The North Korean government has pledged (Press Statement of Spokesperson for DPRK Foreign Ministry Issued, 02/02/2023, KCNA.kp (En) to respond with the “toughest possible” measures to any U.S. military provocation against the country, after the U.S. pledged to deploy more weapons to the Korean peninsula. After the U.S. Defense Secretary promised to beef up South Korean military capabilities, North Korean officials[Read More…]
Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis. News agency AFP headlined one of it reports as “Pakistan’s economy in ‘collapse’ as IMF visits” A report — Pakistan facing worst economic crisis; Pakistani rupee at Rs 250 against dollar: Report — said: Pakistan is facing the worst economic crisis since the nation formed with its currency falling to Rs 250 against[Read More…]
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in Japan as part of his East Asia tour, said “our security is closely interconnected” and called for stronger ties with Japan as Russia’s war on Ukraine raises global dangers and shows that democracies need stronger partnerships. Stoltenberg said his visit to Japan “is a way to further strengthen the partnership between NATO and our highly[Read More…]
Contradictory statements on war with Russia are coming. U.S. and EU officials have previously gone out of their way to claim they were not a party to the conflict in Ukraine. Arguing in favor of sending tanks to Kiev, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said EU countries were fighting a war against Russia. “Arguing therefore I have said already in[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine will cost Germany, Europe’s largest economy, €175 billion ($190 billion) this year, which equates to €2,000 per inhabitant, German media outlet Deutsche Welle reported on Monday, citing a report by the Institute of German Economics (IW). Authors of the study compared the current situation to an imaginary scenario in which there was no military operation in[Read More…]
China has rebuked the U.S. for its brinkmanship over the nation’s “catastrophic debt problem as Washington approaches a statutory debt ceiling this week that could see the country defaulting on its obligations. The criticism came from the Chinese embassy in Zambia’s capital Lusaka, following a reproach from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over alleged mishandling by Beijing of a debt problem[Read More…]
“Venezuela will once again be treated normally, as all countries want to be treated,” said Lula da Silva. A teleSUR report said: On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva asked the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to help solve the problems of Venezuela and Cuba and treat these nations with “much affection.” These statements were made during[Read More…]
Citing officials, the Financial Times said on Sunday: Brazil and Argentina plan to create a common currency. According to the newspaper, this move could finally create the world’s second-largest currency bloc with roughly 5% of global GDP, if the initiative is successfully implemented across all of Latin America. The plan will be discussed and officially announced at a summit in Buenos Aires[Read More…]
A massive strike has hit France on Thursday. Workers and other earners joined hands in protesting pension reform. Trade union sources said the number of people joining more than 200 protest marches was 2 million. Police had to use tear gas to contain the protesters in Paris. Teachers, railway workers and public sector employees abandoned joined the protest marches to[Read More…]
According to a Bloomberg report, Saudi Arabia is ready to discuss trading in currencies other than the US dollar, according to Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan. Al-Jadaan’s comments come a month after China’s President Xi Jinping said that Beijing is ready to make energy purchases in yuan instead of the US dollar in trade exchanges with members of the[Read More…]
The rich are having good days as they always have. Even the pandemic could not brake their stockpiling of wealth. The super-rich outstrip their extraordinary grab of half of all new wealth in past decade. The richest 1% of the world bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years, finds[Read More…]
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said: Rising food, rents, and energy prices, and inadequate social protections threatened the rights of people on the lowest incomes, including to food and housing. The HRW has warned: The UK could become known as a “human rights abuser,” if it does not reverse a series of controversial laws. The NGO criticized Britain’s[Read More…]
People are protesting Rightist government moves ousting President Pedro Castillo. Tweeting from jail on Tuesday, Castillo said history will remember Peruvians “murdered for defending the country from the coup dictatorship,” and that “terror is the last bullet of a regime cornered by the people.” At least 47 people have died in connection with the protests, according to official government figures published on Tuesday.[Read More…]
The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report: Global growth is projected to decelerate sharply this year, to its third weakest pace in nearly three decades, overshadowed only by the 2009 and 2020 global recessions. This reflects synchronous policy tightening aimed at containing very high inflation, worsening financial conditions, and continued disruptions from the war in Ukraine. The WB said: Investment growth[Read More…]
China will not let the Asia-Pacific region turn into a hotspot for geopolitical conflict, and will defend its own sovereignty and integrity, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson declared on Monday. Media reports said: Speaking at a press briefing, Wang Wenbin responded to the news of a 10-member German delegation arriving on the self-governing island of Taiwan. He stressed that “the[Read More…]
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared a state of emergency in the Federal District of Brasilia after thousands of supporters of his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, organized a riot and overran the Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential Planalto Palace. The leftist leader, inaugurated last week, gave the order on Sunday, has appointed justice minister Ricardo[Read More…]
Just over half of states in the U.S. are struggling with slowing economic activity, which could be a signal of a looming recession, according to new research from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. The December report pointed out that typically when 26 states demonstrate falling economic numbers, it offers “reasonable confidence” the nation as a whole will go into[Read More…]
The world economy will slide into a recession in 2023 as a number of economies will contract due to surging borrowing costs introduced to combat inflation, the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has predicted in its latest report. The world economy surpassed $100 trillion for the first time ever in 2022 but will stall in 2023 as[Read More…]
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr and his wife Maria Louise at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 4, 2023. Photo: Xinhua In an important development in the south-east Asia region, China and the Philippines have agreed on issues vital for the region and in the[Read More…]
Brazil’s newly elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has scrapped plans to sell off eight state-run corporate giants, including the oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, Brazilian news website G1 reported on Monday. Lula was sworn in as Brazil’s president on January 1. He was president also from 2003 through 2010. Imprisoned for false charge of graft in[Read More…]
2023 is expected to be even “tougher” than 2022 as the U.S., EU and Chinese economies slow down, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ukraine conflict, soaring prices, hiked interest rates and unrelenting Covid in China will continue to exert an impact on the global economy, Kristalina Georgieva told CBS’ Face the Nation program on[Read More…]
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared his first in-office New Year message on Saturday, admitting that “it has been a very tough year for the UK” and that the country’s problems “would not go away” in 2023 either. The PM largely blamed Britain’s hardships on Russia and its conflict with Ukraine. “I am not going to pretend that all our[Read More…]
R.P. Amudhan captures the essence of K.P. Sasi in his short movie “Breath to Breath”. Sasi succinctly expresses his views on life, activism, creative work with his quirky humour and witticism. It is a glimpse of Sasi’s life in an unabashed manner. Watch it to relive the memories with Sasi
On Monday, at the UN’s COP15 biodiversity conference in Canada, more than 190 countries approved an agreement to declare 30% of the planet as a protected zone by 2030 and to raise $30 billion per year for conservation in the developing world. Debates over the agreement have been held for nearly two weeks in Montreal, where representatives of about 200 governments[Read More…]
The planet has entered the sixth mass extinction. Pollution, climate change and depleting resources could drive up to 27% of the world’s animal life to extinction, a new paper has claimed. The study used a supercomputer to map out how interdependent food chains could collapse in the coming decades. Published on Friday and authored by European Commission scientist Giovanni Strona[Read More…]
Most of the U.S. citizens are unhappy with the course of their country, their leaders, and the future, finds a new poll. A report by USA Today (Unhappy new year? Poll finds Americans wary of the nation’s course, its leaders and its future ahead of 2023, Dec 19, 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/12/18/poll-inflation-future-leaders-americans/10903538002/) said: Americans are braced for an unhappy new year. Two-thirds[Read More…]
Global coal demand is set to increase only marginally in 2022 but enough to push it to an all-time high amid the energy crisis, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) released on Friday. Global coal use is set to rise by 1.2% in 2022, surpassing 8 billion tonnes in a single year for the first time[Read More…]
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview published on Thursday: Ukraine has no choice but to fight for the 1991 borders, because the world failed to guarantee its security and Ukraine alone is paying the price of the conflict. The Economist spoke with Zelensky on December 8, but published an edited transcript only a week later. Just two days prior to[Read More…]
More than 100,000 nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland walked off the job on Thursday in the largest strike in the 106-year history of their union, the Royal College of Nursing. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) launched the biggest strike, warning that an NHS staff exodus is “costing patients their lives.” Drivers showed support for thousands of striking[Read More…]
People’s mobilizations in Peru continued Tuesday in many areas. The protesting people reiterated the demand for the closure of Congress, the release of former President Pedro Castillo, resignation of acting President Dina Boluarte and the holding of new elections. Citing community media, a teleSUR report said: Protests that have taken place in Peru included Plaza San Martin, downtown Lima (capital),[Read More…]
Protesters in the Peruvian city of Andahuaylas have seized the airport and set fire to part of the terminals, the Peruvian Corporation of Commercial Airports and Aviation (CORPAC) said. Radio Programas del Peru (RAA) has reported that one protester died during clashes with police while ten other including police officers were injured. Protests are being carried out in Lima and[Read More…]
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has been ousted and arrested. Following the earlier police statement, the U.S. State Department issued a notice acknowledging that “Castillo is now a former president.” State representative of Peru’s Justice Ministry Daniel Soria has filed charges of a coup attempt and abuse of power against impeached President Pedro Castillo with the Prosecutor General’s Office, the ministry[Read More…]
The total daily volume of crude shipped from Russia rebounded to 2.89 million barrels in the seven days to November 25, with the EU’s price cap deadline approaching, Bloomberg reported on Monday. According to the report, the volume of crude on vessels heading to China, India, and Turkey, plus the quantities on ships that are yet to show a final[Read More…]
“The U.S. government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets,” the editors of the Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Pais wrote in a joint letter published Monday. The letter was signed by Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and the editors and publishers of the Guardian (Britain), Le Monde (France), Der Spiegel (Germany) and El Pais[Read More…]
Protests broke out in China this weekend, with demonstrators in Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing and other locations demanding an end to the government’s stringent Covid restrictions. Videos shared on social media purportedly show some protesters calling for the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party. Media reports said: Crowds in Shanghai voiced their anger for the second day in a row on[Read More…]
Left and right figures show warming in Europe of the summer half year during the latest four decades, sub-divided for clear-sky and all-sky conditions, respectively. Credit: Paul Glantz/Stockholm University The warming during the summer months in Europe has been much faster than the global average, finds a new study by scientists at Stockholm University (P. Glantz, O. G. Fawole, J.[Read More…]
The European Union must cast aside all doubts about new anti-Russia sanctions and double down on slapping Moscow with new restrictions that would curb its missile industry, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Tuesday. Speaking at a regular briefing, Kuleba urged the EU to speed up the work on its ninth sanctions package, which he described as long overdue.[Read More…]
During a speech at the Duma (Russian parliament) on Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected the unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies on Russia. A teleSUR report said: “Cuba strongly condemns the unfair unilaterally imposed sanctions against Russia. The reasons for the current conflict must be found in the aggressive policy of the United States and in the[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned: This winter may be a “life-threatening” experience for “millions” of Ukrainians. Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, has warned: Up to three million Ukrainians are expected to migrate “in search of warmth and safety.” Kluge made this warning on Monday during a press conference in Kiev. “We expect 2-3 million more people[Read More…]
The much expected 27th Conference of Parties (COP 27) has come to its conclusion, but without any concluding outcome for the planet. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres’s deep disappointment with the outcome of the COP 27 is sure to be echoed across the world. Guterres said on Sunday that the planet continues to be in the “emergency room” and the[Read More…]
Ukraine has been accused of “openly lying” about a missile that hit Poland killing two civilians, earlier this week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday citing an unnamed diplomat from a NATO country. Ukraine rushed to pin the blame on Moscow, while the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that footage from the site showed “elements of a missile from an S-300[Read More…]
U.S. President Joe Biden has said Tuesday’s blast on Polish territory, which killed two civilians, was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile, Reuters has reported. The U.S. leader shared the information with his G7 and NATO partners, the news agency wrote on Wednesday, citing an anonymous NATO source. The incident in the village of Przewodow near the border with[Read More…]
An alleged missile strike in Poland Tuesday has killed 2 people. The Polish military and prosecutors have arrived at the scene of the blast, Visegrad 24 reports. The incident has increased tension. The incident occurred amid a large-scale missile attack that Russia launched at Ukraine. The Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko called it the “most massive shelling of Ukraine’s energy[Read More…]
Executions, stonings and amputations are possible punishments for crimes once more in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered Afghan judges to impose Sharia-law punishments for certain crimes, according to a tweet from Zabihullah Mujahid, Mr. Akhundzada’s spokesman. Mullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to fully implement sharia law and its punishments, which include mutilations, flogging and executions. The announcement was[Read More…]
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish militia group, which is banned in Turkey as a terrorist organization, said on Monday that it was not involved in the Sunday explosion in Istanbul. “We have nothing to do with this incident and it is well-known by the public that we would not target civilians directly or approve of actions directed at[Read More…]
It is the fall of 2022. Close to 33,000 delegates across the world are in Egypt. Not in Cairo, Giza, or Alexandria, but across the Gulf of Suez in Sharm El Sheikh. These delegates have failed to outnumber the 60,000 (reportedly, that is the number) incarcerated in their host’s prisons. If COP will ever be remembered, this one would be[Read More…]
Tomorrow, November 15, 2022, is predicted to be the day that the global population reaches eight billion. The projection is revealed in the UN’s World Population Prospects 2022 report, which also shows that India is on course to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. The latest UN projections suggest that the world’s population could grow to[Read More…]
