By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 16 June 2024 (IDN) — While the European focus is on the Russo-Ukrainian war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is concerned about those crossing terrain such as deserts and seas without adequate resources to escape war, poverty, or climate catastrophe—often at risk of losing their lives or […]
Like Humans, Elephants Call Each Other by Name
By Ngala Killian Chimtom YAOUNDE, Cameroon | 15 June 2024 (IDN) — A new study has revealed an interesting fact about elephants. Like human beings, they call each other by name. Researchers analyzed 469 calls, or “rumbles,” from wild African elephants in Kenya that had a known caller and receiver. Using artificial intelligence, they found […]
WHO Concerned About Escalating Health Crisis In West Bank
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 15 June (IDN) — UN’s global health agency WHO has expressed concern about the escalating health crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, where attacks on health infrastructure and increased restrictions on movement are obstructing access to health care. “A spike in violence in the West Bank, […]
Climate Finance Tops Bonn UN Climate Talks
By Josh Gabbatiss and Molly Lempriere The following are excerpts from the Weekly climate newsletter of CarbonBrief, DeBriefed. BONN | 14 June 2024 (IDN) — Climate diplomats have finished another two weeks of intense negotiations in the German city of Bonn, discussing global efforts to cut emissions and protect people from climate hazards. Developed and […]
NATO Weighing Special Envoy Post to Ukraine, But Not Letting It Join The Club
By Uriel Araujo* BRASILIA | 13 June 2024 (IDN) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is planning to install a permanent special envoy to Kyiv as a new envoy post. This has to do with “institutionalizing” some of “the bilateral support that has flowed to Ukraine”, says US ambassador to Kyiv, Julianne Smith. At […]
Far Right Sweeps European Elections
By Dr. Binoy Kampmark* MELBOURNE, Australia | 13 June 2024 (IDN) — The EU elections over 6 to 9 June have presented a chaotically merry picture, certainly for those on the right of politics. Not that the right in question is reliably homogeneous in any sense, nor hoping for a single theme of triumph. A […]
Resignation of Gantz from War Cabinet Will Have Serious Implications on The War
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 12 June 2024 (IDN) — The leader of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, who resigned from the war cabinet, may well force Netanyahu’s hand to make a decision that he has avoided for months. He must decide who will govern Gaza ‘The Day After,’ following the end of […]
Russia: A Window to Europe Becomes a Gateway to Asia
By Yakov M. Rabkin* This article was originally published on Pressenza. MONTREAL, Canada | 12 June 2024 (IDN) — There has been ample coverage of a marathon press conference held by Vladimir Putin for heads of foreign and Russian press agencies earlier this month. Predictably, most attention was drawn to his answer to a British […]
Is Democracy in Crisis or On the Way out?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — Is democracy in decline? If you talk about the quality of democracy the answer is clearly yes. The US, the world’s first and most important democracy—although at the beginning a limited democracy for white men only—is in trouble. Ex-President Donald Trump has brought old […]
The Absence — and Presence— of Daniel Ellsberg: A Year After His Death, He’s Still with Us
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — On a warm evening almost a decade ago, I sat under the stars with Daniel Ellsberg while he talked about nuclear war with alarming intensity. He was most of the way through writing his last and most important book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of […]