UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 2025 (IPS)* – Perhaps one of the UN’s most ambitious and longstanding projects – the launching of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)– is aimed, among other things, at helping developing nations eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. But that elusive goal has made little or no significant progress.
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Credit: UN Women
And now comes a new report from Oxfam, “Takers Not Makers” which finds that in 2024 alone, billionaires amassed $2 trillion in wealth, and nearly four new billionaires were minted every week.
, WFP Staff – After conflict intensified in Lebanon last September, around 1.2 million people were uprooted.
A second humanitarian convoy dispatched by WFP and UNICEF reaches Rmaych, one of the hardest-hit areas near Lebanon’s southern borders, in November. WFP/Mohammed Awadh
“While many are now returning home,” said Matthew Hollingworth, Country Director for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Beirut, others “face the devastating reality of having no home to return to.”
(UN News)* — The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday [] expressed grave concerns over escalating violence in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank, condemning the use of “unlawful lethal force” by Israeli security forces.
OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan added that the Israeli military operation in and around the Jenin refugee camp had involved “disproportionate” use of force, including airstrikes and shootings that reportedly targeted unarmed residents.
(UN News)* — In a rare moment of cautious optimism, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher addressed the Security Council on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza on Thursday [], emphasizing the plight of children who have borne the brunt of the conflict.
(UN News)* —Nearly a third of Lebanon’s population is facing acute food insecurity following the escalation of hostilities in late 2024, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released on Wednesday [].
Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Agriculture, the report reveals that the impact of hostilities on agriculture and the economy will likely slow recovery.
Some 1.65 million people are now facing crisis or emergency levels of hunger,with 400,000 additional people classified as acutely food insecure compared to early 2024.
(UN News)* — Africa tragically remains the epicentre of global terrorism, and more action is required to implement international commitments to combat this scourge, the UN Deputy Secretary-General told the Security Council on Tuesday [].
Amina Mohammed was speaking at a meeting focused on strengthening counter-terrorism on the continent, convened by Algeria, the Council president for January.
She emphasized that the Council has a critical role in supporting African Union (AU) counter-terrorism initiatives, grounded in African leadership and solutions.
Zuckerberg, Trump, Musk. None care about free speech, least of all yours or mine. They care about power and remaining billionaires – or, better still, becoming trillionaires.
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8 Jan 2025 – A few observations on Mark Zuckerberg’s astonishing volte face today, declaring that he will end the crushing climate of censorship on his Meta platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, in time for Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House.
It should not have taken a video admission from Zuckerberg for us to appreciate the degree to which we have been living for many years under a regime of political censorship on social media, with Meta leading the pack.
MADRID, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)* –It is no longer a secret that at major global summits there are more lobbyists than official delegates. There, they participate as ‘guests,’ and most of them work for big business corporations. Their goal? To deter the adoption of policies that conflict with their employers’ interests.
Transparency International revealed alarming findings in December 2024 about the siphoning of public funds in Africa. Credit: Shutterstock
Their persuasion exercise quite often helps water down the urgency of taking decisive actions, the need to cut the private business staggering profits, the financial dues of the industrialised powers to the impoverished nations that bear the heaviest brunt of their policies, and so on.
To achieve such a purpose, lobbyists often quietly show different sorts of ‘gratitude.’
()* — Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) on Friday []welcomed the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, pledging to scale up aid delivery across the stricken enclave once it comes into effect.
UN Photo/Mark Garten | Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, briefs journalists on UNRWA and latest developments in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Lazzarini emphasised that the agreement is only the first step in addressing the region’s overwhelming humanitarian challenges.
MADRID, January 2025 – In his master-piece: 1984, George Orwell amazingly predicted how today’s world would be, and how the current reality is not expected to get any better, rather…
George Orwell*
This way, war is now called peace; the killing of unarmed civilians for the purpose of invading and dominating is called an act of self-defence; all products are now marketed as ‘100% natural’ as if all what-ever has been elaborated had never used natural resources…
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair is his real name) wrote 1984 in 1949, that’s four years after publishing his yet another masterpiece: Animal Farm, through which he also predicted how popular uprisings and ‘revolutions’ have ended up in apparent ‘regime changes’ that quite too often led to restoring the old ones.
Done!
Meanwhile, today’s world is visibly dominated by the addiction to war and the destruction of Nature, through more and more voracity and greed. This is called ‘development.’
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 