By Busani Bafana BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe | 16 March 2026 (IDN) — In villages in Kano State in Northern Nigeria, farmers do not fear the drought. When their maize crop fails, as it does often, cowpea flourishes. They harvest enough of the bean to feed their families with extra to sell and pay school fees for […]
Situation Report: Floods and landslides in Ethiopia
Situation in Sudan (per 12 March) The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on a secondary school and a healthcare centre in Shukeiri, White Nile province, killing at least 17 people and wounding at least 10 others. Most of the victims were schoolgirls. At least 52 civilians, including children, have been killed […]
Trump’s Geoeconomics and Africa’s Fork in the Road
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW | 12 September 2025 (IDN) — When Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year, observers braced for another bout of upheaval in U.S. foreign policy. But what’s unfolding isn’t merely a rerun of his first term. This time around, Trump is deploying geoeconomics—strategic use of economic tools—as […]
Ethiopia to Host Second Climate Summit: A Call for Global Action
By Atiklit Atnafu Naramo The writer is a Second Secretary at the Ethiopian Embassy in New Delhi, India.. NEW DELHI | 28 August 2025 (IDN) — Ethiopia, a nation with over 3,000 years of civilisation and home to more than 80 ethnic groups, is often referred to as the “Land of Origin” owing to its […]
P20 Symposium to Harness Parliamentary Diplomacy for Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability
By Byron Adonis Mutingwende Originally posted on spikedmedia. MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA | 28 July 2025 (IDN) — In a powerful display of unity and purpose, Speakers and Presiding Officers of African Parliaments are gathered at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa, on 28 July 2025 in preparation for the inaugural P20 Symposium for the […]
Disaster Preparedness: Anew From the Ancient Old
By Yossef Ben-Meir* Marrakech, Morocco | 4 June 2025 (IDN) — The Kingdom of Morocco is taking the wise measure of building 36 storage facilities that will serve the people’s serious needs during severe crises, should they ever arise, such as with the horrifying 2023 earthquake in the High Atlas region. Ancient knowledge captured in […]
Latin America Prepares New UN Climate Plans as Emissions Rise
By Fermín Koop* BUENOS AIRES, Argentina | 15 March 2025 (IDN) — Every five years, parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change must submit action plans that increase their level of ambition in meeting its goal: to halt the average global temperature rise at 2C above pre-industrial levels, if not 1.5C. The current slate […]
Sustainable Clean Energy Remains a Distant Dream
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 3 January 2025 (IDN) — The world continues to advance towards sustainable energy targets, but not fast enough. About 685 million people still live in the dark. Four in five are in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2.1 billion people are cooking with dirty fuels that create unhealthy indoor smoke, causing over 3.2 […]
The Climate Crisis: Five Things to Watch Out for in 2025
By Conor Lennon NEW YORK | 2 January 2025 (IDN | UN News) — The Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil, will be the global focus of efforts to tackle the climate crisis in November 2025, when it hosts one of the most significant UN climate conferences in recent years. However, throughout the years there will […]
Coal Will Be a Central Pillar of UN Climate Summit in 2026
By Christopher Wright and Ufuk Alparslan* LONDON | 22 December 2024 (IDN) — Australia and Türkiye went into COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a range of diplomatic goals, but none greater than each country’s hopes to be announced as the host of the UN climate summit in 2026. For Ufuk and myself, the competition between […]