Kurds hold march of mourning after Paris shooting kills 3
PARIS—Members of France’s Kurdish community and others held a silent march to honor three people killed in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris that prosecutors say was motivated by racism. Turkey summoned France’s ambassador Dec. 26 over what it called “black propaganda” by Kurdish activists after the shooting. Some have marched in Paris with flags of the banned Kurdistan...
Kenya: Severe drought fuels malnutrition, reduces hospital-delivery births in Turkana County
Following four successive failed rainy seasons, Kenya is amid the worst drought in 40 years, the UN’s women’s health agency, UNFPA, said on Dec. 27, shining a light on 134,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women who are reported to be acutely malnourished and in need of treatment. “I have never experienced a drought as bad as this in my life,” 28-year-old Akure...
Nearly 3,000 civilians killed or injured in Saudi strikes on Yemen’s Sa’ada in 2022: Official
A Yemeni health official says nearly 3,000 civilians, including African refugees, lost their lives or sustained injuries in 2022 as a result of artillery and missile strikes by Saudi military forces in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. Director of Razih Rural Hospital, Abdullah Musreeh, told Yemen’s official Saba news agency on Dec. 28 that the number of civilian casualties in the Yemeni...
Charity warns of homeless deaths in Scotland amid worsening cost-of-living crisis
A Scottish charity has raised the alarm about the potential of a notable rise in the death rate among the homeless in Scotland as the entire United Kingdom grapples with a worsening economic crisis. The Simon Community charity issued the warning, Sky News reported on Dec. 26, as Scotland is still reeling from hundreds of homeless deaths that were registered in 2021. “Recent...
UN expert on Myanmar: Security Council resolution not strong enough on ‘systematic gross human rights violations’
In response to the adoption of the Security Council’s first resolution on Myanmar since the military unleashed a brutal crackdown nearly two years ago, a UN-appointed independent human rights expert warned on Dec. 22 that the carnage would only worsen without “strong, coordinated action” by UN Member States. Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, acknowledged as...
Upheaval, conflict and confusion on the world stage
The global stage went through upheavals in 2022 that included war, redrawn geopolitical alliances, and an ongoing fall of White world rule. Observers said the world plunged into deeper crisis and insecurity and they aren’t optimistic the challenges would simmer down in 2023. “The world has never been in great shape,” said Bill Fletcher Jr., author, activist, and commentator. “I...
Blackouts in South Africa and recent summit designed to destabilize continent, says analyst
During a wide-ranging interview with Africa Watch, Redge Nkosi, the Pretoria-based founder and executive director of First Source Money and Public Banking of South Africa, he referenced the recent Biden administration-sponsored U.S.-Africa Summit and domestic issues happening in South Africa. He discussed the current president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, who has had trouble explaining why between $400,000-$5 million of...
Iran: U.S. sanctions violating human rights of all living there, say UN experts
U.S. sanctions on Iran are resulting in harm to the country’s environment and preventing everyone there—including migrants and Afghan refugees—from fully enjoying their rights to health and life, and contributing to other factors such as rising air pollution, UN-appointed independent experts said on Dec. 20. “Like many countries, Iran has environmental issues. The sanctions not only prevent the Iranian government from addressing them...
Brotherhood has a home in the Caribbean
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez invoked more solidarity, more understanding, more cooperation and more unity among the Caribbean nations while speaking at the Eighth Caricom-Cuba Summit, held in mid-December on the island of Barbados. The event commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between...
Dutch leader apologizes for Netherlands’ role in slave trade
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently apologized on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ role in slavery and the slave trade, in a speech welcomed by activists as historic but lacking in concrete plans for repair and reparations. “Today I apologize,” Mr. Rutte said in a 20-minute speech that was greeted with silence by an invited audience...