By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The flow of weapons to battle-scarred Ukraine has been “non-stop”, says Rear Admiral Duke Heinz, the European Union’s chief logistician, as the fighting continues uninterruptedly ever since the Russian invasion last February. And US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III was quoted as saying: “Ukraine needs the firepower […]
Is Serbia Planning a “Special Operation” in Kosovo?
Viewpoint by Aurora Weiss The possibility of the Serbian president Vučić starting to play the role of the Balkan Vladimir Putin with an eventual invasion of Kosovo seems never to have been more serious. VIENNA (IDN) — Escalation: it’s like lighting a match. Two separate components, Phosphorus and Match, can spark several times before the […]
UN Group Urges Support to Most Vulnerable Countries
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General’s Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance points out that skyrocketing energy prices are compounding an existential cost-of-living crisis for hundreds of millions of people. In fact, as the war in Ukraine continues to rage, the rising energy costs may cost many developing […]
Millions of Lives in Peril in the Greater Horn of Africa
UN Health Agency Calls for USD 123.7 million Until December 2022 By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | NAIROBI (IDN) — The UN health agency, World Health Organization (WHO), has launched a funding appeal for USD 123.7 million to carry out urgent life-saving work in the greater Horn of Africa. The region also faces an unprecedented food […]
Sri Lanka’s Dance, Music, Crafts on Global Stage
By Nandasiri (Nandi) Jasentuliyana * LOS ANGELES (IDN) — A Sri Lanka-themed virtual Global Celebration will be launched in the United States on the Sri Lanka Foundation International platform providing an opportunity for a worldwide audience to go shopping in Sri Lanka’s premier outlets while being entertained by cultural performances in the comfort of one’s […]
Pelosi’s Pivot as Cold War and Colonialism Rebound
Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO (IDN) — All bets were off as Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and second in line to the United States Presidency, pivoted to Asia on August 1. As Ms Pelosi tottered off a US Air Force plane at Singapore’s Changi Airport in her signature stilettos, Southeast Asia tripped into […]
As Wars Threaten to Continue, No More Major Wars?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Will historians a hundred years hence look at the end of the twenty-first century much as we now look at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth and say, “unfortunately, the peace and prosperity of that moment was but an interlude before the bloodiest century in mankind’s […]
Congo Oil Auction Plans in ‘Last Refuge of Biodiversity’ Shocks Environmentalists
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — As massive floods and endless droughts, unleashed by global climate change, take lives and leave homes a twisted pile of sticks, the Democratic Republic of Congo will take a dangerous step backwards—opening up the Congo Basin to fossil fuel development. Sections of a renowned tropical […]
Study Supports Reparations in Climate-Damaged African Nations
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The African continent of 1.2 billion people, which represents 17% of the world’s population, contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers from extreme weather events, which scientists have warned will become more frequent due to climate change.
New Film Highlights World’s Only Female Army in the Kingdom of Dahomey
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The only documented female army in modern history was that of the Kingdom of Dahomey—now southern Benin—which, by the 1800s, had thousands of female troops. In September, a film version that portrays the lives of these warrior women will be seen in cinemas around the […]