Fall of Fallujah refocuses U.S. on Iraq
JIM.LOBE WASHINGTON - Two years after the last U.S. combat soldiers left Iraq, the recent takeover of the Western city of Fallujah by the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has refocused Washington's attention on a country that it had hoped to put permanently in its rear-view mirror. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, which has ruled...
Pan-African solidarity in the midst of a crisis Final Call Covid-19, Africa forum unites experts across continent with audience in U.S.
Staff Writer @nisaislam WASHINGTON–According to recent figures published by Johns Hopkins University, over 2.7 million cases of Covid-19 have been detected worldwide, with 192,019 deaths and 752,148 people now recovered. In Africa, Nigeria has logged about 981 cases and 31 deaths; South Africa about 3,953 cases and 75 deaths; Ghana about 1,279 cases and 10 deaths and Kenya about...
UN expert calls for Assange’s release, cites prison’s Covid outbreak
Amid a Covid-19 outbreak at London’s Belmarsh prison, an independent UN expert appealed to British authorities to release Julian Assange or to place him under guarded house arrest during extradition proceedings to the United States. “Mr. Assange is not a criminal convict and poses no threat to anyone, so his prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is neither...
‘Swift action’ needed in Tigray to save thousands at risk, UNHCR warns
Two months after conflict forced humanitarian workers to withdraw from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), on Jan. 19, stressed the need for “swift action” to restore safe access to “save thousands of lives at risk.” Granted one-time admittance by the Ethiopian authorities to conduct a needs assessment, UNHCR led the first humanitarian mission to Mai Aini and...
UN: 20 migrants die after thrown overboard en route to Yemen
NAIROBI, Kenya—The International Organization for Migration says at least 20 migrants are dead after smugglers threw 80 overboard during a voyage from Djibouti in East Africa to Yemen. A statement says “smugglers started shouting there were too many on board” after the boat with 200 migrants, including children under 18, set off on March 3. The IOM says five bodies have...
UN investigation concludes French military airstrike killed Mali civilians
In a recent statement, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has concluded that a Jan. 3 French military airstrike on the central Malian village of Bounty, hit a group largely made up of civilians, killing several of them. The day after the attack, a MINUSMA fact-finding team, made up of 15 human rights officers, and supported by two UN...
Paris court tries anti-racism activist for statue attack
PARIS—A French activist for Black rights went on trial in Paris for defacing a statue of a historical figure from France’s colonial, slave-trading past, calling the protest a political act to denounce deep-seated racism. Franco Lollia said that rather than vandalize the statue, he improved it by spraying “state Negrophobia” in red paint on its pedestal. The statue outside parliament honors...
U.S. foreign policy mess leaves fear, uncertainty in Afghanistan
“And the devil will say, when the matter is decided: Surely Allah promised you a promise of truth, and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you obeyed me; so blame me not but blame yourselves. I cannot come to your help, nor can you come to...
No tech for Apartheid’: 40+ groups demand Amazon and Google ditch Israeli military
By Brett Wilkins, CommonDreams.org A day after hundreds of Amazon and Google workers condemned their employers for complicity in Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians, over 40 grassroots groups on Oct. 13 announced a campaign to amplify the efforts of activists around the world working to stop apartheid profiteers. “As the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and...
America’s sinking power, influence on the world stage as China gains ground
America is deeply divided against itself and was a troubled power on the world stage in 2021. Signs became clearer throughout this year that America is unraveling as the great empires of old crumbled. It was seen in her defeat after 20 years of war in Afghanistan and America being all but pushed out of Iraq. She lost friendship and...