South Africa in electricity crisis, nationwide blackouts
JOHANNESBURG—South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had an urgent meeting scheduled with his Cabinet on September 21 to discuss the country’s electricity crisis, which has led to unprecedented levels of nationwide power blackouts in Africa’s most developed economy. The troubled state-owned power utility Eskom, which produces about 95 percent of the country’s electricity, is implementing scheduled, rolling blackouts in an attempt...
Rohingya flee Myanmar, land by boat in Indonesia
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia—More than 100 Rohingya Muslims traveling in a boat for more than a month were found along the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province on November 15, the latest group of refugees believed to be making hazardous sea voyages from Myanmar. Local fishermen saw the 110 Rohingya early in the morning at a beach in Meunasah Baro village. They...
UN rights chief appeals for end to arbitrary detention
Arbitrary detention must end “once and for all,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Jan. 3 in an appeal to governments everywhere. “At the start of this year—the 75th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—I call on governments and all detaining authorities, globally, to amnesty, pardon or simply release all those detained for exercising their rights,” he said...
Palestinian prisoners begin major hunger strike at Israeli jails
A group of Palestinian inmates in an Israeli jail has gone on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against the regime’s repressive policies. In a statement released on March 22, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said more than 2,000 prisoners were also set to join the strike action on March 23, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. The...
Cuba reaches one million tourists in 2023
by Liz Conde Sánchez Cuba broke the figure of one million visitors received in 2023, thus surpassing the number of visitors who arrived in our country on the same date in 2022, informed Juan Carlos García Granda, Minister of Tourism. In the context of the 41st International Tourism Fair (FITCuba-2023), the minister of Tourism (MINTUR), after announcing the news, stated that,...
Former childcare worker faces 1,623 child-abuse charges in Australia, overseas
A former childcare worker in Australia has been charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offenses, including rape, against 91 young girls across the country and abroad over a 15-year period. Australian Federal Police (AFP) authorities say they became aware of the 45-year-old Gold Coast childcare worker’s alleged offenses after recently identifying video discovered on the dark web in 2014, the...
Over 330 million children worldwide living in extreme poverty
One in every six children is forced to survive on less than $2.15 a day, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank released on September 13. The findings show that 333 million children worldwide are living in extreme poverty—a decrease of almost 50 million over the course of the past decade. However, the report’s authors say that...
Over one million UK children lived in destitution last year: Study
More than one million children have experienced destitution in the UK over the last year as their families could not afford to adequately feed, clothe or clean them, or keep them warm, a major study has revealed. The study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows that severe material hardship was “no longer a rare occurrence.” In 2022, the study said,...
In the Amazon, Indigenous women bring a tiny tribe back from the brink of extinction
JUMA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil—At night, in this village near the Assua River in Brazil, the rainforest reverberates. The sound of generators at times competes with the forest, a sign that there are people here. Until recently, the Juma people seemed destined to disappear like countless other Amazon tribes decimated by the European invasion. In the late 1990s, the last remaining...
World Court says atrocities committed by Israeli military in Gaza are undeniable ‘facts’
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) took umbrage recently with the Zionist State of Israel and its repeated claim—concerning its war on Gaza—of exercising its right of “self-defense,” no matter how many people its military had to massacre, maim, starve and dehumanize in the process. The ICJ rendered its ruling on Jan. 26. According to Al Jazeera, “at least 27,019...