Figure 1Surface average atmospheric CO2 concentration (ppm). Since 1980, monthly data are from NOAA/GML (Dlugokencky and Tans, 2022) and are based on an average of direct atmospheric CO2 measurements from multiple stations in the marine boundary layer (Masarie and Tans, 1995). The 1958–1979 monthly data are from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based on an average of direct atmospheric CO2 measurements from the Mauna[Read More…]
A tiny number of persons produce the same level of carbon emissions as of entire France’s population, says a new climate report – Carbon billionaires The investment emissions of the world’s richest people (Nov. 22, 2022, https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621446/bn-carbon-billlionaires-071122-en.pdf?sequence=14) The study, published by Oxfam, an international NGO, found that the investments of 125 of the world’s richest individuals have a carbon footprint equivalent[Read More…]
Analysis of earnings reports and estimates carried out by S&P Global Commodity Insights for the Financial Times finds: Aggregate net income for publicly listed oil and gas companies operating in the U.S. exceeded $200 billion for the second and third quarters of the year. Citing the analysis, the media outlet reported over the weekend: U.S. oil producers have cashed in[Read More…]
The past eight years were the eight hottest ever recorded, says a new UN report. The report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) indicates: The world is now deep into the climate crisis. Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the report said.[Read More…]
The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. The leading U.S. daily quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by U.S. officials[Read More…]
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 30th year in a row. Only the U.S. and Israel voted against the measure on Thursday, while Ukraine and Brazil abstained. Cuba celebrated a new victory in its struggle against the U.S. blockade, by achieving overwhelming support in[Read More…]
Glaciers across the globe – including the last ones in Africa – will be unavoidably lost by 2050 due to climate change, the UN says in a report. A third of glaciers located in UN World Heritage sites will melt within three decades, a UNESCO report found. Mount Kilimanjaro’s last glaciers will vanish as will glaciers in the Alps and[Read More…]
U.S. troops are now on the ground in Ukraine, where they are monitoring NATO arms deliveries to the country, an anonymous Pentagon official told several U.S. media outlets on Monday. It is unclear how many personnel are involved, or where they are located. While Americans have fought and died in Ukraine of their own accord, Monday’s announcement marks the first[Read More…]
The Russian military closed the so-called “grain corridor” used to ship Ukrainian agriculture products through the Black Sea on Monday. The move was provoked by the actions of Ukraine, which used the route to launch attacks on Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “Any navigation through the security corridor designated under the Black Sea grain shipment initiative would be halted[Read More…]
After enduring lawfare , jail, and persecution, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was once again elected president in Brazil. Former president Lula da Silva has clinched victory over his right-wing rival Jair Bolsonaro in a tightly contested second round of Brazilian election on Sunday. The country’s election authority announced Lula’s victory with 50.90% of the vote to Bolsonaro’s 49.10%. At 00:18 (local time) this[Read More…]
Herman Daly passed away on 28th October. He was an ecological economist who championed steady state economics. In 1996, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for “defining a path of ecological economics that integrates the key elements of ethics, quality of life, environment and community.” Daly’s death is a great loss to humanity and ecological economics. Countercurrents.org has published a[Read More…]
Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Prague’s central square, on Friday, to decry rampant inflation amid the Czech government’s support for anti-Russia sanctions and aid packages to Ukraine. Media reports said: The protesters called for direct gas talks with Moscow and the resignation of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his cabinet. Participants chanted “resign”, “resign” while waving Czechian national flags.[Read More…]
Energy prices in France will grow by 15% early next year, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned as European governments continue to search for ways to curb high inflation. “There will be a 15% increase in electricity and gas prices in the first months of 2023,” Macron said during an interview on TV channel France 2 on Wednesday, adding that,[Read More…]
Climate hazards threaten nearly 70% of population of a third of world cities, finds a new report by the CDP, a London-based non-profit which runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. The analysis in Protecting People and the Planet, (https://www.cdp.net/en/research/global-reports/protecting-people-and-the-planet) released on October 13, 2022, is based on responses of 998 cities from across the[Read More…]
The U.S. legislators group known as Congressional Progressive Caucus retracted a letter that was sent on Monday calling for U.S. President Biden to pursue a diplomatic end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, saying it was not properly vetted prior to its release. Thirty members of the roughly 100-member group of Democratic legislators signed it. Media reports said: “The letter was[Read More…]
Russia’s defense chief warned Sunday: Ukraine was preparing a provocation involving a radioactive device. An AP report said: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegations in phone calls with his counterparts from the U.S., Britain, France and Turkey. Shoigu voiced concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb,’” a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. It[Read More…]
The Japanese yen hit its weakest exchange rate against the U.S. dollar since 1990 on Thursday, dropping to 150 yen to the greenback. The Nikkei 225 stock index was also down, losing nearly 1% during morning trading to 27,006.96 points. The Topix index shed 0.51% to 1,895.41. A Yen previously slid in June, when it hit 132 against the dollar,[Read More…]
The United Nations is expected to vote this week on sanctions against a powerful gang leader in Haiti who has blocked supplies of food, fuel and drinking water as the impoverished Caribbean country struggles with a cholera outbreak. The U.S. and Canada have sent “security equipment”, including tactical and armored vehicles, to Haiti to help the country tackle a political, economic and security crisis,[Read More…]
French workers took part in a nationwide strike Tuesday to demand higher wages to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. The strikes, principally in schools and transport, are an extension of the industrial action that has disrupted France’s major refineries, causing severe fuel shortages. Half Of All Trains Cancelled Transport Minister Clement Beaune said today there were severe[Read More…]
At least 603 people have been killed by flooding in Nigeria, and all but three of the 36 states in the West African nation have been impacted. The floods have been caused by unusually strong rainfall. Citing the Nigerian humanitarian affairs ministry, media reports said on Sunday: The Nigerian national government also announced that more than 1.3 million people have been[Read More…]
Massive protests marched through the streets of Paris on Sunday to voice discontent over the rising cost of living. It comes as France’s largest trade union continues a refinery strike that has closed gas stations across the country. Organizers of the march claim that 140,000 people joined the march, French broadcaster BFMTV reported. According to Paris police, only 30,000 attended[Read More…]
The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% last month after gaining 0.1% in August, the U.S. Labor Department said in its report. In the 12 months through September, the CPI increased 8.2% after rising 8.3% in August. The White House noted that inflation over the last three months has averaged 2%, at an annualized rate. That is down from[Read More…]
The post-Cold War era is “definitively over,” the Biden administration declared in a new national security strategy, describing its intention to compete ferociously against China and Russia — while also collaborating with them on global threats like climate change. The long-awaited U.S. National Security Strategy, delayed by the invasion of Ukraine, serves as a reference point for Biden administration officials[Read More…]
Heatwaves will become so extreme in certain regions of the world within decades that human life there will be unsustainable, the United Nations and the Red Cross said in a report on Monday. Heatwaves are predicted to “exceed human physiological and social limits” in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and south and southwest Asia, with extreme events triggering “large-scale[Read More…]
A massive protest of people marched through the center of the Paris on Saturday demanding that France radically change its stance on NATO and the EU. The march was organized by the right-wing Les Patriotes (The Patriots) party led by Florian Philippot, the former deputy head of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. Dubbed “the national meeting of resistance,” the march attracted[Read More…]
The summer droughts that affected parts of the U.S., Europe, and China were made 20 times more likely by climate change, finds a new study by World Weather Attribution (WWA). China had its driest summer in 60 years, while drought conditions in Europe sparked brush fires and dried up rivers. The scientists with the WWA, an international organization comprised of[Read More…]
A Market Watch report published on Oct. 5, 2022 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-says-u-s-economy-has-failed-to-live-up-to-the-nations-promise-of-equal-opportunity-for-all-11664975349?siteid=yhoof2) said: The Biden administration announced a slew of new efforts to further racial economic equity during the annual Freedman’s Bank Forum in Washington, D.C. Tuesday. The forum, acknowledging the history of the former Freedman’s Savings Bank that maintained accounts for formerly enslaved people before its ultimate collapse in 1874, served as an opportunity[Read More…]
The Iranian Human Rights Organization (IHRO) announced that the number of people killed in the on-going protests in Iran reached “at least 154 people”. Among this number of deaths 9 were probably “children” and 63 are citizens of Zahedan. Iranian officials report at least forty dead, while independent sources claim it is much higher. Iran’s state TV has reported the death toll[Read More…]
Europe faces “unprecedented risks” to its natural gas supplies this winter after Russia cut off most pipeline shipments and could wind up competing with Asia for already scarce and expensive liquid gas that comes by ship, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Media reports including an AP report said: The Paris-based IEA said in its quarterly gas report released Monday that European[Read More…]
Jeffrey Sachs and a former Pentagon Advisor expressed their opinions on the Nord Stream leaks. Economist Jeffrey Sachs speculated on Monday that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines was the work of the U.S. and maybe Poland, to the chagrin of Bloomberg TV hosts who quickly tried to change the subject. Now a professor at Columbia University, Sachs became[Read More…]
Sea level rise will flood huge swaths of the U.S. and submerge billions of dollars’ worth of land, according to a new report. The report – Sinking Tax Base Land & Property at Risk from Rising Seas – (9/8/2022, https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/2KKeTjnqbFelWrZalnPeRR/9a28719038f3a1dddbdd2e8b78b8455b/CC_Sinking_Tax_Base_20220908a.pdf ) by Climate Central delivers an assessment of sea level rise impact on the tax base of hundreds of coastal[Read More…]
High inflation in Germany and Eurozone is making impact, with possibility of further impacting. Inflation in Germany saw year-on-year growth of 10.9% in September, up from 8.8% recorded in the previous month, official data released on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) shows. The readings came in higher than the market expectation of 9.4%, and marked a record high[Read More…]
The world is sliding into a recession due to multiple overlapping crises, the head of the WTO said on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening of the WTO’s annual public forum in Geneva, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala noted that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have both downgraded their global growth forecasts, and that trade indicators are “not looking too[Read More…]
Switzerland’s glaciers are melting like never before, found a study. Switzerland has the greatest volume of glaciers of any country in Europe. The study, released Wednesday, found with the glaciers’ ice volume declining by 6% this year amid rising concerns about global warming and a summer heat wave that swept across Europe. Media reports said: The Swiss Academy of Sciences[Read More…]
In an important development with serious implication, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) along with Kherson Region (87%) and part of Zaporozhye Region (93%) in southern Ukraine have voted to join Russia in referendums that were held between September 23 and 27. Media reports said: In Lugansk, more than 98.42% of voters have supported the idea to[Read More…]
Europe is facing lower-than-expected economic growth as inflation continues to climb, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde revealed on Monday, explaining that the ECB had raised interest rates by 75 basis points in an attempt to control soaring prices. Speaking before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday, Lagarde admitted that “inflation remains far too high and[Read More…]
The UK pound plunged to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since the British currency went decimal in 1971. In early Asia-Pacific trade on Monday, the sterling fell by more than 4% to $1.0327 before it regained some ground to about $1.05, extending Friday’s 3.61% drop. Media reports said: Chris Weston, head of research at the brokerage firm Pepperstone,[Read More…]
Iranians took to the streets for a 10th consecutive night Sunday, in defiance of a warning from the judiciary, to protest the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody. Images circulated by IHR showed protesters on the streets of Tehran, shouting “death to the dictator,” purportedly after nightfall on Sunday. Witnesses said that protests in several locations were[Read More…]
Norway-based, Iran Human Rights Organization says that they can confirm that at least 31 protesters have been killed in the on-going anti-government, anti-hijab protest across Iran. Iran’s state-run media acknowledged on Thursday that at least 17 people have been killed in anti-hijab protests which have spread across the country. The protests have spread to more than 80 cities and towns across[Read More…]
Russia is going to make a partial mobilization of its reservists. It is a mobilization of 300,000 reservists. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization during an address to the nation on Wednesday morning. He said the Defense Ministry had recommended drawing military reservists into active service as the country faces a protracted conflict in Ukraine and Donbass.[Read More…]
Campaigners warn “tens of thousands” may die during the winter unless Prime Minister Liz Truss gets to grips with the cost-of-living crisis, as pressure mounts on the new PM to act following the Queen’s funeral. A Morning Star report said on September 19, 2022: The PM was told today that now the funeral for the Queen was over she needed[Read More…]
The U.S. is falling behind its developed-nation peers in checking the boxes of progress, according to a recent report from the United Nations Office of Sustainable Development. The U.S. last year ranked 32nd out of 193 UN member states has dropped 11 places in a single year and now trails even Ukraine and Cuba on the list, coming in just[Read More…]
The rail strike that threatened to shut down freight traffic across the U.S. has been temporarily averted, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday. A draft agreement by the industry and union reps reached after 20 hours of negotiations will be sent to workers for ratification after several weeks’ “cooling off” period. “The rail workers will get better pay, improved[Read More…]
Nearly 115,000 U.S. rail workers are poised to go on strike on Thursday at midnight, shutting down 40% of long-distance trade, after negotiations between rail unions and carriers failed to bear fruit. If a deal is not reached by Friday, a strike will begin, shutting down freight rails across the U.S. While the leaders of 10 of the 12 unions[Read More…]
Europe will spiral into a severe recession, as the shortage in energy supplies is set to spike inflation even higher and weigh heavily on Europe’s GDP, BlackRock said in a note on Monday. Media reports said: “The energy crunch will drive a recession in Europe, as we’ve argued since March. The crisis has worsened since then as Russia has halted gas supplies,”[Read More…]
China is willing to work with Russia to take the global order “in a more just and reasonable direction,” Beijing’s top diplomat said, underscoring the depth of the two nations’ ties. A Bloomberg report said: Under the guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, “the relationship between the two countries has always been on the right track, and[Read More…]
