By Matthew Wittenstein, Kieran Clarke and Yejin Ha* BANGKOK | 16 July 2025 (IDN) — The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) is a key cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s strategy for greater regional integration, energy security economic growth and achieving a sustainable, low-carbon future. With the region’s energy demand projected to more than double by 2050 and […]
UN Report: Progress on Global Development Goals Too Slow as 2030 Deadline Nears
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 15 July 2025 (IDN) — A decade after the world embraced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a new UN report warns that progress toward its ambitious goals is far too slow. While millions of lives have improved, the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 shows that only a third of global […]
UN80 Restructuring: Sacrificing Expertise on the Altar of Expediency
By Naïma Abdellaoui The writer, who describes herself as a concerned international civil servant, is a staff representative and member of the UN Office of Geneva (UNOG) Staff Union Executive Bureau. GENEVA | 9 July 2025 (IDN) — Budget cuts should not justify mass job cuts. This violates international administrative law and sound management practices. […]
Why Not a World Parliament to Govern Planet Earth?
By P. Soma Palan* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 7 July 2025 (IDN) — The current world situation poses an existential crisis for the Planet Earth. The Israel and Palestine war has expanded into a three-nation war with Iran’s entry and Air strikes on Israel, and Israel’s counterattacks. The further escalation and enlargement of this war […]
UN Women Marks 15th Anniversary with Urgent Call for Action on Gender Equality
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 2 July 2025 (IDN) — As UN Women commemorates its 15th anniversary this year, the organisation is warning of a dangerous global backslide in gender equality. Founded in 2010 to accelerate progress on women’s rights and empowerment, UN Women has played a vital role in advancing gender justice worldwide. […]
World Leaders Head to Sevilla to Renew Hope for Fulfilling the SDGs
By J Nastranis New York | 26 June 2025 (IDN) — With increasing debt burdens, declining investment, reduced aid, and growing trade barriers, world leaders are set to convene in Sevilla, 30 June-3 July, for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4). Access to food, health, education, and water provides communities around the […]
No More Business as Usual to defeat Child Labour
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 24 June 2025 (IDN) — The year 2025 should have been one celebrating the end of child labour. This was the plan as per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Target 8.7 tackling the most nefarious of children’s exploitation. Unfortunately, we are still a long way away from achieving […]
How the US and Israel Used Rafael Grossi to Hijack the IAEA and Start a War on Iran
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 23 June 2025 (IDN) — Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), allowed the IAEA to be used by the United States and Israel—an undeclared nuclear weapons state in long-term violation of IAEA rules—to manufacture a pretext for war on […]
The Growing Nuclear Arsenals and Sharpened Rhetoric
By Alice Slater* NEW YORK | 20 June 2025 (IDN) — The recent report from the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), despite its assertion that “understanding the conditions for peaceful solutions to international conflicts is a key part of their work”, has just issued alarming news that there is a “clear trend of growing nuclear […]
Brazil Accused of Climate Hypocrisy as Amazon Oil Blocks Auctioned Ahead of COP30
By Rita Joshi* BONN, Germany | 18 June 2025 (IDN) — While Brazil positions itself as a global climate leader in the lead-up to COP30, its actions at home are drawing sharp criticism. On 17 June, as diplomats and civil society gathered in Bonn for pre-COP30 negotiations, Brazil’s National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and […]