Africa

The Watchers : Watching the World Evolve and Transform | – – 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in just one region of Somalia as severe drought gripped the country, causing hunger crisis. The death toll was announced by prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire today and it comes from the […]

Africa

In Shocker, Federal Judge in Seattle Halts Trump Muslim Ban

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When Trump issued his executive order halting immigration from seven countries, suspending the refugee program, and banning Syrian refugees indefinitely, I wrote that he might well get away with it, since the judiciary tends to defer to the executive on issues of national security and on […]

Africa

Gambia’s ‘Trump’ and the dilemma of the Int’l Criminal Court

contributors

By Ebrahim Shabbir Deen | (Informed Comment) | – – The stepping down, under duress, of long-term Gambian president Yahya Jammeh clearly illustrates the impact of credible collective security. However, for this ‘African solution’ to be replicable, much will need to be allayed regarding possible future attempts to renege on the deal, which reportedly provides […]

Latin America

When Reagan backed S. Africa Racism and Castro inspired Mandela

contributors

TeleSur | – – The world remembers Nelson Mandela as the freedom fighter and president who liberated South Africa from apartheid. But many look back with a selected memory of how the former prisoner’s story unfolded. The man who former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [and US President Ronald Reagan] branded a “terrorist” was a […]

Boko Haram

Family & Friends, not Religion, Draw People into Terrorist Groups

contributors

By Rose Delaney | (Inter Press Service) | – – LONDON (IPS) – A recent study supported by the government of Finland has found widespread misconceptions regarding what drives people to join Islamist militant groups like Boko Haram. Boko Haram is Nigeria’s militant Islamist group, wreaking havoc across the nation through a series of abductions, […]

Corruption

George Clooney Report Ruffles Feathers in South Sudan

contributors

TeleSur | – – The report “can only jeopardize the pursuit of peace and stability,” South Sudan representatives said. A new report claiming that South Sudan’s leaders have exploited the country’s ongoing civil violence has been criticized by the country’s government. It comes as the world’s youngest nations stands on the brink of a renewed […]

Africa

The Russian Challenge to U.S. Policy in Africa

contributors

Gregory Alonso Pirio and Robert Pittelli | Informed Comment | – – The United States and its Western allies, for the most part, consider the Cold War long over, and with the sanctions levied against Russia in 2014 in response to its confiscation of Crimea from the Ukraine, many in the corridors of Washington tend […]

Africa

Climate Change Terror as Deserts Bury 2/3s of African Lands

contributors

By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | – – ROME, (IPS) – Two-thirds of the African continent is already desert or dry-lands. But while this vast extension of the second largest continent on Earth after Asia is “vital” for agriculture and food production, nearly three-fourths of it is estimated to be degraded to varying […]

Africa

The Economic Crisis of Greying World: 30 Countries have more Elderly than Children

contributors

By Joseph Chamie | (Inter Press Service) | – – NEW YORK (IPS) – It first happened in Italy in 1995. Five years later it happened in six additional countries, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Japan, Portugal and Spain. Today the total number of countries where it has occurred stands at 30, including most members of the […]