Europe is in energy turmoil with uncertainty in the coming winter and measures to counter Russia. The EU finds consensus is elusive and solidarity is in short supply. A Bloomberg report said: European ministers sounded defiant as they met in Brussels to deliberate plans aimed at halting the spiral in energy prices. “We will prevail,” European Union Energy Commissioner Kadri[Read More…]
Europe is struggling with energy crisis. Reports by media including AP and ABC News said: Europe is struggling to contain an energy crisis that could lead to rolling blackouts, shuttered factories and a deep recession. The primary cause: Russia has choked off the supplies of cheap natural gas that the continent depended on for years to run factories, generate electricity[Read More…]
Skyrocketing prices of tomatoes, potatoes and onions are putting food out of reach in flood-ravaged Pakistan, raising the specter of inflation hitting 30% that may spur more monetary tightening, said a report. The Bloomberg report said: The South Asian nation already reeling from dwindling currency reserves and the fastest inflation in almost five decades faces a food shortage after torrential[Read More…]
Citing a leaked national strategy paper the Sunday Times reports: UK police fear a sharp rise in certain categories of crime and a risk of civil unrest this winter amid a cost of living and energy crisis. The document compiled by police chiefs warns that “economic turmoil and financial instability” may lead to an increase in offenses such as shoplifting,[Read More…]
Citing anonymous sources CNN claimed on Thursday, U.S. officials helped prepare the Ukrainian military for its counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south of the country. In its article, CNN, one of largest US news organizations, alleged that this assistance included joint “war gaming” analytical exercises designed to help the Ukrainians get a clear picture of how much personnel and[Read More…]
The annual State of the Climate report ( https://ametsoc.net/sotc2021/StateoftheClimate2021_lowres.pdf) report published Wednesday in the U.S. shows that in 2021, greenhouse gas (GHG) levels, global sea levels, and ocean heat reached record highs. The international report was led by scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information. “The data presented in this report are clear[Read More…]
Instability in Iraq has not ended in Iraq despite withdrawal of a fighting group. Iraqi supporters of powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr began withdrawing Tuesday from Baghdad’s Green Zone after he demanded fighting end between rival Shiite forces and the army that left 23 dead and hundreds wounded. The violence that erupted on Monday pitched Sadr loyalists against Shiite factions backed[Read More…]
A group of climate scientists have said: Time is short to secure a livable and sustainable future; yet, inaction from governments, industry and civil society is setting the course for 3.2 °C of warming, with all the cascading and catastrophic consequences that this implies. In this context, when does civil disobedience by scientists become justified. The scientists said: The scientific[Read More…]
The U.S. has deployed two of its warships to the Taiwan Strait in a first such mission since the controversial visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, the Navy said on Saturday. Media reports said: USS Chancellorsville and USS Antietam, guided-missile cruisers, are sailing through international waters in the area, according to a statement from the U.S. 7th[Read More…]
The world of trade is having interesting developments. An AP report from Seoul said: South Korea landed a 3 trillion won ($2.25 billion) contract with a Russian state-run nuclear energy company to provide components and construct a turbine building for Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, officials said Thursday. The South Koreans hailed the deal as a triumph for their nuclear[Read More…]
China has issued a nationwide drought warning for the first time in nine years as the country copes with below-average rainfall and one of the strongest heat waves seen in six decades. Authorities are trying to seed clouds to make it rain. The drought is threatening food production, prompting the government to order local authorities to take all available measures to ensure[Read More…]
A group of Kenyan activists filed a case against the UK to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday. Lawyers representing peoples forced off their land in Kenya’s Rift Valley argue the UK has violated the European Convention of Human Rights, to which it is a signatory, by consistently ignoring complaints lodged by the victims of colonial rule.[Read More…]
Politics in Pakistan is again creating turmoil. Media reports said: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Shahbaz Gill’s room at Parliament Lodges was raided by police contingents in the presence of Gill who was brought to the location amid strict security measures. The police team led by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) found[Read More…]
Americans are divided dangerously, said a report by The Daily Beast (Americans Are Dangerously Divided (And Not Just Over Trump) citing a poll. The report said: A new Generation Lab poll (https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22140614/generation-lab-nbc-poll.pdf) of rising college sophomores conducted for NBC News confirms that young Americans are segregating themselves along partisan lines (Daily Beast, Pew Study: Americans Are Self-Segregating Amid Proliferating Partisan Media, https://www.thedailybeast.com/pew-study-americans-are-self-segregating-amid-proliferating-partisan-media(. And as Axios notes,[Read More…]
No school year in the U.S. in nearly a decade saw as much gunfire as the 2021-2022 academic calendar, a report released Friday shows. The report (https://everytownsupportfund.org/press/new-everytown-report-finds-average-number-of-gunfire-on-school-grounds-incidents-nearly-quadrupled-during-last-school-year/?_gl=1*ifxwvo*_ga*ODUyMTMyNDc4LjE2NjA3NjgzMTU.*_ga_LT0FWV3EK3*MTY2MDkyMjczMC40LjEuMTY2MDkyMjc5My4wLjAuMA) was published by Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonpartisan group advocating against gun violence. The gun violence report shows the last school year, between Aug. 1 and May 31, saw 193 incidents of gunfire,[Read More…]
In East Africa, millions of people are facing starvation due to drought. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that millions of people in East Africa face the threat of starvation. Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that drought, climate change, rising prices and an ongoing civil war in northern Ethiopia are all[Read More…]
Citing the Russian Defense Ministry media reports said: Ukraine plans to carry out artillery strikes on the Russia-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Friday, and then accuse Russia of causing a disaster at the site. The predicted attack will be timed to coincide with the ongoing visit to Ukraine by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Russian ministry said it[Read More…]
Iraqi finance minister Ali Allawi resigned during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to protest the political turmoil in the country. Iraq’s political impasse, now in its 10th month, is the longest in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion reset the political order. Nearly 10 months on from the last elections, Iraq still has no government, new prime minister or[Read More…]
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a second round of military drills near Taiwan to deter “political tricks” by the U.S. and the authorities in Taiwan, following a second trip by a group of U.S. lawmakers to the island, said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA. Shi said the PLA’s Eastern Theater[Read More…]
Some on the far right have been calling for civil war since an FBI raid on Trump’s Florida home. Some experts say the warning signs for civil war have been emerging in the US in recent years. They say that such a conflict would look very different from the Civil War of the 1860s. A Business Insider report (The far[Read More…]
Taliban fighters violently dispersed dozens of female protesters in Kabul. About 40 Afghan women marched through the capital city demanding rights, before the Taliban broke the protest march up by firing into the air. This women’s protest march occurred almost a year after the Taliban seized power. The protesters chanted demands for “bread, work and freedom”, carrying a banner reading[Read More…]
Increasing night-time heat could have high toll on human health, finds a new research. According to models, by the year 2100, the world could see an up to 60 percent spike in mortality due to rising temperatures at night. Published in The Lancet Planetary Health, data from Japan, South Korea and China show hotter night-time temperatures could lead to a 60[Read More…]
Europe is facing its worst drought in 500 years. More than 60% of the EU and U.K.’s combined lands are now under drought warnings or alerts. Media including Reuters’ reports said: The source of the River Thames has dried up further downstream than ever before, as England looks set to enter a drought that some experts say the country is[Read More…]
Water is more than a commodity to the Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Tribes say water is life itself for the people, plants, animal life and the land itself. But many tribes people in Arizona are facing water crisis. A report by AZCentral | The Arizona Republic — Arizona tribal water settlements stall in courtrooms, agency offices (Aug. 10, 2022,[Read More…]
U.S. Navy ships and planes will transit the Taiwan strait in the next two weeks. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby condemned Chinese military drills in the area and said the Pentagon had ordered the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and her escorts to remain near Taiwan to “monitor the situation.” The USS Reagan and her accompanying ships are[Read More…]
Joint military exercises around the island of Taiwan by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continued Wednesday with a joint blockade, sea assault and land and air combat trainings, involving the use of advanced weapons including J-20 stealth fighter jets and DF-17 hypersonic missiles after the drills started on Tuesday evening, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed on the[Read More…]
Tuesday’s protest in Taiwan. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/Global Times Civic groups, politicians, and business and industry representatives on the island of Taiwan on Tuesday protested against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit, amid China’s missile drill. Protest Media reports said: The Taipei-based Chinese Patriotic Concentric Association took to the street at a site near the Grand Hyatt hotel in the Xinyi[Read More…]
The situation across the Taiwan Straits has drastically escalated as the military deployment from the Chinese mainland, U.S. and the island of Taiwan continues creeping up, after US and Taiwan-based media disclosed that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to visit the island on Tuesday night. Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is seen by China as a serious provocation and violation[Read More…]
Amidst escalating tension in Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said: “No matter how difficult it is, there will be no surrender, Serbia will win,” he stated. “We do not want conflict and we do not want war,” Vucic said in his speech. He said: We will pray for peace and seek peace, but let me tell you right away. If[Read More…]
With 161 votes in favour, and eight abstentions*, the UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution on Thursday, declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a universal human right. The resolution, based on a similar text adopted last year by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organisations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment[Read More…]
Taiwan is a part of China and the 1.4 billion Chinese will not tolerate any challenges to the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, in a phone call on Thursday. Xi’s warning comes amid reports that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to visit the island next month, something China[Read More…]
The Pentagon could send additional ships, aircraft and surveillance systems to protect US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she proceeds with her plan to visit Taiwan, AP reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US officials. A “contingency plan,” which is being developed by the U.S. military, involves creating “overlapping rings of protection” for the U.S. House speaker during her flight to[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to return to the country from Singapore, a Sri Lankan lawmaker says. Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday that G Rajapaksa was not in hiding but the date of his return was not known. The former president fled Sri Lanka after mass unrest over an economic crisis. Many protesters say[Read More…]
China’s Foreign Ministry has warned the U.S. of “serious consequences” should U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan in a demonstration of developing ties between Washington and the autonomous island that Beijing sees as inalienable part of China’s territory. “The Chinese side has made it clear to the U.S. on many occasions that it is firmly opposed to[Read More…]
In Greenland, last weekend temperatures rose enough to cause 18 billion tons of the country’s ice sheet to melt over three days. Scientists have warned about the fate of Greenland’s ice sheet. Scientists say what happened between July 15 and 17 is the latest massive melting event contributing to an increase in the global sea level. The amount of water from[Read More…]
Japan in its first annual defense report issued since the war in Ukraine mentioned Russia and China’s deepening military cooperation that has included joint air and navy drills is raising security concerns in the region. The defence white paper approved by Prime Minister Kishida’s government identifies China, Russia and North Korea as its main security concerns. Rivalries Are Clear “The[Read More…]
Sri Lanka was braced for more unrest after newly appointed president Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to crack down on the protests that toppled his predecessor, condemning them as “against the law”. Speaking after being MPs picked him as successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe made it clear he would not tolerate those he perceived to be stirring up violence. “If you try[Read More…]
The West does not have the stockpiles of weapons needed to sustain a prolonged military campaign in Ukraine or elsewhere, the CEO of one of the Pentagon’s main defense contractors has warned. The military-industrial complex therefore needs a “clear demand signal” from Western governments on what exactly it should produce and whether it will be purchased, Kathy Warden told the[Read More…]
Iran is technically capable of producing a nuclear bomb but no political decision on such an option has been made, Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has said. “In a few days we were able to enrich uranium to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium,” Kharrazi told Al Jazeera on Sunday. He[Read More…]
Sri Lankan protesters have vowed to continue their struggle for a complete change of the system by abolishing the presidency, as the popular uprising that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president marked the 100th day on Sunday. The anti-government protest began on April 9 near the presidential office and has been continuing without a break. “We will continue our fight till[Read More…]
Wildfires ravaged parts of Spain, France and Portugal Friday in the blistering heat, burning forests and prompting widespread evacuations. The ongoing heatwave has already claimed hundreds of lives in the west European countries. There is a spike in heat wave-related casualties in Western Europe. On Saturday, La Vanguardia reported that there were more than 360 deaths in Spain caused by the[Read More…]
Sri Lanka politicians are trying to settle popular unrest as parliament plans to meet tomorrow after the official resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was made today. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said he expected to elect a new President through Parliament within 7 days in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Speaker said in terms of the Constitution Prime[Read More…]
On Thursday, the Sri Lanka government announced a curfew in the capital Colombo and its suburbs that would run until 5am on Friday. To stop demonstrators from accessing the Parliament on Thursday, the Sri Lankan Army stationed tanks close to the building. Troops in green military uniforms and camouflage vests arrived by armored personnel carriers on Thursday to reinforce barricades around[Read More…]
The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report released today. The global population is expected to reach 8 billion by November 15, the UN predicts With roughly 83 million people being added to the world’s population every[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s opposition parties are trying to cobble together an all-party government and pick candidates who can take over after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to step down, giving in to popular pressure in a country struggling to pay for essentials. Sri Lanka has been plunged into a political vacuum after an economic crisis sparked widespread protests[Read More…]
Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties are trying to agree on a new government a day after the country’s president and prime minister offered to resign in the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s economic crisis. Sri Lankan Army chief General[Read More…]
The worldwide cost-of-living crisis is pushing an additional 71 million people in the world’s poorest countries into extreme poverty, warned the a new report by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday The report said: “The war in Ukraine has severely disrupted global markets for food and energy due to both countries’ large global market shares. Before the war, Russia[Read More…]
