Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 17 March 2024 (IDN)—China and the Maldives signed a military assistance agreement earlier this month. Indian troops have started withdrawing from the Islands. Simultaneously, China, Russia, and Iran are holding war drills in the Indian Ocean. Though the geopolitical battle in the Indian Ocean is intensifying, it could assist […]
Africa: Undersea Cable Damage Disrupts Internet
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 17 March 2024 (IDN) — What is a world without a phone? Without long-distance service? Without a digital cellular network? It’s hard to imagine since billions of people across the globe can now call relatives, do business or exchange information without having to put it in […]
Record Number of Syrians Need Aid After 13 Years of War
By Bernhard Schell CAIRO | 17 March 2024 (IDN) — “There are currently more Syrians in need of aid than any other time since the war began,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “An entire generation has been born into war, knowing nothing but insecurity and deprivation, and facing shock […]
Online Activism in China
By Jan Servaes BANGKOK| 15 March 2024 (IDN) —There are already more than 1 billion netizens in China, more than 3 times the population of the USA and almost one and a half times that of Europe. This means that about 20% of the world’s internet users, or almost 1 in 5, live in China. […]
Biden’s Balancing Act: Israel’s National Security vs The Palestinians’ Humanitarian Crisis
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 15 March 2024 (IDN) — In recent weeks, the Biden administration has found itself facing a serious dilemma as to how to balance its commitment to Israel’s national security along with the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza. Whereas the United States provides military aid to Israel, […]
US Denies Visa to Ugandan Lawmaker Who Called for Castration of Gay Men
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 13 March 2024 (IDN) — Ugandan legislator Sarah Achieng Opendi, who called for gays to be castrated, has been denied a visa to attend a major UN meeting in New York next week. Opendi said she was “shocked” after the US embassy in Kampala rejected her […]
UN Commission Asked to Focus on “Horrific Violence” Against Women in Tigray War
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 12 March 2024 (IDN)— Julia Duncan-Cassell, Former Liberian Minister of Gender and President of the Brussels-based European External Programme with Africa (EPA), has highlighted the urgent need for action regarding the proliferation of conflict-related sexual violence in an Open Letter to the 68th annual Commission on the Status of […]
More Kidnappings of Nigerian Children, Fuelled by Hefty Ransoms
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 11 March 2024 (IDN) — Close to 300 schoolchildren in a quiet agrarian village have disappeared in a new round of kidnappings by armed bandits, despite campaign promises by President Bola Tinubu to tighten security and stop the kidnappings. Nigerian security forces say they’ve been searching […]
The First Europeans Reached Ukraine 1.4 Million Years Ago—New Research
By John Jansen, Czech Academy of Sciences* PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia | 11 March 2024 (IDN) — During warm periods in Earth’s history, known as interglacials, glaciers the size of continents pulled back to reveal new landscapes. These were new worlds for early humans to explore and exploit, and 1.4 million years ago this was Europe: a […]
Russia Must Withdraw Unconditionally from Ukraine
By Stavros Lambrinidis The author is Head of the European Union‘s Delegation to the United Nations, at the UN Security Council. Following are extensive excerpts from his Statement to the UN Security Council on 8 March 2024. NEW YORK | 10 March 2024 (IDN) — When the UN Secretary-General visited Kyiv in 2022, Russian missiles […]