Kenyans Are Innovative in Finding Ways to Fight COVID-19
By Justus Wanzala
BUSIA, Kenya (IDN) – It is a hot afternoon at a bus station at Mungatsi market centre, Nambale Sub-County, in Busia County, Western Kenya. Many people, many travellers, are queuing to wash their hands. Each person is maintaining a distance from the other as they wash their hands and board public service vehicles heading to their various destinations. ITALIAN | JAPANESE | SWAHILI | TURKISH
The Impact of COVID-19 Stalks Africa – Animated Video Tells Children About It
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – While Africa, like the international community on the whole, is engaged in a tough fight against the coronavirus, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert has called into question frightening estimates of those affected by COVID-19. At the same time, Ghana in a surprise move has ordered a partial lift of the lockdown. The pandemic virus is luring Rwanda into massive ‘loans’ under the garb of debt reduction. CHINESE | HINDI | JAPANESE | SWAHILI
COVID-19: Brazil Implements Basic Income Policy Following Massive Civil Society Campaign
By Pedro Telles
The writer is 2018-19 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics.
SÃO PAULO (IDN) – Tens of millions of Brazilians have begun receiving basic income payments aimed at addressing the economic impact of COVID-19, following Congress’ approval of a bill prompted by a country-wide grassroots campaign that began just three weeks ago. JAPANESE | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH
Global Buddhist Network Heralds Entry into Force of Nuclear Ban Treaty
Viewpoint by Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada
Following is the text of a press release President Harada welcoming the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, 2021.
TOKYO (IDN) – Together with the members of the Soka Gakkai worldwide, I wholeheartedly welcome the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, 2021. The entry into force of the TPNW heralds the start of the end of the nuclear era and marks a significant step forward toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons. JAPANESE
COVID-19 Could Lead to Better Protection of Biodiversity and Wild Animals
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – A positive outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic could be a better understanding of protecting biodiversity and a global ban on the trade in wild animals for food. The belief that COVID-19 began at a “wet market” in Wuhan in China, where wild animals were being sold for human consumption, has led to the Chinese government banning the trade in wild animals and a growing international campaign for this to be made into an enforceable international law. ARABIC | CHINESE | INDONESIAN | JAPANESE
A Nobel Peace Laureate Calls for Slashing Military Spending and Investing in Healthcare
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.
“The world spends 1.8 trillion dollars on military expenditure every year and is scheduled to spend 1 trillion dollars on new nuclear weapons in the next 20 years,” notes the IPB in the petition and a statement earlier from its headquarters in Germany’s capital city, Berlin.
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