More than 700 migrants died or disappeared trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico last year, said a new UN study. A new study has labeled the 2,000-mile (3,200km) border between the U.S. and Mexico the deadliest migration land route in the world. The study, conducted by the Missing Migrants Project and published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recorded at[Read More…]
A number of U.S. veterans are reportedly training Ukrainian soldiers near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said the New York Times in an article — In Ukraine, U.S. Veterans Step In Where the Military Will Not — on July 3, 2022, Sunday (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/politics/american-combat-volunteers-ukraine.html). “Americans are in Ukraine,” states the New York Times, noting that the exact number of U.S. citizens[Read More…]
Oil and gas workers at state giant Equinor are on strike in Norway, the largest producer of oil and gas in Western Europe. The strike is escalating Europe’s natural-gas crisis a week before a key pipeline with Russia shuts for maintenance. Benchmark Dutch natural gas futures surged 10% on Monday on news of the strike in Norway. Operator Equinor has[Read More…]
The G7 countries are “leaving millions to starve and cooking the planet,” Oxfam’s head of inequality policy Max Lawson has declared in a statement issued on Tuesday condemning the mere $4.5 billion the industrialized nations have pledged to fight the worst hunger crisis in decades. Lawson argued that “at least $28.5 billion more” was needed to “finance food and agriculture[Read More…]
Thousands of people marched in Madrid on Sunday to protest the NATO summit. A Reuters report said: Carrying the hammer and sickle flags, thousands protested in Madrid against a NATO summit in the Spanish capital next week. Amid tight security, the NATO leaders will meet in Madrid between 29-30 June. “Tanks yes, but of beer with tapas,” sang demonstrators, who[Read More…]
The People’s Bank of China is building a yuan reserve with five other nations in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements. The countries China is teaming up are Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chile. Each of the countries will contribute 15 billion yuan — about $2.2 billion — to a Renminbi Liquidity Arrangement, China’s central bank said in[Read More…]
UK trade union RMT members have once again taken to picket lines, in a show of industrial strength, on the second day of national rail strike action. Over 40,000 members are on strike over a multiyear pay freeze and a lack of job security, with Network Rail and the train operating companies threatening thousands of compulsory redundancies. For All[Read More…]
Nepal has decided to shun the U.S. State Partnership Programme (SPP). Media reports said: The Nepal government has decided to not forward the US’ state partnership programme (SPP). The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday took this decision. The Cabinet also decided that every government agency needs to make communications on diplomatic relations via the Foreign Ministry. The government made the decision[Read More…]
Colombia’s president-elect Gustavo Petro is wasting no time in fulfilling his promise of normalizing relations between his country and the socialist government in Venezuela, discussing with Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro the reopening of the border between the two nations three days after winning the election. Media reports said: Petro, a former guerrilla who won the presidential election on Sunday promising[Read More…]
In historic flood in many parts of Bangladesh and Northeast India hundreds of people have died and millions are stranded. About 4 million people were marooned in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division in Bangladesh, which is about a quarter of its population. In India North East state of Assam is worst affected where heavy rains are continuing for over two[Read More…]
The biggest rail strike in a generation in the UK went under way after last-ditch talks failed to reach agreement. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected demands for a pay rise of at least seven per cent Entire cities and towns were cut off from the train network as strike action closes half of Britain’s rail lines. Huge swathes of Britain were without[Read More…]
Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated against the rising cost of living, with many linking the crisis to the NATO’s war and Russia policies. Many demonstrators condemned the US-led NATO alliance and its involvement in the Ukraine war. Many linked their dire economic straits to the EU’s sanctions regime on Russia and with the NATO’s rush to arm Ukraine. Protesters[Read More…]
Gustavo Petro, a former rebel, has been elected Colombia’s first leftist president on Sunday. Petro’s triumph, in one of the most historically conservative countries on the continent, is a stunning example of widespread discontent that is shaking the status quo. It is a powerful rejection of the political establishment that has ruled the South American nation for two centuries. Voters[Read More…]
New centers of power have emerged, the unipolar world order is not coming back, and the “colonial” way of thinking has failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday. When the U.S. declared victory in the Cold War, Americans designated themselves the “messengers of God on earth,” with interests that should be considered sacred and no obligations,[Read More…]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday stressed that the public needs to keep up its support of Ukraine after nearly four months of war. Media reports said: “The worry that we have is that a bit of Ukraine-fatigue is starting to set in around the world,” Johnson told reporters on the back of a trip to Kyiv. “It is[Read More…]
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton says he has never before been so concerned about the country’s foundational future, lamenting there’s a “fair chance” that the United States could “completely lose our constitutional democracy.” The former president appeared Wednesday on CBS’s “The Late Late Show” and responded to a question from host James Corden that alluded to Donald Trump’s presidency without[Read More…]
The world nuclear weapons spending found a significant increase in 2021, finds the latest International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) report published on Tuesday. In one year, the nine nuclear-armed nations – U.S., China, Russia, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the UK — spent a total of $82.4 billion on upgrading and maintaining their estimated 13,000 nuclear[Read More…]
The U.S. sought to bolster its support in Asia by reassuring nations they do not need to join a coalition against China, drawing a stark contrast with Beijing’s threats to defend its interests with military force, said Bloomberg. The Bloomberg report — US Makes Asia Inroads by Playing Down Need to Oppose China — said on June 13: U.S. Defense[Read More…]
Ukraine’s allies are in disagreement on the question of the war. On June 14, a New York Times report — A Link to Besieged Ukrainians Is Cut, as Allies Question Strategy — said: “The last bridge to the city of Sievierodonetsk fell as battles raged, and some Western officials questioned Ukraine’s ability to keep resisting Russia.” The report said: “Ukraine’s[Read More…]
The world, now more complex, is facing unprecedented polycrisis, the World Trade Organization (WTO) chief has warned. Export restrictions are pushing up food prices and could further exacerbate the global “polycrisis,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the opening of the 12th WTO ministerial conference in Geneva on Sunday. According to the official, the world has “become more complex” since[Read More…]
Momentum in the Ukraine War has begun favoring Russia, and as a clear signal, the NATO Secretary-General has told Ukraine to decide how much territory it likes to concede in exchange of peace. A New York Times report — “Momentum in Ukraine Is Shifting in Russia’s Favor” (June 11, 2022) — said: Ukraine lacking the weaponry it needs, and Western[Read More…]
Cases of desertion are growing among Ukrainian force, which is suffering significant losses, says report. It is also almost out of ammunition. Media reports said: There has been a rise in desertion as morale declines, says an intelligence report seen by The Independent. Ukraine is now dependent on Western donations of supplies, Ukrainian officials say. Reports are emerging that the[Read More…]
Ukraine acknowledges that it is losing artillery war to Russia. Ukraine forces are almost out of ammunition and can only rely on Western-supplied arms in the battle against Russia, a top Ukrainian intelligence official has said. “This is an artillery war now,” Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told The Guardian on Friday. Ranged combat is going to[Read More…]
The Summit of the Americas, now being held in Los Angeles, U.S., is facing criticism from different countries participating in the summit. Media reports including reports by teleSUR said: The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, deplored that all countries were not invited to the 9th Summit of the Americas. Argentina’s President was addressing the summit as the president pro tempore[Read More…]
The U.S. government has better information on Russian troops in Ukraine than on Ukrainian forces, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials. Kiev is keeping its biggest military sponsor in the dark, possibly even misleading Washington to protect the generous flow of American military aid into the country, the newspaper claimed in a report (U.S. Lacks a[Read More…]
The World Bank (WB) has cut its global growth projection for this year from 4.1% to 2.9%, warning that many countries are likely to face recession. “Amid the war in Ukraine, surging inflation, and rising interest rates, global economic growth is expected to slump in 2022,” the Tuesday WB press release said. Below-average Growth “Several years of above-average inflation and below-average[Read More…]
Ukraine needs liquefied natural gas (LNG). The country is in discussions with the U.S. on purchasing and financing supplies of LNG instead of pipeline gas, which the country currently receives from EU states, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko said on Tuesday. Media reports said: Kiev is currently buying reverse gas supplies that those countries resell, after buying from Russia. The head of[Read More…]
Ukraine President Zelensky appealed for more weapons to arrive faster, saying things could become very difficult for Ukraine if Russian forces broke through front lines in Donbas, the eastern region where Severodonetsk is the main city not in Russian hands. Media reports said: Britain has promised to send its first long-range missiles to Ukraine after a similar U.S. pledge which triggered Vladimir Putin[Read More…]
U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) denounced the U.S. political system as an “oligarchy” on Friday, resuming the long-dormant class-war rhetoric that first attracted so many young voters to her campaign in 2018. “When you look at the fact that our elections are bought, that corporations and… powerful corporate lobbies have more say in our legislation than everyday people, we[Read More…]
Cuba and China have filed the first patent for a vaccine against not just COVID-19 and its many variants, but which could also be effective against several related viruses, the Cuban daily Granma reported on Thursday. In spite of a U.S.-directed blockade against trade with Cuba, the socialist island nation was able to develop five COVID-19 vaccines and inoculated 95% of[Read More…]
Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called out U.S. President Joe Biden in two campaign speeches this week, citing the $40 billion in military aid Washington has pledged to Ukraine. “Biden, who has never made a speech to give $1 to those who are starving in Africa, announces $40 billion to help Ukraine buy weapons,” Lula said on Wednesday[Read More…]
Europe lurched closer to an energy crisis on Tuesday after the Kremlin cut off gas supplies to major buyers including Shell. A Telegraph report said: Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, Gazprom, said supplies to Shell in Germany as well as to Ørsted in Denmark will be cut off on Wednesday after they refused to bow to Putin’s demands to pay in roubles. Gazprom[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine is increasing food prices, which is increasing hunger in Africa. An AP report from Mogadishu, Somalia cited Ayan Hassan Abdirahman, who is now paying twice as much as she did just a few months ago to buy the wheat flour she uses to make breakfast each day for her 11 children in Somalia’s capital. Abdirahman has[Read More…]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the Biden administration aims to lead the international bloc opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into a broader coalition to counter what it sees as a more serious, long-term threat to global order from China. Media reports including a report by AP from Washington DC said: In a speech outlining the administration’s China policy, Blinken laid[Read More…]
Ukraine conflict has now entered in the area of intensive diplomacy. Davos, now the seat of the World Economic Forum (WEF), is rich with Ukraine debate. Media reports said: Veteran U.S. statesman Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the[Read More…]
Wheat prices surged to a new record high on Monday after India decided to prohibit exports of the commodity as a heatwave hit production. The price climbed to $453 per ton as the European market opened. Soft red winter wheat for July delivery rose 4.2%. Media reports said: India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, said this weekend it was curbing[Read More…]
Geopolitical Update: Historic Shifts In Europe’s Balance Of Power As NATO Expands North With Sweden And Finland Joining The Military Alliance Sweden’s ruling party dropped the country’s historic military nonalignment on Sunday and agreed to join NATO, shortly after Finland’s leaders officially announced they would do the same. Media reports from Europe and other places said: The moves were[Read More…]
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke over telephone on Friday, marking the first call between the two since Russia launched the special military operation in Ukraine. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement following the call that Austin “urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines[Read More…]
“Is my baby getting enough food? It is a typical fear among new parents — and an acute one now, because of a national shortage of baby formula.” A New York Times report — The Baby Formula Crisis (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/briefing/baby-formula-shortage-us-economy.html, May 13, 2022) — begins in this way. The New York Times report said: ‘A potential bacteria outbreak led to the[Read More…]
Geopolitical developments are expanding quickly in various regions of the world. Media reports from various regions said: Japan and the European Union on Thursday agreed to step up their sanctions against Russia as leaders from the two sides raised concerns about the war’s impact in the Indo-Pacific, where they seek to strengthen their partnership and increase engagement amid China’s growing[Read More…]
At least 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died while attending Indian boarding schools run or supported by the U.S. government, a U.S. Interior Department report said Wednesday. The Interior Department said in a statement that federal Indian boarding school policies for more than a century and a half resulted in “the twin goals of cultural assimilation and[Read More…]
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Droughts have increased 29% in the space of a single generation, according to a paper the United Nations released on Wednesday, which observed that[Read More…]
From neighborhood gas stations to U.S.’s interstate highway system to the friendly skies, soaring fuel costs amid dwindling supplies look set to further squeeze consumers and businesses alike this summer. A Bloomberg report said: Across the board, fuel prices are at or near records. Average retail gasoline prices have remained firmly above $4 a gallon since early March, while diesel[Read More…]
There is a 50:50 chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial level for at least one of the next five years – and the likelihood is increasing with time, according to a new climate update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report was prepared by a team of 11 different forecast centers, including[Read More…]
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Americans’ confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has collapsed over the last 20 months — a period that began with former President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans installing a 6-3 conservative majority ahead of the 2020 election and culminated last week with the leak of a draft opinion signaling that five GOP-appointed justices[Read More…]
The G7 leaders held a video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, promising to do more to help poor nations at risk of food crisis due to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Media reports said: Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has been “causing global economic disruptions, impacting the security of global energy supply, fertilizer and food provision, and[Read More…]
German officials are quietly preparing for any sudden halt in Russian gas supplies with an emergency package that could include taking control of critical firms. An exclusive Reuters report said: The preparations being led by the Ministry for Economic Affairs show the heightened state of alert about supplies of the gas that powers Europe’s biggest economy and is critical for[Read More…]
