By Douglas Okwatch This report is a slightly modified version of the original published in the January 2024 issue of Africa Renewal. NAIROBI | 3 February 2024 (IDN) — Digital technologies will be key in addressing the three persistent problems in Africa’s agricultural industry—inefficiency, exclusivity, and unsustainability, according to the 2023 Africa Agriculture Status Report, […]
Peace is not Merely the Absence of War
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU | 2 February 2024 (IDN) — There is an overall perception to see SDG 16 as a goal only centred on peace, while it is much more than that. That thinking is founded on a false premise that narrowly and too considers peace as the absence of war. Debunking this myth […]
Gaza: UN Court Finds “Plausible” Evidence of Israel Conducting a Genocidal War
By Vijay Prashad* This article was produced by Globetrotter. NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts, USA | 1 February 2024 (IDN) — On January 26, judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released their 29-page order that found “plausible” (paragraph 54) evidence that Israel was conducting a genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza. The court intervened in that […]
UN Report Highlights Unprecedented Destruction of The Economy of Gaza
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 31 January 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has warned in a report on the social and economic deterioration in Gaza that the unprecedented destruction of the economy of Gaza—since the beginning of the military operation after 7 October 2023—will take tens of billions […]
The War on Drugs Needs a Total Rethink
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 31 January 2024 (IDN) — Not that long ago, Sherlock Holmes could quite legally sit by the fire in his London flat with his pipe and sniff cocaine. If friends wanted to join him they could, without fear of a police raid, and smoke marijuana. Opium was used for […]
Smearing Ceasefire Protesters, Pelosi Combines Devotion to Israel with Cold-War Mania
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 30 January 2024 (IDN) — Sometimes there’s a thin line between vile demagoguery and pure idiocy. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi straddled both during a Sunday (28 January) appearance on CNN, when she smeared protesters who’ve been demanding a ceasefire to end Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian people in Gaza. “The former […]
Palestine Will Survive, Deeply Wounded — Israel’s Future Hangs In the Balance
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 30 January 2024 (IDN) — It is easy to be cynical about the international rule of law. No sooner had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Israel is plausibly committing genocide […]
Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Quits, Blames Election Fraud
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 29 January 2024 (IDN) — Zimbabwe’s popular opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, has resigned from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), saying his party had been “contaminated” and “hijacked” by an imposter who fraudulently removed dozens of his party members and councilors without the party’s consent. “I […]
UN-Backed IRENA Supports Climate Action and Sustainable Development
By Bernhard Schell DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | 28 January 2024 (IDN) — The lead global intergovernmental agency for energy transformation, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which supports countries in their energy transitions, and provides state-of-the-art data and analyses on technology, innovation, policy, finance and investment, marked its 15th anniversary on 26 January. The […]
The UN Summit of the Future: A Fight at the End of the Tunnel?
By Richard Gowan* Ongoing crises keep multilateralism in turmoil, but ambitious reforms are still on the table. What to expect from the 2024 UN Summit of the Future? NEW YORK | 28 January 2024 (IDN) — Germany faces a tough task trying to build consensus among members of the United Nations on how to strengthen […]