By LDC Watch 01 September 2026 LDC Watch is shocked and deeply saddened by the devastating flash flood that struck Nepal’s Rasuwa district and the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli river corridor on 26 August 2026. The loss of hundreds of lives, the displacement of communities and the thousands of people still unaccounted for are devastating. We extend our […]
EEPA reports on Heavy fighting erupts in Baidoa, Somalia
BRUSSELS | 3 September 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, EU countries push for “return hubs”, Heavy fighting erupts in Baidoa, Somalia, Drone strikes two WFP trucks in South Kordofan. Migration and refugee situation (per 3 September) Ministers of Denmark, Austria, The Netherlands, Germany and Greece are […]
Ben Okri—a Great Novelist and an Immigrant—Hits Out
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 2 September 2026 (IDN) — “In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road, and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.” This must be one of the best opening lines ever penned […]
From the Evil Genius to the Digital Leviathan
By Sam Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 1 September 2026 (IDN) — Philosophy is often imagined as a discipline that builds—constructing systems, securing knowledge, clarifying truth. But its deepest power may lie elsewhere. Philosophy does not merely build; it destroys. It unsettles, destabilises, and, at its most powerful, pulls the ground out from beneath us. Nowhere […]
EEPA reports on ENDF base in Asosa expands military activity
BRUSSELS | 31 August 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, Night-time curfew lifted in Khartoum, ENDF base in Asosa expands military activity, 2 peacekeepers killed in South Sudan. Situation in Sudan (per 31 August) The night-time curfew and state of emergency in Khartoum has been lifted after […]
A Nuclear Bomb Took My Arms Before I Was Born. We Must Not Let It Take Our Future
By Karipbek Kuyukov* ASTANA | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — I paint with a brush held between my teeth or my toes. I was born without arms in 1968 about 100 kilometres from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in eastern Kazakhstan. My parents’ generation watched mushroom clouds rise over the steppe without being told what […]
From organising my data to exploring Humanitarian Data Spaces: My FAIR engineering journey with VODAN Africa
By Daniel Tesfa ADDIS ABEBA, Ethiopia | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — I come from the social sciences. My research focuses particularly on patterns of human trafficking and the post-war refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa. When I first joined the VODAN Africa FAIR Engineering journey, my ambition was relatively simple: I wanted to […]
The Palestinian Imperative: Statehood Demands Strategy, Not Slogans
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — A two-state solution remains the only viable path to peace, yet it will not emerge from Israeli policy shifts alone. Palestinians must undertake a profound strategic transformation—rooted in unity, institutional reform, and nonviolence—to make statehood both credible and attainable For decades, I have written […]
Substitute Sounds for Noise
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 26 August 2026 (IDN) –Everyone has their favourite sounds- a ball on a cricket bat on a summer’s afternoon, birds singing, waves breaking on the beach, the coffee pot perking on the stove, children playing Scooby-Doo. Mine are the quiet sounds of the English Lake District- William Wordsworth’s: “A […]
Realizing Genuine “Country Ownership”: Beyond Extractive Economics and Elite Collusion
By Soheila Comninos* WASHINGTON DC | 25 August 2026 (IDN) — Since joining the Funders Roundtable on the Future of Development, I have had the opportunity to attend several high-level forums on international development and observe a powerful critique threading through these spaces: old, extractive development models have created a cycle of dependency, holding back […]