Sinn Fein celebrated its election victory in Northern Ireland on Saturday night. To the Sinn Fein, and its supporters, history had been made. Sinn Fein assembly victory fuels debate on future of union. Leader Mary Lou McDonald raises issue of unification as nationalists become biggest party in Northern Ireland. Jubilant Sinn Féin supporters celebrated across the region on Saturday when final vote[Read More…]
The governor of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa said Friday: Japan should focus more on peaceful diplomacy with China instead of on military deterrence as tensions rise around Chinese-claimed Taiwan. He also urged that the burden on Okinawa of hosting a majority of the American troops in Japan be reduced. Media reports said: “We are strongly alarmed,” Okinawa Governor[Read More…]
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a statement on Friday supporting the secretary-general’s efforts to search for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine, in the first such display of unity since February 24. The entire meeting on Friday lasted only about a minute. Russia’s support for the statement, drafted by Mexico and Norway, shows Moscow’s readiness for diplomacy,[Read More…]
The UK and Japan have agreed a defense deal that will allow their national forces to “work more closely together”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday. The British PM, speaking in Downing Street alongside his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, said he is “so glad” the two nations have agreed a reciprocal access agreement for the armed services. He said allies in[Read More…]
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted that attempts to build the Common European Home failed. He made this statement at a press conference after the talks with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest. The press conference was livestreamed on Iohannis’ website. Media reports said: The German President said: “We all supported the great concept, proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s[Read More…]
Chile authority has imposed new water restrictions for the capital city of Santiago, a city with six million population, as the country enters its 13th year of drought. Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region said: “And we are in an unprecedented situation in Santiago’s 491-year history where we have to prepare for there to not be enough water[Read More…]
Coal is now a major subject of news on India. This is happening in the background of the on-going war in Ukraine and West’s pressure on India to join West’s sanctions on Russia. A Reuters report from Chennai — Power-hungry India halts passenger trains to free up track to move coal — said on April 30, 2022: India has boosted[Read More…]
France’s economy, the euro zone’s second-biggest economy, growth unexpectedly ground to a halt in the first quarter while Germany, Europe’s largest economy, faces possibility of tipping into recession. The war in Ukraine is the major cause of this situation. A Reuters report said: France’s economy growth unexpectedly ground to a halt in the first quarter as consumer spending dropped in[Read More…]
European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni has admitted that the European Union’s economy is facing stagnation. “The situation in Ukraine presents an uncertainty and unpredictability factor for Europe, economic growth will obviously slow down with a stagnation risk,” he was quoted as saying during the Confcommercio-Ambrosetti forum on Thursday by the ANSA news agency. Much depends on “the duration of[Read More…]
The euro plummeted to a five-year low against the US dollar during Wednesday’s trading, amid heightened fears of a possible energy crisis and an economic slowdown in Europe. Media reports from Europe said: As of 11:01am GMT, the euro/dollar exchange rate was down to $1.061 from the previous closing level of $1.0636. Earlier in the day’s trading, the index fell[Read More…]
The military spending of all nations combined set a new record in 2021, exceeding the $2 trillion mark for the first time ever, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed in a report published on Monday. According to the report, while the U.S. defense spending slid by 1.4% compared to 2020, Washington remained the absolute global leader, having lavished[Read More…]
Three members of Boris Johnson’s team and two from Sir Keir Starmer’s have been referred to the new parliamentary watchdog set up amid the #MeToo scandal, The Sunday Times reports. The UK cabinet ministers are among more than 50 MPs reportedly facing allegations of sexual misconduct after being referred to a parliamentary watchdog. Media reports from UK said: Misconduct of 56 MPs[Read More…]
Israel’s central bank has made the biggest changes to its allocation of reserves in over a decade, adding the Chinese yuan alongside three other currencies to a stockpile that last year exceeded $200 billion for the first time ever. A Bloomberg report said: Starting this year, the currency mix will expand from the trio of the U.S. dollar, the euro[Read More…]
The World Food Program, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization on Wednesday called for urgent, coordinated action on food security, and appealed to countries to avoid banning food or fertilizer exports. In a joint statement, the leaders of the four institutions warned that the war in Ukraine was adding to existing pressures from the COVID-19 crisis, climate[Read More…]
An OPEC decision on using oil related data indicate further development in ties between Saudi Arabia and U.S. A Reuters report said: ‘A decision driven by Saudi Arabia that OPEC+ should stop using oil data from the West’s energy watchdog reflected concern about U.S. influence on the figures, sources close to the matter said, adding to strain on ties between[Read More…]
Finland and Sweden are set to join NATO as early as this summer, extending the organization’s borders alongside Russia by hundreds of miles, U.S. officials told the British newspaper the Times. Finland is expected to submit its application for membership in June, with Sweden to follow. During talks among the organization’s 30 member nations last week, U.S. officials said that NATO membership[Read More…]
Global food prices jumped to a historic high last month on grain and edible oil supply woes brought about by the conflict in Ukraine, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday. The FAO said in a statement: “World food commodity prices made a significant leap in March to reach their highest levels ever, as war in the[Read More…]
An immediate ban on imports of Russian oil and gas into Germany is not feasible, Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday, although he added he was all in favor of an energy embargo. “If I could follow my heart,” there would be a ban on Russian oil and gas in Germany, Lindner said in an interview published by German weekly[Read More…]
The Ukraine conflict will have “enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond.” This was warned by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a House panel Wednesday. She added that the rising price of energy, metal, wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce “is going to escalate inflationary pressures as well.” An AP report — Yellen: Russia’s invasion will have[Read More…]
The IPCC on Monday released its latest report, which found that nations are falling short of their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert catastrophic climate change. While the technology exists to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) of average global temperature increase — the goal that virtually every nation agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate agreement and[Read More…]
Major countries in Europe are now engaged with expulsion of diplomats. The move was initiated by NATO-camp countries. Russia has warned of’ symmetrical’ response to Western countries’ expulsion of Russian diplomats A Reuters report said: ‘Russia will respond proportionately to the expulsion of its diplomats from a number of Western countries, Russian ex-president and deputy head of Security Council Dmitry[Read More…]
Chinese leaders have brushed back pressure from the EU to take an anti-Russia stance in the Ukraine conflict, warning that cooperation between Beijing and Brussels is needed to prevent long-term damage to the global economy. Speaking by videoconference on Friday in a summit meeting with EU leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly said it could take years or even decades[Read More…]
The Kremlin indicated on Wednesday that all of Russia’s energy and commodity exports could be priced in roubles, toughening President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to make the West feel the pain of the sanctions it imposed for the invasion of Ukraine. In the strongest signal yet that Russia could be preparing an even tougher response to the West’s sanctions, Russia’s top[Read More…]
Citing Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who leads the Russian delegation to the talks with Ukraine, an Istanbul, March 29 datelined media report said: Russia has suggested a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, be organized concurrently with the initialing of a bilateral treaty by the two countries’ foreign ministers. “After today’s meaningful conversation, we[Read More…]
A representative of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described signatories to the Budapest Memorandum as a reason Ukraine is at war, citing their failure to hold up their end of the agreement. “They signed their obligation to protect Ukraine, to provide the security and safety,” Fedir Venislavsky, President Zelenskyy’s representative to Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, told Fox News. “Which means when Ukraine[Read More…]
A Reuters report said: The Biden administration, seeking to deter China from aiding sanctions-hit Russia, on Wednesday warned Beijing not to take advantage of business opportunities created by sanctions, help Moscow evade export controls or process its banned financial transactions. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that G7 countries would soon announce a unified response to make[Read More…]
A Washington Post report (As allies meet, splits emerge in NATO about how to deter Russia) said: As President Biden landed in Brussels on Wednesday splits were emerging within NATO and in Washington about how to deter the Kremlin from further escalation. Allied leaders are discussing whether it is best to keep Russia guessing about what will trigger a bigger[Read More…]
Vietnam and Malaysia did not support the anti-Russian sanctions and agreed to remain neutral towards the Ukraine crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters Tuesday after his visit to Hanoi. “We discussed the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and agreed that Malaysia and Vietnam will remain neutral on this issue,” he said according to the Bernama news agency. “As for sanctions[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine has delivered a shock to global energy markets. Now the planet is facing a deeper crisis: a shortage of food. A New York Times report (March 20, 2022) on global food crisis due to the Ukraine war said: ‘A crucial portion of the world’s wheat, corn and barley is trapped in Russia and Ukraine because of the[Read More…]
Car-free Sundays in cities, working from home up to three days a week and using cost-efficient public transport – are just some of the recommendations made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to the world. The 10-point action plan aims at cutting back on oil consumption “in the face of the emerging global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of[Read More…]
Ukraine scene is confusing the West. Today’s Washington Post main headline said: Zelensky’s end game a mystery to the West Mixed signals about the status of a peace deal have heightened anxiety about the trajectory of the talks The Washington Post report said: ‘“There are people in Ukraine who say ‘we don’t want to hear about talks, we want to[Read More…]
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday blamed NATO for the war in Ukraine and said he would resist calls to condemn Russia, in comments that cast doubt over whether he would be accepted by Ukraine or the West as a mediator. “The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and[Read More…]
Ukraine conflict is changing many issues around the world including NATO’s force stance in Europe. An AP report said: On Wednesday, lamenting Russia’s “brutal invasion” of Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Europe’s biggest land war in decades will “change our security environment” and will have “long-lasting consequences for our security, and for all NATO allies.” In talks at[Read More…]
The ongoing Ukraine conflict got extra look with a mayor in Ukraine, who appeared heroic. Later, it was found that the mayor was ultranationalist. A Yahoo report (Ukrainian mayor, heralded by many, is ultranationalist, by Ben Adler, Senior Editor, Tue, March 15, 2022, 10:18 PM, https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-mayor-heralded-by-many-is-ultranationalist-161819300.html) said: ‘It was an especially inspiring story of Ukrainian bravery, in a war replete[Read More…]
The United Nations chief warned Monday that the war in Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries that face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices and are now seeing their breadbasket “being bombed.” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that “Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower[Read More…]
In what was touted as a semifinal before the national elections in 2024 in India, the assembly elections in five states including the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, the right wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is set to form government four out of the five states. Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party is set to retain the State of[Read More…]
Incidents following the Ukraine Crisis are developing dramatically. The world markets are also bearing the Crisis’ brunt. A report by The New York Times said: A digital barricade went up between Russia and the world. Both Russian authorities and multinational internet companies built the wall with breathtaking speed. And the moves have ruptured an open internet. TikTok and Netflix are[Read More…]
Grain prices were rising before the Ukraine conflict. But recent days have seen unprecedented further gains as two of the world’s biggest producers, Russia and Ukraine, are at war. Wheat closed in Chicago at the highest price ever on Monday. Benchmark corn and soybean futures have each surged by 26% this year. Those kinds of increases in food-staple commodities have been associated with social unrest throughout history.[Read More…]
Values for U.S. oil soared Sunday evening, driving prices above $125 a barrel in electronic trade as discussions about a ban on Russian oil heated up following the Ukraine crisis. Oil prices have soared to the highest level since 2008 after the U.S. said it was discussing a potential embargo on Russian supplies with its allies. Brent crude – the[Read More…]
Media reports said: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war,” while a promised cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror. Putin continued to pin the blame for the war squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and slammed their resistance to the invasion. “If[Read More…]
On incidents centering Ukraine, media reports said: French President Emmanuel Macron thinks “the worst is yet to come” in Ukraine after talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. A senior French official said Macron’s warning came after the two leaders spoke for 90 minutes, which did not yield any diplomatic progress. The official said Putin was determined to carry[Read More…]
Many incidents are developing centering Ukraine, which are largely ignored by a major part of media. But these incidents help understand the real picture centering Ukraine. Racism Against Students A Rolling Stone report (‘Ugly, Unprofessional’: International Students Describe Racism at the Ukrainian Border, March 2, 2022) said: Since Thursday, Feb. 24, more than 660,000 people have fled Ukraine, according to the U.N.[Read More…]
The “Freedom Convoy” protest has left Ottawa, Canada, in gridlock for three weeks, and on Friday, police began a major operation to clear out the remaining protesters and vehicles. Police said more than 100 people were arrested and that some protesters had assaulted officers. Freedom Convoys are also being organized in other countries. In a few countries this has already[Read More…]
The U.S. on Thursday criticized Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s declaration of “solidarity” with Russia during a visit there this week. A Reuters report from Brasilia said: “The timing of the president of Brazil expressing solidarity with Russia, just as Russian forces are preparing to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities, could not be worse,” the U.S. State Department said. “It undermines[Read More…]
Celebrated thinker Noam Chomsky said the “pathology of Islamophobia”, now growing throughout the West, was “taking its most lethal form in India where the Modi government is systematically dismantling Indian secular democracy and turning the country into a Hindu ethnocracy”. Chomsky’s comments came in a recorded message to a congressional briefing — the third in a month organised by US-based[Read More…]
Incidents centering Ukraine are showing many sides of the U.S. These include credibility. A Politico report (Spy world wary as Biden team keeps leaking Russia intel, February 9, 2022) said: “The Biden administration has gone to unusual lengths to publicly share intelligence about Russia’s threat to Ukraine, using targeted media leaks and other methods to warn the world of everything[Read More…]
