Extreme weather brings deadly flooding to KwaZulu-Natal
(GIN)—Record-breaking levels of rainfall threaten a new round of flooding and landslides in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal. Already, the calamity has taken over 400 lives, left some 40,000 homeless, with an economic cost yet to be tallied. Weather forecasters and climate scientists, speaking to the Daily Maverick news outlet, are predicting a repeat of such events—potentially sooner than expected. “The events of...
African Union, HBCU partnership discussed at summit
During the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly recently, an annual sidebar meeting was held at the Permanent Mission of the African Union to the United Nations in New York. Scholars, development practitioners, along with civil society representatives met in-person and virtually about strengthening partnerships between Africa and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The sidebar was...
The similarities between two apartheid regimes
Israeli officers beat worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, with batons and butts of riot guns, wounding many before arresting them, handcuffing over 400, and carting them off to jail. Their crime, reported Portside. org, was simply making Taraweeh prayers (night prayers) made during the holy month of Ramadan. Na'eem Jeenah is a senior researcher at the...
Sudan conflict continues and is spilling into neighboring countries
With Sudan entering its sixth month of a brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, the country appears to be metastasizing into a catastrophe that has spilled over into neighboring countries. The result of fighting between the two factions in the capital city of Khartoum resulted in General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,...
Historical roots and ties of apartheid and colonialism
According to the Financial Times, South Africa has a population of nearly 50,000 Jews, the majority of whom are Ashkenazi. The country has a history of Zionist Jews that supported South African apartheid but also has a history of anti-apartheid, anti-Zionist Jews, including Koni Benson, a member of South African Jews for a Free Palestine, and Andrew Feinstein, a...
Amazon Indigenous group patrols to expel invading loggers
ALTO RIO GUAMA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil—A bit after sunrise, dozens of Indigenous Tembé men began preparing for the important day ahead. They danced, chanted and donned matching black T-shirts before setting off on motorbikes into Brazil’s Amazon forest. Self-declared “forest guardians,” their aim was to find and expel illegal loggers and miners within their territory on the eastern edge of...
Security Council may reach agreement on Iraq resolution
UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) –The United States and France are close to a compromise draft resolution that would set new guidelines for United Nations inspectors investigating Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and how force could be authorized in the event of Baghdad’s resistance, Security Council delegates said as the council concluded a two-day open debate on Iraq. Speaking in New York...
World powers ‘boycott’ Afro-Descendants Group
GENEVA (IPS)–The United States and the European Union are ignoring the work of a group of intellectuals who are studying–at the behest of the United Nations–the problem of race discrimination suffered by people of African descent, rights activists have complained. According to the International Association Against Torture (IAAT), the members of the West European and Other States (WEOS)...
Sharpton in Africa to address Liberian crisis
ECOWAS And MODEL Call On Lurd to Stop Fighting (allAfrica.com)Activists closely watch Bush in Africa ACCRA, Ghana (FinalCall.com)--The Rev. Al Sharpton, at the head of a delegation of religious clergy from the United States, hit the ground running here, landing in the early morning July 20 with a goal of visiting war-torn Liberia to try to bring stability to...
Bush again blocks funds to UN population fund
JIM.LOBE WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - In what critics are calling its latest slap at women and multilateralism, the administration of President George Bush recently announced that the $34 million Congress had earmarked for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will be used for other purposes. The decision, which marks the third year in a row the administration has withheld congressionally appropriated funding...