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...
Peru Congress opens door to early elections amid unrest
LIMA, Peru—Peru’s Congress tentatively endorsed a plan on Dec. 20 to hold early elections in an attempt to defuse a national political crisis marked by deadly unrest after lawmakers ousted President Pedro Castillo. The proposal, approved by 91 of the legislature’s 130 members, would push up to April 2024 elections for president and congress originally scheduled for 2026. The plan—which seeks to...
A year of challenges and opportunities in Africa
Africa will be remembered in 2022 as the year of the “Sirens of apocalypse: UN climate report warns of worst to come.” Adding insult to this was the Ukraine-Russia war which has limited access to wheat, on a continent that in the past has said its arable land could feed the globe. Cold War revisited the continent, and U.S....
Iran says U.S., allies liable for Israel crimes as UN urges probe into teenager’s killing
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has condemned the Israeli killing of a female Palestinian teenager, saying the Tel Aviv regime’s Western backers are responsible for the unchecked Israeli atrocities that target Palestinians every day. “Not a day goes by without the world people hearing some news about martyrdom, injury, or detention of Palestinian children, teenagers, and youths at the hands of the apartheid...
Costa Rica tightens overwhelmed asylum system
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica—Costa Rica, one of the world’s great refuges for people fleeing persecution, is tightening its generous asylum policies in the face of an overwhelmed system. President Rodrigo Chaves, who took office in May, said Costa Rica’s system is being abused by economic migrants. The changes he decreed took effect in December. Despite having only five million citizens, the...
More than 11,000 children killed or injured in Yemen conflict: UNICEF
More than 11,000 boys and girls have been killed or injured in the war in Yemen—an average of four a day since fighting escalated in 2015, though the number is likely to be far higher, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported. Agency chief Catherine Russell, who has completed a visit to the country, called for urgent renewal of the truce between...
Lusaka demands probe of Zambian student killed on battlefield in the Ukraine
(GIN)—Zambian officials are seeking an explanation of the death of Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda, a former student of nuclear engineering in Moscow, who died in September fighting on the side of the Russian army. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner group, acknowledged in early December that they recruited the Zambian student from a Russian prison but claimed he volunteered for the...