Canada’s capital Ottawa on Saturday was bracing for a surge of demonstrators to join a week-long protest against public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that has blockaded much of the downtown core, unnerved residents and been described by officials as an “occupation” and a “siege.” Ottawa Police Services Board held an emergency meeting on Saturday afternoon, but failed[Read More…]
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio said on Thursday that the US appears to be on the path to “some form of civil war.” Dalio based his analysis on historical cases — arguing that the combination of financial burdens, such as large deficits, high taxes and inflation, and large wealth and value gaps in a nation “leads to some sort of fighting[Read More…]
Ministry of Information and broadcasting suspended the licence of Malayalam television channel MediaOne TV and the channel stopped its broadcast for a few hours yesterday. However, Kerala High Court stepped in and deferred the order of the Ministry for two days. The ministry had removed its name from list of permitted channels in India. The ministry denied permission for the[Read More…]
Media are full of information and disinformation on Ukraine. Many of those are adding charges to the Ukraine situation, a few show activities to flare up war situation, and a few show a different situation. Following are a few media reports in brief: Ukraine Accuses U.S. of Hurting Its Economy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the U.S. was damaging his[Read More…]
World Health Organization (WHO) informed: Globally, as of 4:00pm CET, 28 January 2022, there have been 364,191,494 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,631,457 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 28 January 2022, a total of 9,854,237,363 vaccine doses have been administered. Situation by WHO Region Europe: 138,839,947 confirmed Americas: 132,400,000 confirmed South-East Asia: 51,328,032 confirmed Eastern Mediterranean: 18,614,606 confirmed Western Pacific: 14,970,594 confirmed Africa: 8,037,551 confirmed Source: WHO, Data may[Read More…]
I swear, I can’t hear well. Photo: Osval, Granma “Havana Syndrome” came out as an accusation, first, against Cuba, and then, against Russia. Now, the CIA has found the fact: No hostile power, no foreign enemy was involved with the so-called Havana Syndrome. A report by NBC News – CIA says ‘Havana Syndrome’ not result of sustained global campaign by hostile power[Read More…]
The short expiration dates of vaccines donated to the sharing program is a major problem, Etleva Kadilli, an official concerned with the issue told the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday. The official heads the Supply Division of UNICEF, the UN’s agency for the betterment of children’s lives worldwide. “Until we have a better shelf life, this is going to be[Read More…]
The Pacific may well be the part of the world most likely to see “strategic surprise,” the U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Monday, in comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific-island bases. Enormous Strategic Interests On January 11, 2022, a Washington datelined Reuters report said: Campbell told Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)[Read More…]
The World Economic Forum (WEF) warns: The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic may take years to reign in. The WEF has also sheds light on major concerns regarding the future from the globe’s economic elite. “Covid-19 and its economic and societal consequences continue to pose a critical threat to the world. Vaccine inequality and a resultant uneven economic recovery risk[Read More…]
A French privacy watchdog accused the tech giants Google and Facebook of making it difficult for users to opt out of tracking their activity. France’s online privacy regulator has ordered Google and Facebook to cough up some €210 million ($237 million) between them, fining the firms for their questionable use of data-tracking ‘cookies’ on their sites. A report by The[Read More…]
Riots flared up in several cities of Kazakhstan on January 2. Later they erupted in other cities, including in Almaty, the largest city in the country, and on January 5, the riots snowballed into mass riots and violence, along with looting and attacks on state buildings. The rioters beheaded 2 police officers. At least 18 security officers were killed by[Read More…]
Joint statement of the leaders of the five Nuclear-Weapon States on preventing nuclear war and avoiding arms races Leaders of the five Nuclear-Weapon States, namely China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States on Jan 3 Monday issued a joint statement on preventing nuclear war and avoiding arms races. The following is the full text of the statement: The People’s[Read More…]
Five former chiefs of staff of the armed forces and over a hundred other people including veterans, bureaucrats, and prominent citizens have written to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding “open call of the genocide of Indian Muslims” at various events, most recently in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and Delhi. The letter also mentions targeting of other minorities[Read More…]
A Japanese former politician who campaigned to bring billions of dollars of investment from some of Japan’s top companies to Myanmar has urged Japan to endorse its military regime, saying the nation’s coup leader has “grown fantastically as a human being,” while praising his “democratization efforts.” A Reuters report said: The 87-year-old former cabinet minister, Hideo Watanabe, is also pursuing[Read More…]
Citing Nieznany, a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran, a Newsweek report said: Millions of fellow would-be insurrectionists will be there, too, says, “a ticking time-bomb” targeting the Capitol. “There are lots of fully armed people wondering what is happening to this country,” he says. “Are we going to let Biden keep destroying it? Or do we need to get rid of him?[Read More…]
The Pacific Collective on Nuclear Issues, a group of civil society and student organizations, has categorically denied the veracity of a report released by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO), vowing to oppose Japan’s planned mass disposal of wastewater stored at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The strong objection comes a day after TEPCO submitted a detailed plan to the[Read More…]
Three retired U.S. army generals warned of an insurrection or even civil war if the results of the 2024 presidential election were not accepted by some in the military. Former Major Gen. Paul Eaton, former Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, and former Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson made the warnings in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday. They wrote that they were[Read More…]
Apruebo Dignidad candidate Gabriel Boric has won Chile’s presidential elections in a historic victory for the Left in Latin America. Left-wing former student leader Gabriel Boric has beat out far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast with nearly 100% of the votes tallied, according to figures published by Chile’s electoral authorities SERVEL. Gabriel Boric has become the nation’s youngest leader in modern times. Boric, 35,[Read More…]
The U.S. military drastically undercounted civilian deaths caused by airstrikes in the Middle East since 2014, according to a New York Times investigation published Saturday. The New York Times reviewed a hidden Pentagon archive comprised of the military’s confidential assessments of over 1,300 reports of civilian casualties in airstrikes, and found, “since 2014, the American air war has been plagued by deeply flawed intelligence,[Read More…]
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed in a video call on Wednesday: Russia and China should stand firm in rejecting Western interference and defending each other’s security interests. The two presidents’ conversation, eight days after Putin spoke to U.S. President Joe Biden in a similar format, underscored how U.S.-Europe hostility to Russia and China is bringing the two powerful[Read More…]
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution condemning Nazism, neo-Nazism and all forms of racism, and the U.S. and Ukraine voted against it, while a few countries, mainly US allies, abstained. The resolution was co-sponsored by Russia. On December 16, the UN General Assembly passed its annual resolution on “Combating Glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling[Read More…]
The two Wall Street investment-banking titans dominating this year’s dealmaking frenzy are opening up their wallets to try to keep their bankers happy – and ratcheting up pressure on rivals to follow suit. Media reports including reports by Bloomberg said: U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are reportedly planning to award their investment bankers with major bonuses in[Read More…]
High temperature seems scorching the Arctic. The United Nations logged the hottest temperature in history in the Arctic, finding that the Russian town of Verkhoyansk hit 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) in the summer of 2020. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced the record heat in Verkhoyansk in a Tuesday press release, explaining that a meteorological station in the region completed the[Read More…]
Russia President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago as the demise of what he called “historical Russia” and said the economic crisis that followed was so bad he was forced to moonlight as a taxi driver. A Reuters report from Moscow said: Putin’s comments, released by state TV on Sunday, are likely to[Read More…]
A secret U.S. Air Force (USAF) drone strike unit was allowed to operate in Syria for five years even as it broke rules of engagement and civilian casualties mounted, it has been revealed in a report by New York Times that cited multiple current and former military and intelligence officials. The New York Times report (Civilian Deaths Mounted as Secret[Read More…]
A Caribbean-based prime minister, a scientist, a group of indigenous women, and an entrepreneur were announced on Tuesday as this year’s winners of the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth awards. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the all-female Champions were chosen for their impact and leadership in advancing bold action on behalf of people and the planet. “These Champions of[Read More…]
The quantity of plastic used in agriculture, food industries, livestock, etc. industries the world over is millions of tones each year. Asia is the largest user of plastic in these industries. Plastic pollution is a threat to food security. Excess salt in soil also puts food security at risk. Recent reports from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)[Read More…]
The disparity in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between rich and poor countries, and between rich and poor people within countries is just as extreme as economic inequality, a new report finds. Overall, emissions are closely correlated with income, according to a report released Tuesday by the World Inequality Lab, a Paris-based research organization. “Wealthy individuals pollute much more than low-income[Read More…]
The world’s richest people got a whole lot richer during the COVID-19 crisis. In 2021, billionaires saw the steepest increase in their share of wealth on record, according to The World Inequality Lab’s annual World Inequality Report. The top 0.01% richest individuals — the 520,000 people who have at least $19 million — now hold 11% of the world’s wealth, up[Read More…]
Residents in a city in U.S. turned victims of industrial hazard. A smell sickened Los Angeles County residents for months. Some 3,200 residents in Carson and surrounding cities were forced to temporarily relocate to hotel rooms. A report by Julian Mark in The Washington Post (A smell sickened L.A. County residents for months. Officials say a fire that torched wellness[Read More…]
“Cuba reaffirms its support and solidarity with the Nicaraguan people and government,” said a statement from Cuba’s ministry of foreign affairs. Cuba has applauded Nicaragua’s decision to renounce the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) and resign from this multinational organization controlled by the U.S. The Cuban foreign ministry’s statement said: “The OAS has remained silent on multiple[Read More…]
During the inauguration ceremony of the recently elected mayors and governors, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro called on the new authorities to develop a system of government based on the principles of popular power. Beyond Bourgeois Democracy “We must govern to build the People’s new power from Venezuelan Socialism. I will insist on this a thousand times: we must build a new[Read More…]
Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean is at its highest point since 2000, after a 30 percent increase in the number of people suffering hunger from 2019 to 2020, says a new UN report. According to the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2021, in just one year, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of[Read More…]
Security forces fired tear gas at anti-coup protesters in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday, as tens of thousands marched in the latest demonstrations against a military takeover that took place last month. Thousands of people protested near the presidential palace in central Khartoum, the capital city. Protesters took to the streets in Khartoum and other cities around the country to[Read More…]
Britain, Germany and Italy confirm cases of Omicron while other countries suspect cases of their own. Chaos at a Dutch airport exemplified the scattershot response across Europe. A New York Times report (Covid News: Omicron Variant Puts Nations on Alert, Nov. 27, 2021) said: Scientists raced to study a new coronavirus variant as several cases were spotted in Europe and[Read More…]
In a major victory for the agitating farmers in India, a bill to cancel the three contentious farm laws was passed in record time in both houses of the parliament. The government plans to get it signed by the President by tonight. The Farm Laws Repeal bill was passed in Lok Sabha within four minutes – it was tabled at[Read More…]
At least 20 Sudanese troops have reportedly died following clashes with Ethiopian forces on the countries’ shared border. Media reports from the conflict area said: Sudanese soldiers fell into an ambush on Saturday after traveling across the Atbara river and being bombarded. However, Sudan’s army released a statement on Saturday reporting that it delivered “heavy losses of life” against Ethiopian troops and[Read More…]
Food prices rose to a 10-year high last month, hitting peak since July 2011 and extending the 30% increase recorded last year, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report. The surge was led by increases in cereal crops like wheat and vegetable oils. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of food commodities, is up 3.9 per cent from September, rising for a third consecutive[Read More…]
Amazon employees worldwide are planning to strike on one of the busiest shopping days of the year The strikes are set to take place at factories, warehouses, data centers, corporate offices and oil refineries across the world, including sites in Minnesota, California, Boston and New York City. The plan is to organize the work stoppage for Black Friday in more than 20 countries[Read More…]
The United Socialist Party (PSUV) landed a comprehensive victory in Venezuela’s regional and local elections, winning 83% of the governorships. According to initial results from the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Sunday night, PSUV, the ruling party, secured at least 19 of the 23 governorships, and the important Caracas mayoralty. The PSUV also successfully overturned rightwing incumbents in Mérida, Táchira[Read More…]
Protests were held in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul and the capital Ankara on Nov. 23 after the lira’s historic crash. Protesters were demanding the resignation of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government over skyrocketing inflation. The protests come amid an escalating currency crisis. The Turkish lira has gone from $0.1 to $0.078 in value just over the past week,[Read More…]
Political uncertainties are continuing in Sudan as 12 Sudanese ministers have resigned in protest of deal with military. Media reports said: The cabinet ministers on Monday submitted their resignation to Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in protest of a political deal with the country’s ruling military council. On Sunday, Hamdok was reinstated after signing a political agreement with the head[Read More…]
Sudan’s ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been reinstated following last month’s coup when he was put under house arrest. But uncertainties remain in Sudan’s politics. Hamdok has appeared on TV to sign a new power-sharing agreement with coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan amid continuing mass protests. But the civilian coalition that nominated Hamdok as PM two years ago[Read More…]
Protesters in Sudan have vowed to escalate demonstrations after the deadliest day since a military coup deposed the country’s civilian-led transitional government last month. Street clashes again shook Khartoum as internet services returned to Sudan on Thursday, a day after 15 protesters were killed in the bloodiest violence since the country’s October 25 coup. At least 39 have been killed since the military[Read More…]
During a meeting with the French President Emmanuel Macron held in Paris on Wednesday, Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva denounced that malnutrition, hunger, and poverty have increased in Brazil since rightist Jair Bolsonaro came to power in January 2019. “A few weeks ago, Bolsonaro was ignored because the French president refused to receive him at the government headquarters. Today, Lula[Read More…]
