By M. A. Hossain* DHAKA, Bangladesh | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — The political milieu in Bangladesh has been fraught with tension, climaxing in weeks of protests and violent clashes, casting a shadow of apprehension as the scheduled general election on 7 January 2024 approaches. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), reinvigorated as the main opposition […]
COP28’s Delinquent Emitter: The US Military-Industrial Complex
By Mirabai Venkatesh* OAKLAND, California | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — As the world watches COP28 in Dubai amidst an accelerating climate crisis, a critical blind spot in global climate agreements remains. Despite being the world’s largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases, the US military is completely exempt from international reporting obligations, significantly undermining global […]
Israel-Hamas War: A Two-State Solution Is Indispensable
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — Unless Israel establishes an endgame strategy that will lead to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war against Hamas will only be another brutal violent episode that will prepare the ground for the next conflagration engulfing the West Bank and potentially set […]
Does It Make Sense to Invest Efforts in Reviving OSCE?
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK | 6 December 2023 (IDN) — With 57 participating States from North America, Europe and Asia (from Vancouver to Vladivostok), the OSCE—the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian—is the world’s largest regional security organization. Soon, it will be the fiftieth anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act of […]
Loss and Damage Fund Is Signed for Climate-Damaged Countries
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 5 December 2023 (IDN) — Diplomats from nearly 200 countries celebrated with cheers and applause at the opening of the UN Climate Conference in Dubai, where a disaster fund to help vulnerable nations cope with the impact of drought, floods and rising seawater was announced. The […]
Tuvalu Confronts Multiple Challenges on the Frontline of Climate Change
By Kalinga Seneviratne* FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu | 4 Dec 2023 (IDN) — While COP28 in UAE debates about how to distribute money from the new climatic change reparation fund, the small Pacific Island state of Tuvalu is grappling with a multitude of climate change-induced problems that could take millions of dollars to fix, if at all. […]
COP28 and the Unaccounted Loss and Damage for Pacific Youth
By Ria Shibata* Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission. WELLINGTON, New Zealand | 4 December 2023 (IDN) — As the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) […], the global community braces for tough negotiations over climate finance, emission reductions, adaptation strategies and funding for climate-induced loss and […]
Climate Crisis Fuels Child Marriages, FGM in East and Southern Africa
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | 3 December 2023 (IDN) — At 15, Sarah* was entangled in an early marriage that would change her life forever. The drought spells in Kotulogh village in Kenya’s West Pokot country had pushed many pastoralist families to the brink of survival. Sarah’s mother, desperate for money to […]
Faith-based Organizations Warn Nuclear Arms as Worst of all Evils
By Razeena Raheem UNITED NATIONS | 1 December 2023 (IDN) — As the weeklong Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons concluded on December 1, a joint statement by a coalition of 115 faith-based and civil society organizations warned of the double violence of climate catastrophe and rampant […]
Advancing Nuclear Research: Countering Cancer and Climate Change
United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) UNITED NATIONS | 30 November 2023 (IDN) — Nuclear research is driving innovation in science, technology, medicine, and clean energy for the benefit of communities around the globe. The Nuclear Technology Review 2022 issued by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, already underlined that “the use of nuclear […]