THE WORLD

Photo: Manchester Brexit protest for Conservative conference, October 1, 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0

UK's May Should Announce a New Referendum Immediately

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The whole debate about Brexit has had a weird quality about it from beginning to end. Prime Minister Theresa May voted in the referendum two and half years ago to remain in the European Union but then as a quid pro quo for being made prime minister she has led the charge to implement Brexit.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, voted to remain but has made it clear that he too prefers out, albeit keeping the UK in the Customs Union.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 11 December 2018

Photo: A stone memorial “The rebels were dispersed here” stands on the Matale-Kandy road till this day. Credit: Matale Rebellion, Ceylon.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 4

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 3 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Many reasons can be given for the failure of the uprising. First and foremost were the immense power and enormous resources of the rising British Empire at the time. A small nation, and its chiefs, though demonstrating exceptional valour and purpose, had little chance of defeating Britain which was also basking in the glow of having recently defeated Napoleon and the French empire and was exuding supreme confidence.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 09 December 2018

Photo: The Royal Palace of Kandy. Wikimedia Commons.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 3

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – As to whether Kandy could have managed to hold the British at bay for much longer or extract much more from the British in the negotiations at that point in history is highly debatable. My view is that for a leadership which was not much familiar with the momentous events shaping the future of the world and Britain emerging the undisputed super power of the world, the chiefs did remarkably well.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 08 December 2018

Photo: Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Heather Nauert (first on the left) and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (centre) meeting with Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi in Beijing, China on June 14, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Israel Welcomes Nauert as Haley's Successor at the UN

By Bernhard Schell

DUBAI (IDN) – Israel has hailed U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that he will nominate former Fox news reporter and current State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations headquarters in New York, according to agencies and The Times of Israel.

Nauert will replace Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who announced in October that she would step down as ambassador at the end of this year.

“Heather Nauert will be nominated,” Trump said on December 7 before leaving the White House on Marine One for an event in Kansas City. “She’s very talented, very smart, very quick, and I think she’s going to be respected by all.”

: Bernhard Schell; THE WORLD; Middle East; 07 December 2018

Photos courtesy of Frank Darko and Education in Ghana. Source: YaleGlobal Online.

Ghanaian Inventor Eases Children's Access to Schools Across Rivers

By Devendra Kamarajan

ACCRA (IDN) – A young inventor, Frank Darko, has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta region reach schools. Currently, they must swim or wade through at least one river every day to get to the nearest school. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy season, three months a year.

Frank Darko, a 27-year-old Ghanaian man, was moved to action in 2017, after seeing a documentary and news reports about the children’s plight, reports Raluca Besliu in YaleGlobal. He invented a water bicycle to help children and others living in river regions to cross bodies of water.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 December 2018

Image: The Belt and Road Initiative includes one-third of world trade and GDP and over 60% of the world's population, says the World Bank.

Silk Road: A Debt 'Trap' or an Opportunity for the West Joining China to Assist Developing Countries?

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Foreign Secretary and former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

COLOMBO (IDN) – "Any conflict between the U.S. and China, including a trade war, would do irreparable damage to both, not to mention the rest of the world. However, the two giants have a unique opportunity in history to get away from traditional power based competition to cooperate for the common good of humanity, especially the developing countries whose primary interest is in progressing economically. Such cooperation may not happen any time soon but a golden opportunity exists."

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 07 December 2018

IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo being interviewed by IDN-INPS Southern Africa correspondent Jeffrey Moyo in Harare, Zimbabwe, on December 3, 2018.

UN Specialised Agency IFAD Joins 79-nation ACP to Rescue African Agriculture

IDN interviews IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Smallholder rural farmers in Zimbabwe are set to benefit from international funding intended to improve access to inputs, irrigation and the adoption of smart farming practices in the face of predicted El Nino-induced drought.

On the first visit to Zimbabwe of a president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the beginning of December, it was made known that the Rome-based specialised agency of the United Nations is making 51 million dollars available for development of the agricultural sector in remote areas of the country.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 December 2018

Photo: President Barack Obama in a New START Treaty meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on November 18, 2010, flanked among others by former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Dr. Henry A. Kissinger.

It is High Time for the U.S. and Russia to Get Off the Treadmill to Catastrophe

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The author is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. He wrote this editorial for the December issue of Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “[t]he Cold War is back...but with a difference. The mechanisms and the safeguards to manage the risks of escalation that existed in the past no longer seem to be present.”

Indeed, the United States and Russia are planning to spend trillions of dollars to replace and upgrade their nuclear arsenals at force levels that far exceed what is required to deter nuclear attack. China is also improving its nuclear weapons capabilities.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 06 December 2018

Photo source: The Island Daily, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 2

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 2 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1.

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – The first major British invasion of Kandy suffered the same fate as those of the Portuguese and the Dutch. The King commanded the loyalty of the chiefs, the people and the monks and the invaders were just massacred at Le Wella (Bloody Beach) but the world’s only superpower at the time did not take this defeat lying down.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 06 December 2018

Leaders Pledge to Boost Blue Economy, Protect Water Bodies

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The Kenyan capital was literally painted ‘blue’ for the first-ever global conference on the blue economy attended by over 18,000 participants from 180 countries.

Running from November 26 to 28, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference ended with various countries signing commitments to ensure that humanity benefits from the blue economy – or the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs.

Participants discussed a host of topics around the issue of sustainable use of oceans, seas and inland water bodies, and a joint communiqué issued by leaders undertook to utilise their countries' water resources for the benefit of their people.