Tens of thousands of supporters of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party rallied in the capital Colombo to protest the nation’s economic woes. This is the first major campaign against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government since it swept to power last August. Defying heavy sporadic rains, tightened Covid-19 guidelines and court orders, supporters of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya — led[Read More…]
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden in a virtual meeting on Tuesday discussed strategic and fundamental issues on the development of bilateral relations. The first face-to-face virtual meeting between the top two leaders lasted more than three hours. They opened their talks on a friendly note. Chinese observers said that the meeting will inject certainty into the[Read More…]
Hundreds of protesters marched from the Thai capital Bangkok’s Pathumwan intersection to the German embassy on Sunday to submit a petition in response to a recent court ruling which determined that calls for reform of the institution was akin to treason. It was the largest protest the country has seen in months. Media reports said: The demonstrators gathered in response[Read More…]
‘Cheering for any team is not illegal’: Justice Deepak Gupta. But Sedition cases booked against three students in UP simply for hailing the winning team Virat Kohli and Mohammed Rizwan, Captains of Indian and Pakistan cricket teams share a hug at the end of the T20 World Cup game in Dubai on October 24, 2021, while Babar Azam exults at[Read More…]
With climate crisis, what roles can an individual play? An individual has much scope to play role in facing the crisis. An ABC News report — COP26: This is what individuals can do to slow down climate change, according to experts — by Julia Jacobo (November 1, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/US/cop26-individuals-slow-climate-change-experts/story?id=80799029) said: “As the leaders of the world gather in Glasgow to[Read More…]
Facing diminished hopes ahead of what many see as world leaders’ last chance to combat the climate crisis, Britain’s Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, on Monday called for a “warlike” effort as he opened a key United Nations climate summit. Prince Charles has suggested the audience during his speech at the COP26 climate conference that world governments had[Read More…]
More than 400 private jets carrying politicians and business executives to this week’s conference will belch out 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide, exceeding the emissions of 1,600 average Scots for a full year, according to an estimate by the Scotland’s Daily Record (Private jets flying to COP26 in Glasgow will blast more CO2 than Scots pump out in a year, by John[Read More…]
Just days before world leaders meet in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), a new report has revealed just how far off course we are to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and limiting the impacts of global warming. From October 31 to November 12, the leaders of the world are gathering in Glasgow for[Read More…]
The world’s largest economies will suffer severe human and economic consequences of climate change, especially if no action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to a new study (G20 Climate Risk Atlas, Impacts, Policy, Economics, https://files.cmcc.it/g20climaterisks/G20_all.pdf) from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), an Italian research center. “From droughts, heatwaves and sea level rise, to dwindling food supplies[Read More…]
Weather extremes can cause economic ripples along supply chains. If they occur at roughly the same time, the ripples start interacting and can amplify, even if they occur at completely different places around the world, a new study – “Ripple Resonance Amplifies Economic Welfare Loss from Weather Extremes” – by Kilian Kuhla, Sven Norman Willner, Christian Otto, Tobias Geiger and Anders Levermann (published on 27[Read More…]
Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on Wednesday called for dialogue following a second day of demonstrations by indigenous and social groups against gasoline price rises. The President said his government would keep security forces on highways to maintain order. Media reports said: Thousands of demonstrators marched on Tuesday in rejection of Lasso’s increase of the price of gasoline extra, a cheaper[Read More…]
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has returned home with his wife under tight security, the prime minister’s office said on its Facebook account on Tuesday. Some ministers remain in detention and may be facing a trial. Since early Monday, Hamdok and some of his ministers were arrested with civilian members in the Sovereign Council. Earlier on Tuesday, General Commander of[Read More…]
A military coup in Sudan has dealt a sharp reversal to one of Africa’s most heralded and closely watched democratic transitions, igniting street protests by thousands of pro-democracy supporters and triggering a harsh crackdown that left scores of people dead or injured from military gunfire. Early on Monday, the military dissolved Sudan’s transitional government and the Sovereign Council, a joint[Read More…]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded its 2021 economic growth forecast for Asia after the Covid-19 delta variant caused a spike in cases in parts of the region. The IMF said it expects Asia’s economy to grow by 6.5% in 2021, compared with its April forecast for a 7.6% expansion. “The global COVID-19 pandemic is still ravaging the region,”[Read More…]
The situation in Afghanistan is yet to calm down. Women are facing hard time and threats. The Taliban are also wearing down with problems of governance. Internal Divisions, Even Resentment A Christian Science Monitor report, ‘Why did we fight?’ Challenge of governing is wearing down Taliban, by Scott Peterson on October 21, 2021 said: “The veteran Taliban fighter once strove[Read More…]
Africa’s 1.3 billion people remain “extremely vulnerable” as the continent warms more, and at a faster rate, than the global average, warns the UN. Yet Africa’s 54 countries are responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In State of the Climate in Africa 2020 (https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10833), a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other[Read More…]
The La Niña, a natural cycle marked by cooler-than-average ocean water in the central Pacific Ocean, is back, U.S. federal forecasters announced Thursday. It is happening for the second straight year. The La Niña (Spanish for “little girl”) climate pattern is one of the main drivers of weather around the world, especially during the late fall, winter and early spring. It is[Read More…]
Colin Powell, the first black secretary of state who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, died on Monday from complications from COVID-19. News of his death elicited strong reaction in Iraq, which has paid the price of what they call “never-ending wars”. Many of them wish he had been tried of[Read More…]
The global debt has jumped to a new high of $226 trillion, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on October 13, 2021. As reason of this leap in global debt, the IMF has cited the Covid-19 and policies put in place to respond to it. Global debt in 2020, including public and private borrowing, “jumped by 14 percent to a record high $226 trillion,”[Read More…]
At least six people were killed and over 60 people were injured in the most violent street fighting in the Lebanese capital Beirut in years Thursday. According to the medics, all victims were shot in the head and the chest. Heavy gunfire broke out during a protest organized by the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its Shiite allies from the Amal Movement[Read More…]
Carbon emissions are rebounding strongly and are rising across the world’s 20 richest nations, according to a new study. The Climate Transparency Report, Comparing G20 Climate Action and Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis (https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Climate-Transparency-Report-2020.pdf) says that CO2 will go up by 4% across the G20 group this year, having dropped 6% in 2020 due to the pandemic. The 2020 edition of[Read More…]
The number of migrant children who cross the Darien Gap on foot has hit an all-time high, UNICEF warned today. The Darien Gap is an extensive and inhospitable strip of tropical forest that divides Panama and Colombia, considered one of the most dangerous places for migrants attempting to reach North America. On their trek north towards the U.S., some 19,000[Read More…]
With most women not permitted to possess bank accounts in Afghanistan, cryptocurrency has become a critical lifeline for women fleeing the country. A media report said: The fall of Kabul has seen more than 600,000 people fleeing the Taliban regime and, without access to bank accounts, Afghan women were immediately put in a precarious position in their ability to help[Read More…]
Much of infrastructure in the U.S. is already at risk of being shut down by flooding, and as the global warming continues, the threat is expected to grow. a new report finds One-in-four pieces of all critical infrastructures in the U.S. including police and fire stations, hospitals, airports and wastewater treatment facilities face substantial risk of being rendered inoperable by[Read More…]
Between 2009 and 2018, the continuous rise in sea temperature cost the world 14 per cent of its coral reefs – that’s more than the size of Australia’s reefs combined – an UN-backed report revealed on Tuesday. In the Sixth Status of Corals of the World: 2020 Report, experts from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, funded by the UN Environment[Read More…]
Air pollutants are responsible for 7 million premature deaths a year worldwide, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has called it “one of the greatest environmental risks to health.” On 22 September 2021, the WHO has issued strict new standards for air pollution levels. Data suggests that the air in many regions across the U.S. contains much higher[Read More…]
1.26 billion people at highest risk of conflict and displacement caused by environmental damage. A vicious cycle linking the depletion of natural resources with violent conflict may have gone past the point of no return in parts of the world and is likely to be exacerbated by climate change, said a report on Thursday. Food insecurity, lack of water and[Read More…]
About half of the world’s population will suffer from water insecurity by 2050, found The State of Climate Services 2021: Water , a new report from the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report said: More than 2 billion people are living in countries under water stress and 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least one month per[Read More…]
Independent film-maker Rajkumari Asthana has produced a documentary on the ongoing farmer’s struggle in India. It is the first episode of a series called Jab Tak Raat Baki Hai, planned as a people’s history of the farmer’s movement. Anand Patwardhan’s Vikalp@Prithvi showed the film last weekend. This is an independent, completely non-commercial effort.
Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen claimed that the social media giant for prioritizing profits over public safety. Haugen, who worked on the company’s Civic Integrity team until it was dissolved shortly after the 2020 election, said that Facebook has been a major contributor to divisions in society. “Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people[Read More…]
Pandora Papers – recently leaked papers – show how some of the world’s elites accumulate property empires while avoiding millions of dollars in taxes. More than 100 billionaires and others have been exposed by the Pandora Papers obtained from 14 offshore banking institutions and analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ obtained the trove of more[Read More…]
North Korea fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile on Thursday, North Korean state media KCNA reported, the latest in a recent series of weapons tests that has come as denuclearization talks with the U.S. have been in deadlock. It was North Korea’s second known weapons test this week after the launch of a previously unseen hypersonic missile on Tuesday. It[Read More…]
Pope Francis thanked a youth climate activist conference on Wednesday for the participants’ “dreams and projects of goodness” and encouraged them to keep up their advocacy of action to combat climate change. Speaking in Spanish via video to the Youth4Climate event in Milan, which drew 400 young activists from 197 countries, the Pope said their work is “for the good of humanity,”[Read More…]
Afghanistan is now a hot issue among the world powers. China has talked to NATO while Russian Foreign Minister has said about a common approach by U.S., China, Russia and Pakistan. Media reports said: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held a virtual meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, amid longstanding disagreements between[Read More…]
Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, a co-founder of the Taliban who will control prisons under the new regime in Afghanistan, said strict punishment, including amputations and executions, will return. “Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi said in Kabul during an interview, which was published Thursday by the[Read More…]
Hundreds of environment defenders have been murdered in countries. Environment defenders face lethal attacks and violence. Global Witness in Last Line of Defence report said: In 2020, we recorded 227 lethal attacks – an average of more than four people a week – making it once again the most dangerous year on record for people defending their homes, land and[Read More…]
A business bad in standard of business has been done, and the business involves the World Bank (WB) and China. Media reports said: Some investors and campaigners expressed dismay on September 17, 2021 at revelations that the WB leaders pressured staff to boost China’s score in an influential report that ranks countries on how easy it is to do business[Read More…]
People trying to migrate to the U.S. tell their stories, which have been collected from media reports. Migrant Charlie Jean had crossed back into Ciudad Acuña from the camps to get food for his wife and three daughters, ages 2, 5 and 12. He was waiting on the Mexican side for a restaurant to bring him an order of rice.[Read More…]
In a massive show of force, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mounted officers attempted to contain migrants as they crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, on September 19, 2021. Thousands of Haitian migrants have been arriving to Del Rio, Texas, as authorities attempt to close the border to stop the flow of[Read More…]
Female employees of the Kabul municipality have been told to stay home, with work only allowed for those who cannot be replaced by men, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital said Sunday, detailing the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban rulers. The decision to prevent most female city workers from returning to their jobs is another sign that[Read More…]
Fatima Kakkar, MD, MPH (@DrFatimaKakkar) wrote: Proudly wearing in our traditional, colourful, vibrant Afghan clothes #DoNotTouchMyClothes #AfghanWoman #AfghanistanCulture #AfganistanWomen Afghan women are protesting Taliban imposed women dress code. At the same time, Taliban organized a head to toe veiled women gathering at the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul on September 11, 2021 attended by a few dozens of women[Read More…]
Cyprus. Cuba. Turkey. Canada. Northern Ireland. Antarctica. All recorded their hottest-ever temperatures in the last two years, and according to a new study, more such extremes are coming. A Reuters report said: In the next three decades, “record-shattering” heat waves could become two to seven times more frequent in the world than in the last 30 years, scientists report in[Read More…]
“Cloud research is a tricky business. Clouds sometimes have a warming effect on the local climate and sometimes a cooling effect — it all depends on the type of cloud, the local climate and a variety of other conditions. “One of the most fundamental questions about climate change is also one of the thorniest: How much, exactly, will the Earth[Read More…]
Less than three months before leaving office, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has openly conceded that the industrial world has failed to adequately fight climate change and that more rapid, pain-inducing steps were urgently needed. Media reports said: Merkel, who has led Europe’s largest economy and one of the world’s leading emitters of CO2 for the last 16 years, reflected on her own bitter experience.[Read More…]
A widespread heatwave has begun across the contiguous U.S., with at least 35 million people likely to see temperatures reach or exceed 100°F by the end of the week. Heat alerts are in place across at least 16 states in the south, midwest and western U.S. Media reports said: The hot weather, which comes courtesy of another heat dome building[Read More…]
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday that Cuba is an “example of resistance,” and proposed the entire country should be declared a World Heritage site. Media reports said: The Mexican President praised Cuba’s ability to stand up to U.S. hostility since 1959. López Obrador has in the past stated his opposition to U.S. sanctions that limit commerce with[Read More…]
People from different walks of life are standing in support of revolution in Cuba. They are calling to defend the revolution in Cuba. Leading artists, intellectuals, personalities, U.S. lawmakers are calling on the U.S. government to withdraw blockade against Cuba. A Granma report said: As another reliable example of the rejection generated in the international community by the hostile policy[Read More…]
