KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 11 2025 (IPS)* – NATO geopolitical strategy has now joined the ‘coalition’ of Western geoeconomic forces accelerating planetary heating, now led again by re-elected US President Donald Trump.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Industrial Revolution Economic development is typically associated with the spread of industrialisation over the last two centuries.
The Industrial Revolution involved greater energy use to increase productive capacities significantly.
Burning biomass and fossil fuels greatly expanded mechanical energy generation. The age of industry in the last two centuries has thus involved more hydrocarbon combustion to increase output.
Uneven development has also transformed population geography.
(UN News)* —Haiti is in freefall. Gangs are tightening their grip on the capital, violence is spreading, and “suffering permeates all social strata” in a nation teetering on the brink, according to the UN human rights office’s designated expert on the country, William O’Neill.
After his fourth visit to assess conditions on the ground, Mr. O’Neill briefed journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, describing a nation overwhelmed by pain and despair. “I hate to sound like a broken record,” he said, “but the situation is more dire each time I go”.
Despite the efforts of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, the threat of the capital falling under full gang control looms larger than ever.
GAZA STRIP, Occupied Palestinian Territory, 10 March 2025 –Two weeks into her ninth month of pregnancy, Roozan Abu Jbarah hoped she would manage to give birth safely.
(UN News)* —Severe water shortages in Gaza have reached critical levels, with only one in 10 people currently able to access safe drinking water, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday .
The situation has deteriorated further following Israel’s decision on Sunday [9] to cut power to the enclave – in a bid to increase pressure on Hamas over hostage releases – disrupting vital desalination operations.
Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF official in Gaza, reported that 600,000 people who had regained access to drinking water in November 2024 are once again cut off.
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 2025 (IPS)* –– Faced with an impending cash crisis primarily due to non-payment of dues by the US and over 100 other member states– along with threats of a US withdrawal from the world body– there were widespread rumors the United Nations was re-costing and reducing its approved budget for 2025 while deciding to freeze hiring new staffers.
The UN Secretariat building in New York City, where staff of the UN Secretariat carry out the day-to-day work of the UN. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
The United States currently pays about 22% of the United Nations’ regular budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. As of now, the United States owes $1.5 billion to the UN’s regular budget.
And, between the regular budget, the peacekeeping budget, and international tribunals, the total amount the US owes is $2.8 billion.
DHAKA, Bangladesh, – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns of a critical funding shortfall for its emergency response operations in Bangladesh, jeopardizing food assistance for over one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Photo: WFP/Su Myat Yadanar
Without urgent new funding, monthly rations must be halved to US$6 per person, down from US$12.50 per person – just as refugees prepare to observe Eid, marking the end of Ramadan.
PORTLAND, US, Mar 4 2025 (IPS)* –As the world’s population increased five-fold since the start of the 20th century, the changes in the geographic distribution of the billions of people across the planet have been ongoing and significant.
In contrast to the rapid growth of the high fertility countries like the DRC and Nigeria, some of the largest populations in 1950, such as Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, have grown relatively slowly during the recent past. Credit: Shutterstock.
Those continuing changes in the distribution of the world’s population have weighty economic, political, social and environmental consequences (Table 1).
GENEVA, 7 March 2025 – On this year’s International Women’s Day, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that critical funding shortages are leaving displaced women and girls at unprecedented risk.
Reports of conflict-related sexual violence have surged by 50 per cent in recent years. Yet funding shortfalls are forcing humanitarian organizations to cut essential services in crisis-affected regions.
Gender equality is a must for a world of zero hunger; where all women, men, girls and boys can exercise their human rights, including the right to adequate food.
This is why the pursuit of gender equality and women’s empowerment (Sustainable Development Goal 5) is central to fulfilling the World Food Programme (WFP)’s mandate.
(UN News)* — Humanitarian agencies warned on Friday that ongoing Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank are exacerbating an already dire situation for displaced Palestinians.
The UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) reports that Israeli authorities have started demolishing more than 16 buildings in Nur Shams refugee camp,after destroying more than two dozen homes over the past week in the occupied West Bank.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 