By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW | 27 December 2024 (IDN) — Russian language study is hitting roadblocks in Africa. For several years after the Soviet collapse, Moscow has been stepping up efforts to strengthen Russian language study and its culture across Africa. However, there have been few tangible results, mainly due to low motivation towards […]
UN Will Have 3.72 billion USD at Its Disposal in 2025
By Vibhu Mishra* NEW YORK | 26 December 2024 (IDN | UN News) — The General Assembly wrapped up the main part of its 79th session on 24 December, approving a $3.72 billion budget for the United Nations for 2025 and adopting a new programme to support landlocked developing countries. The approved regular budget (RB) […]
Now It Can Be Told . . . After All the Harm Has Been Done
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO, USA | 26 December 2024 (IDN) — This week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. government made war in Afghanistan while helping to “recruit, train and pay for lawless bands of militias that pillaged homes and laid waste to entire communities.” Those militias “tortured civilians, kidnapped for ransom, […]
Open Sesame for War Criminals?
By Tisaranee Gunasekara* “Israel today is dynamiting the edifice of the global norms built after 1945.” — Pankaj Mishra (The Shoah after Gaza – London Review of Books – 21.3.2014) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 26 December 2024 (IDN) — In the second decade of the 21st Century, genocide is being televised. 72 Virgins—Uncensored was a […]
How Christmas Came to Be Celebrated on December 25
Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. But early Christians did not celebrate his birth, and no one knows on which date Jesus was actually born By Arjun Sengupta, Indian Express NEW DELHI | 25 December 2024 — The birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated annually in most (not all) places on December 25, as […]
UN General Assembly Adopts Landmark Convention on Cybercrime
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 24 December 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a new convention to foil and battle cybercrime, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which served as secretariat to the negotiations spanning over a period of five years. The UN Convention against Cybercrime […]
A Day’s Affair of A Jewish and Muslim Calling in Morocco
By Yossef Ben-Meir* MARRAKECH | 24 December 2024 (IDN) — On the 12 December 2024, I set out with four colleagues of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) to meet with members of the rural community of Tafza (Al Haouz province, Marrakesh region), located in the mountain range that bore the horrendous epicenter of the September […]
Ecuador Opens World Heritage Natural Site Galapagos Islands to US Military
By Pablo Meriguet and Benjamin Zinevich* QUITO, Ecuador | 23 December 2024 (IDN) — On 15 February 2024, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboasigned a series military cooperation treaties with the US government, allowing ships, military personnel, armament, equipment, and submarines to be installed in the natural reserve, which UNESCO declared a World Natural Heritage Site in […]
Who Will Stop Israel as it Defies the UN and Invades Syria?
By Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 23 December 2024 (IDN) — The United States, Turkey and Israel all responded to the fall of the Assad government in Damascus by launching bombing campaigns on Syria. Israel also attacked anddestroyed most of the Syrian Navy in port at Latakia, and invaded Syria from the long-occupied […]
Ghana’s Historic Election Is a Vote for Change
By Nicholas Mwangi* NAIROBI, Kenya | 22 December 2024 (IDN) — Ghana’s Electoral Commission declared on December 9 that former President and opposition leader John Dramani Mahama was the winner in the presidential election held on December 7, securing 56.55% of the vote, according to provisional results. The election marked a political comeback for the […]