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By Sean Buchanan
LONDON (IDN) – With Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed having ordered federal armed forces to launch a “final offensive” on the country’s Tigray region after a 72-hour ultimatum that dissident local leaders surrender expired, there are fears that those most likely to suffer will be innocent civilians.
In an attempt to counter such fears, Abiy Ahmed released a statement November 26 on his Twitter page saying that care would be to protect innocent civilians from harm.
By Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch
NEW YORK (IDN) – Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield is a veteran diplomat who most recently served as Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Obama administration. Prior to that she served as the US Ambassador to Liberia during a critical time in that country’s transition to democracy.
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi has stressed the need to address the frailties of globalization that led to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its uneven economic impacts, gravely wounding the world economy with serious consequences for everyone. He hopes that the situation would prove to be 'course-altering' and a catalyst for change. "We need to reshape global production networks and reset multilateral cooperation for the better," he says.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), launched in 2010 as an initiative to align colleges and universities with the work of the United Nations, celebrated its 10th anniversary on November 18. The program has more than 1500 members in 147 countries, all applying their academic inquiry, research and innovation to solving some of the world’s greatest challenges while educating the next generation of global leaders.
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN (IDN) – With the Ethiopia domestic conflict further escalating, the World Future Council has called upon conflicting parties to "end the devastating infighting, to respect international humanitarian law and provide safety for all the country citizens, specifically children, women and the elderly".
The call comes in the wake of the United Nations reporting a considerable concern about military operations and airstrikes that have taken place in Tigray and Eritrea impacting on civilians, including women and children.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – The government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been closely aligned with that of the US President Donald Trump on climate change and policy towards China. But, media commentators here in the past few days have been arguing that a Biden administration may put pressure on Australia to change its climate change policies in particular and tread a more cautious approach to diplomacy with China.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest per-capita greenhouse emitters as well as a major exporter of coal. The Morrison government has set a 2030 emission target of 26-28 per cent reduction from 2005 levels, after having rejected a scientific report by the Climate Change Authority recommending reducing the emission levels by 45-60 per cent over the same period.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Migrants around the world are continuing their desperate flights for survival even though rescue efforts have slowed, and rich countries are building higher walls against the asylum seekers.
The deadliest shipwreck of the year occurred most recently off the coast of Senegal where at least 140 people drowned after a boat carrying around 200 migrants sank, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report finds that consumers have an increasing awareness of the planet’s biodiversity and want corporations to protect it. They feel that "companies have a moral obligation to ensure that they have a positive impact on people and biodiversity". However, more than 70 per cent suggested their trust is higher when a brand’s commitment to the ethical sourcing of biodiversity is independently verified. The report, commissioned by the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT), released on November 11, is based on a survey. The data was published in the 2020 UEBT Biodiversity Barometer, an ongoing set of research updated each year, that has covered more than a decade.
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN (IDN) – When she learned that the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached the 50 states parties required for its entry into force, Setsuko Thurlow said: "I was not able to stand. I remained in my chair and put my head in my hands, and I cried tears of joy. … I found myself speaking with the spirits of hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I was immediately in conversation with these beloved souls. …I was reporting to the dead, sharing this good news first with them, because they paid the ultimate price with their precious lives."
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Those who held high hopes for peace in the Horn of Africa are troubled by the rise in conflicts across the region with fears growing of a potentially destabilizing civil war. The latest conflict pits the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed against the Tigray people who see themselves side-lined from power after almost two decades as head of a coalition that ran the country from 1991 until 2012.
On November 4, Mr. Abiy, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize after making peace with Eritrea, ordered the start of a military offensive against Tigray, accusing the region’s ruling party of attacking a government defence post and attempting to steal artillery and military equipment.
This interactive WHO dashboard/map provides the latest global numbers and numbers by country of COVID-19 cases on a daily Basis.
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