The Rich-Poor Gulf Widens 5 Years After Adoption of Sustainable Development Goals
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 will be remembered as a year in which a contagious virus shut down the world, widened the gulf between the rich and the poor, triggered a spike in poverty for the first time in decades, and pushed back the United Nations efforts to create more equitable societies jeopardising the Sustainable Development Goals universally agreed in September 2015.
By early December, the United Nations was warning that a record 235 million people would require humanitarian assistance in 2021, comprising an increase of some 40 per cent on 2020 which is almost entirely a consequence of the pandemic. INDONESIAN | TAGALOG | THAI | JAPANESE
Portugal: Mainstreaming Food Systems in The Presidency of The European Council
Viewpoint by Paulo Caruso Dias de Lima
The writer is a Liaison Officer at the FAO Brussels Office.
BRUSSELS (IDN) – As announced two weeks ago, the Portuguese Presidency of the European Council, in the first half of next year, is set to position its priorities to promote a fair, green and digital recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19. This is in keeping with regional and global trends towards transforming the ways in which we produce and consume food. (Also available in Portuguese)
Transforming Tea Trade with Taste and Impact in Tanzania
By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – Nothing quite compares the taste of Ginger Mint Fusion tea whose aromatic steam mistily wafts off when served in a cup. As any customer at Salt restaurant in Dar es Salaam will attest, the tasty beverage is probably the best money can buy.
Perched at the posh Oyster Bay neighbourhood with lush vegetation – the restaurant, which boasts a tacky décor and grandiose French Style architecture – is a magnet for tea-lovers. FRENCH | JAPANESE | SPANISH
The Forgotten HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the first identification of HIV/AIDS in the United States of America (USA), in 1981, approximately 76 million people have been infected with HIV, and nearly 35 million people have died of AIDS — the highest global death toll of all time — and also one of the world’s most politicized, feared and controversial diseases in the history of modern medicine.
However, this year, the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) has thus far infected over 65 million and killed over 1.5 million people around the world. GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE |
| Published by The Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency 33 Lafferty Street, Toronto, ONT M9C5B5, CANADA Europaplatz 2, 8th Floor, 10557 Berlin, GERMANY Ichimura bldg. 4F, 3-2 Kanda Ogawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo JAPAN 101-0052 as part of a Joint Media Project with the Soka Gakkai International 15-3 Samon-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0017, Japan |