Threat for imperialist intervention in Cuba is increasing. A Havana, July 22, 2021 datelined AP report said: Cuba criticized the US and President Joe Biden on Wednesday for a series of statements by senior officials, accusing the US government of seeking to justify a military intervention. The report said: Johana Tablada, deputy director for US affairs at Cuba’s Ministry of[Read More…]
The UN voiced alarm Monday at reports that several governments used Israeli phone malware to spy on activists, journalists and others, stressing the urgent need for better regulation of surveillance technology. Media reports said: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the apparent widespread use of Pegasus spy software to illegally undermine the rights of those under surveillance, including journalists[Read More…]
NSO Group, a private Israeli firm that sells surveillance technology to governments worldwide, insists that its Pegasus spyware is used only to “investigate terrorism and crime.” Leaked data, however, reveals that the company’s hacking tool “has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale.” That’s according to an investigative report published Sunday by the[Read More…]
Heavy rainfall that has triggered deadly and catastrophic flooding in several western European countries, is just the latest indicator that all nations need to do more to hold back climate change-induced disasters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday. The UN agency said that countries including Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands had received up to two months’ rain[Read More…]
There is a bloody surge” impacting humanitarian crises around the world, with civilians in conflict zones paying the highest price, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Friday. UN’s and media reports said: The UN secretary general’s speech to the U.N. Security Council was read by UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed. The UN chief cited Ethiopia’s Tigray[Read More…]
Cornel West, prominent professor of African American studies and progressive activist, said this week that his resignation from Harvard University was driven by a tenure dispute and the Ivy League school’s “intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy.” According to media reports, Cornel West said in a letter dated June 30: “How sad it is to see our beloved Harvard Divinity School in such decline[Read More…]
The number of people in the world affected by hunger continued to increase in 2020 under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the annual UN report – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – published on Monday. According to the report, “Even in Northern America and Europe, where the lowest rates of food insecurity are found,[Read More…]
As California faces devastating drought the U.S. state’s governor Gavin Newsom has asked people and businesses to voluntarily cut their water use by 15%. The western U.S. weathers a devastating drought. Reservoirs across California, which are depended on for agriculture, drinking water and fish habitat, have dwindled to dangerously low levels and some counties have already enacted mandatory water restrictions. Agriculture and tourism could[Read More…]
Lebanon is facing shortages of fuel and electricity. The price of bread has risen again in bakeries and stores in Lebanon as a result of rising production costs and the free-falling pound, the Lebanese Economy Ministry said Saturday. Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is slated to present President Michel Aoun this week with a new Cabinet lineup in a last-ditch[Read More…]
As another heatwave hits the U.S. West this weekend, firefighters struggled to contain an exploding Northern California wildfire under blazing temperatures. On Friday, Death Valley National Park in California recorded a staggering high of 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 Celsius) and could reach the same high on Saturday. If verified, the 130-degree reading would be the hottest high recorded there since[Read More…]
The historic heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest and killed hundreds of people would have been “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change,” an international team of climate researchers said in a new report. The World Weather Attribution’s analysis, published July 8, 2021, Wednesday, found that the record-setting heat that triggered wildfires and was linked to hundreds of deaths was a one-in-a-1,000-year event that “would have been[Read More…]
A study has found that nearly all French people are contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury, and that exposure levels are higher than in other European countries. A RFI report said: France’s national health agency Santé Publique France said smoking and the consumption of fish and seafood products had contributed to the findings, published recently. The presence[Read More…]
Statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria were torn down by protesters in Winnipeg, Canada. The latest acts of protests followed a spree of attacks on Catholic churches built on First Nation lands. At least seven churches have caught fire in recent weeks, since the grim discovery of more than 1,100 unmarked graves at sites where Catholic-run residential schools used to[Read More…]
In Brazil, social movements, trade unions, and human rights activists on Saturday demonstrated in at least 350 cities to condemn the recent corruption scandal linking President Jair Bolsonaro with the purchase at inflated prices of Indian-produced Covaxin COVID-19 vaccines. The protests supported the impeachment petition submitted by unions, left political parties and social organizations to the Lower House on Wednesday. The nationwide mobilizations come after the Senate Commission[Read More…]
Extreme drought is tearing apart communities in a massive river basin along the U.S. states of Oregon-California border. Farmers, tribes and wildlife face a bleak future together. At the same time, water futures market is also failing the California farmers. A Guardian report – “Running out of water: how climate change fuels a crisis in the US west” – said[Read More…]
The Taliban has “prevailed” in its battle with the West in Afghanistan, said General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army as it emerged all UK and U.S. troops will be withdrawn on Sunday. Writing in The Telegraph, General Lord Dannatt said: “Ultimately, Taliban force of arms has prevailed, and the people of that country have been denied the[Read More…]
The ‘heat dome’ over western Canada and parts of the U.S. Pacific northwest is taking its toll: Already hundreds of deaths. A Reuters report from Vancouver and Portland said: In Canada’s British Columbia, at least 486 sudden deaths were reported over five days, nearly three times the usual number that would occur in the province over that period, the B.C.[Read More…]
Extreme heatwave has hit the Canadian west coast and the northwest U.S. leading to scores of deaths. In areas, temperature rose to more than 46°C to more than 47°C. Media reports on the heat dome now covering the Pacific Northwest are telling hardship of people in the regions, melting of power cables, buckling of roads, and closure of schools, universities,[Read More…]
Climate crisis has pushed communities in Madagascar to the verge of starvation. The World Food Programme (WFP) says resources are scarce in the country after the worst drought in four decades. The WFP said more than a quarter of people are suffering in one area. And $78.6 million is needed to fight the crisis. Climate change is the driving force[Read More…]
Hunger, disease and drought will afflict tens of millions of more people within decades, warns a draft UN assessment that lays bare the dire human health consequences of a warming planet. “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems,” the report says. “Humans cannot.” The forthcoming 4,000-page draft report[Read More…]
Brazil’s former leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, scored a fresh legal victory on Monday after a federal court acquitted him of passive corruption charges relating to alleged political favors, citing lack of evidence. In 2017, Lula was accused of having granted political favors to automobile companies in exchange for donations of 6 million reals (around $1.2 million) to[Read More…]
Media reports from the U.S. tell about environmental incidents and hardship of the common people in the society. Fracking and Children A Fort Worth Star-Telegram report (Thousands of Arlington’s schoolchildren are exposed to fracking fumes, report warns, Thu, June 17, 2021) said: More than half of Arlington’s public school children attend classes within half a mile of a natural gas[Read More…]
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said North Korea should prepare for both dialogue and confrontation with the United States, particularly confrontation, state media KCNA reported on Friday. It was Kim’s first direct comment on the Biden administration. The remarks came during Thursday’s plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s central committee, after an earlier session where Kim called for[Read More…]
Heat wave is scorching the U.S. West. More than 50 million people in eight U.S. states were under heat warnings Tuesday as the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) urged people to remain hydrated and stay indoors. A week of triple-digit temperatures made worse by climate crisis is forecast across much of the U.S. West this week, with records poised to fall[Read More…]
Coal is a hot issue in this energy-starved world. There is a drive to get out of coal for a better climate. But coal is coming back in Europe. A Bloomberg report said: “Europe is so short of natural gas that the continent — usually seen as the poster child for the global fight against emissions — is turning to[Read More…]
Australia’s biggest exporting state on Tuesday urged Canberra to stop antagonizing China, the country’s top trade partner, in remarks that came amid escalating criticism of Beijing led by the U.S., Australia’s main ally. “This isn’t about kowtowing to other countries and giving in,” Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan said at Australia’s biggest oil and gas industry conference, being held in[Read More…]
G7 is divided over the China issue. A report by The Telegraph (“China divides G7 as Biden calls for international investigation into origins of Covid-19”, June 14, 2021) said: “Joe Biden has called for an international investigation to establish whether Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory as he tried to rally G7 leaders behind a ‘competition with autocracies.’ “But his remarks about a[Read More…]
Some four months ago, a devastating flood ravaged the Chamoli district in the Indian Himalayas, killing over 200 people. The flood was caused by a massive landslide, which also involved a glacier. Researchers at the University of Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and ETH Zurich have now analyzed the causes, scope and impact[Read More…]
The eyes of the world media audience are on Cornwall, a south-west England holiday destination, over the next couple of days as the powerful Group of Seven (G7) summit is going on there. The usual allies — the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US — are joined on this occasion by Australia, South Korea, India and South[Read More…]
In the eastern Asia region, Taiwan has become a sensitive topic, especially as Japan, the U.S. and some other U.S. allies move closer to Taipei. Relations with Taiwan is unofficial Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regular news conference Friday that “Japan’s position is to maintain relations with Taiwan as those of practical and non-governmental” as stated in[Read More…]
Dozens of major websites — including The New York Times, CNN, Reddit, Spotify, Twitch, GitHub, gov.uk, Hulu, HBO Max, PayPal, Vimeo, Shopify — were beginning to return online Tuesday morning after crashing in an apparent massive internet outage. The cause of the outage was not immediately clear. Fastly, a popular content delivery network (CDN), confirmed it was experiencing an outage on its[Read More…]
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia was no longer an oil-producing country. “Saudi Arabia is no longer an oil country, it’s an energy-producing country,” the Energy Minister told S&P Global Platts this week. But that does not mean Saudi Arabia is planning on producing any fewer barrels of oil. And it does not mean[Read More…]
U.S. state Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) issued a declaration on Thursday that urges residents to pray for rain as the state experiences record drought. At least 90% of the state is currently experiencing “extreme” to “exceptional” drought, the two worst categories, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. “I’ve already asked all Utahns to conserve water by avoiding long showers, fixing[Read More…]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday made a rare and what they called “extraordinary” plea for international cooperation and investment. “By now it has become abundantly clear there will be no broad-based recovery without an end to the health crisis,” the four bodies said in a joint statement.[Read More…]
Monsoon rains are likely to hit India’s southern coast around June 3, largely in line with typical patterns, the state-run India Meteorological Department said in its latest revised forecast on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the weather office had said the start of the monsoon would be on May 31. The leading edge of the southwest monsoon advanced across central[Read More…]
At the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Colombia, Canada, remains of 215 children were found buried. Some of the children were as young as three years old when they died, the First Nation said. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation hired a specialist in ground-penetrating radar to carry out the work and believes the deaths of the children are undocumented. Chief Rosanne[Read More…]
In the wake of U.S. and NATO troops withdrawal, foreign missions in Kabul are preparing for evacuation. Media reports said: The U.S. Defense Department and the State Department are drawing up plans for the possible evacuation of Afghans whose lives are in danger because of their work for the U.S. government, the U.S. military’s top officer said. Army Gen. Mark[Read More…]
IMAGE: Lakshadweep Administrator Praful K Patel, right, with Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Photograph: Kind courtesy @prafulkpatel/Twitter Praful K Patel , a hardcore RSS man, was appointed as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, where 99 per cent inhabitants are Muslims, in December 2020. He was allegedly given the task of “communalizing the island as soon as possible.”[Read More…]
Taking a critical view of the Centre’s present Covid-19 vaccination policy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 22 Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt supply of vaccines to private hospitals. In a two-page letter to Modi, Reddy requested that the entire available stock of Covid-19 vaccine to be made available only to the[Read More…]
An estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled out of Iraq in corrupt deals since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi President Barham Salih said Sunday. CNN and The New Arab reports said: “Of the close to a thousand billion dollars made from oil since 2003, an estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled[Read More…]
They demanded: Stop Central Vista project, give free doses to all “What numbs our senses daily is not just the cries of the citizenry for medical assistance and the death toll in its thousands but the manifestly casual attitude of your government to the magnitude of the crisis and its implications for the mental and physical health of the community[Read More…]
At least nine persons have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID vaccines are making, said the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), a group advocating turning vaccine receipts into a global public good. Between them, the nine new billionaires, have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion,[Read More…]
Resounding victories for leftist and independent candidates saw rightwing politicians crash to dismal electoral defeats alongside those with links to Chile’s transition to democracy. Communist party members in Santiago celebrated victories in the constitutional assembly elections. The Chilean voters this weekend elected a progressive slate of delegates to the constituent assembly tasked with rewriting the country’s right-wing constitution, which was[Read More…]
The U.S. military is operating a 60,000-troop strong secret army without any Congressional oversight, spending at least $900 million on the program annually, claimed a Newsweek report. The Newsweek report cited the results of a two-year investigation. The magazine’s report, said to be based on dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests, the analysis of 1,600 resumes and job postings,[Read More…]
Israel’s Defense Minister expressed gratitude to the U.S. for blocking a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire for the third time in a row. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the western part of Gaza, according to the Jerusalem Post, while local reports suggested that an office for Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs was targeted, as well as agricultural lands. A recent[Read More…]
![The Al Jalaa Tower housing Al Jazeera and The Associated Press offices collapses after being hit by Israeli missile in Gaza City [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/International-Media-House-Gaza-200x150.jpg "Israel Bombs The Building That Houses AP, Al Jazeera etc In Gaza 754")
Israel has bombed the building that houses media offices including AP, Al Jazeera , AJEnglish and other international news organisations. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in Saturday’s attack. Live Al Jazeera video showed the 11-storey Al-Jalaa building, which also houses a number of residences and other offices, crashing to the ground after being bombed as dust[Read More…]