By Kalinga Seneviratne DAVAO, Philippines | 22 March 2023 (IDN)—After being elected to the presidency in a landslide vote in June 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte visited China in October and declared that his country was realigning its foreign policy to move closer to China. He was accompanied by 400 Filipino business executives and returned […]
Human Rights Groups Call for Suspension of US Arms Supplies to Israel
By Thalif Deen NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — As the disproportionate death toll of Palestinian civilians reach over an estimated 30,000—in retaliation for the October 7 killings of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas—there is a continued growing demand for the suspension or restriction of US arms to Israel. The US, which is the […]
US Should Create a Strategic Alliance to Stop Iran in Its Tracks
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the US has not developed a long-term strategy toward Iran but instead has made tactical moves to deal with the various conflicting issues with Tehran as they arose. Conversely, from the time the clergy assumed power, Iran […]
Photoshopping Princess and The Perils of Manipulation
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — The press has been unkind to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. I find it hard to understand why, of all the problems at this time, from the cost-of-living crisis to the […]
Sudan Will Soon Be the World’s Worst Hunger Crisis
By Edem Wosornu The author is Director of Operations and Advocacy of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Following are extensive excerpts from his Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan. NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — In resolution 2417, you asked the Secretary-General […]
Small Island Developing States Meet in Antigua and Barbuda in May
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 20 March 2024 (IDN)—When the last International Conference on Small Island Developing States was held in 2014, there was no COVID-19 pandemic and no global economic recession and much fewer geopolitical tensions. The climate emergency, while present, had not reached the heights it has today. This year, as the […]
US Military ‘No Longer Justified’ In Niger, Junta Leaders Say
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 19 March 2024 (IDN) — The West African nation of Niger has suspended military cooperation with Washington after high-level talks to break recent tensions between the two parties collapsed. Speaking for Niger’s military junta, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane announced on state TV that the U.S. military […]
Is Violence in the Blood of Muslims?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 19 March 2024 (IDN) — Is Islam violent? ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In Pakistan, there is Lashkar-e-Taiba and the attempted murderer of the schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai. Immigrant Moroccan men roughly pushing women and fondling them in the crowd in Cologne. Murderous bombs in Paris. Right now, much of […]
Ukraine War: European Union May Risk Its Political Future
By Michael von der Schulenburg, Hans-Joachim Funke* BERLIN | 19 March 2024 (IDN) — The deteriorating military situation in Ukraine and the United States’ increasing withdrawal from this war created a situation in which the EU is now pushed to the forefront in dealing with this problem. Probably for the first time since the end […]
The Origin of COVID-19 and US Responsibility
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. A US-funded laboratory origin of COVID-19 would constitute the most significant case of governmental gross negligence in history. The people of the world deserve transparency and factual answers to vital questions. NEW YORK | 18 March […]