By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 5 January 2024 (IDN) — South Africa’s case against Israel, that will go before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 11-12, is being backed by Turkey and Malaysia, along with a coalition of non-governmental and human rights organizations. But it is expected to gather wider support before […]
Migrants Can Be Climate Action Champions
By Shoko Noda The writer is the UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Crisis Bureau Director. NEW YORK | 4 January 2024 (IDN) — When we think of migration in the context of climate change, it is most often in relation to the thousands, or even millions, of people displaced by extreme weather. The numbers, while […]
COP28 – Massive Disappointments, Slight Glimmers of Hope
By Volker Boege* Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission. BRISBANE, Australia | 4 January 2024 (IDN) — At the closing plenary of COP28, Anne Rasmussen from Samoa, the lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS), expressed her disappointment about the conference’s outcome in no […]
In Pursuit of Eliminating Hamas, Israel Might Bring Forth Something Worse
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA | 3 January 2023 (IDN) — After futile attempts by others to get the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate allegations of genocide against the parties in the war in Gaza, South Africa raised the […]
Vietnam: Drought and Salinity in the Mekong Delta Threatens Food Security
By Le Thanh Binh HO CHI MINH CITY | 3 January 2024 (IDN) — The Mekong Delta in South Vietnam has been the country’s rice granary for generations, feeding more than 20 million people today. But climate change resulting in droughts and salinity of the river-fed waters is now threatening food security. The Mekong River […]
Controversies Mar the Reputation of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury DHAKA | 2 January 2024 (IDN) — For many decades, Muhammad Yunus succeeded in remaining in the attention of international media and global celebrities and leaders by continuing self-promotion as the ‘savior of the poor’, ‘father of microcredit’ etc. Interestingly, many leaders in the West, including former US First Lady […]
One Man’s Fight Against the Madness of Missiles
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 2 January 2024 (IDN) — The nuclear weapon missile business is contradictory, full of missteps, highly dangerous and prepared in its madness (Mutually Assured Destruction, aka MAD, they used to call it in Cold War days) to plunge the world into a nuclear war that will reduce most of […]
Peace and Security: Homage to a Buddhist Spiritual Leader and a Great Writer
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 1 January 2024 (IDN) — “Even an old fountain pen, if it happened to have belonged to some great writer, is looked on with awe and reverence by the people of later times, for they feel that somehow it is capable of revealing the secrets of the great man’s masterpieces,” […]
South Africa Charges Israel with Genocide in UN’s Top Court
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 1 January 2024 (IDN) — Acting under the Genocide Convention, South Africa has made the first challenge worldwide against Israel charging genocide. The case was submitted to the UN’s International Court of Justice. In an 84-page application, South Africa claimed that “acts and omissions by Israel […]
Opposition Seeks Rerun of Congo Election, Calling Returns Flawed
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 1 January 2024 (IDN) — Preliminary election results announced in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa have sparked demands by members of the opposition for a rerun. According to the country’s election commission, Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi handily won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, […]