in Morro da Cruz, Luanda, Angola. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0

Reframing the History of Slavery in Angola and the U.S.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – If the U.S. has 35,000 museums, a writer asked in 2014, why is only one about slavery? And if the wealth of this country was built on the backs of enslaved people from Africa, why has that story been vastly under-reported in our media, in our schools and in our political discourse?

The first question was asked by John J. Cummings III, a retired lawyer who redeveloped the Whitney Plantation in New Orleans as a memorial. The second question is being examined today by writers, artists, and citizens from perspectives running right to left.