US veto could derail Palestine as new UN member state
/GIN UNITED NATIONS (IPS/GIN) - If the General Assembly is called upon to recognize Palestine as a new sovereign nation state, the resolution is expected to garner the required two-thirds majority among the 192 members in the world body, come September. But a single veto in the 15-member Security Council–most likely by the United States–will derail Palestine's membership in...
A Moroccan town protests water management plans
RABAT, Morocco—Regional and local leaders in eastern Morocco recently met with residents and civil society groups after months of protests over a water management plan set to take effect later this year. Thousands in the town of Figuig stopped paying water bills and have taken to the streets since November to protest a municipal decision transitioning drinking water management from...
Bowing to protests, India’s prime minister agrees to repeal farm laws
NEW DELHI—In a major reversal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that he would repeal the controversial agriculture laws that sparked yearlong protests from tens of thousands of farmers and posed a significant challenge to his administration. Farmers, who form one of India’s most influential voting blocs, have camped out on the outskirts of the capital since November of...
What is the aim, vision of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s U.S.-Africa Policy Working Group?
Before her removal from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) announced that she would launch an African Policy working group to hear from officials and experts who she works with and in Africa. Omar, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, served as the vice chair of the Subcommittee on Africa. She was removed...
Still no peace: No reconciliation in sight for Palestine and Israel
Prospects for peace between the Zionist occupier state of Israel and the occupied Palestinian people are more distant than ever. A deadly cycle of Israeli aggression, state repression, and slaughter of Palestinians has sparked angry protests. And adding fuel to the tension is a new ultraright government angling to tighten its oppressive reign and denying Palestinians their right to...
Eyewitnesses report ‘unlawful killings’ by IDF as raid on al-Shifa Hospital continues
The Israeli military’s raid of Gaza’s largest hospital stretched into its fourth consecutive day on March 21 as humanitarian aid groups, United Nations officials, and human rights organizations, voiced alarm over the impact on patients, healthcare workers, and displaced people trapped inside the besieged facility. The multi-day raid that began earlier in the week marks the second time Israeli forces...
Bush sticks to neo-conservative course on Israel
JIM.LOBE Are Israel's Interests In Americas' Interests? (CounterCurrents.org, 03-29-2006) WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - If the medium is the message, then President George Bush's choice of forum to launch a new public campaign to defend his beleaguered Iraq policy should be troubling to those hoping his administration was moving toward a more even-handed stance in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The staunchly neo-conservative Foundation...
Guterres ‘shocked’ at massacre of civilians in eastern DR Congo
The United Nations Secretary-General has expressed shock at the massacre of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. At least 25 villagers are reported to have been killed in recent attacks attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia in the villages of Tingwe, Mwenda and Nzenga,...
Why is Obama going to Africa but not the OAU/AU Summit?
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Organization of Africa Unity-African Union (OAU/AU). Three issues–Pan Africanism, which includes continental integration, sustainable development and the empowerment of women, according to African Union Chair Nokosazan Klamini-Zuma “loom the largest,” for the group's meeting planned for May 25-27 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AU's predecessor, the OAU, came into existence as...
Deadly politics: Cuba’s Covid-19 treatment and U.S. refusal to save lives
During a phone interview with Africa Watch, Dr. Melissa Barber, the program coordinator of Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine program and IFCO Passage for Peace, said of the island nation’s 11 million inhabitants it has registered only 88 Covid-19 deaths and 3,482 confirmed cases since the March outbreak of the pandemic. Compare this with the United States. With a...