International Court of Justice rules in favour of Somalia over contested maritime land with Kenya
The United Nations’ top court has awarded Somalia control of most of a potentially oil- and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean after a bitter legal battle with neighbouring Kenya over their sea border. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Tuesday (October 12) that there was “no agreed...
Ethiopia launches fresh attacks against Tigray rebels as malnutrition and starvation kill dozens
Ethiopia’s government has launched a new offensive against rebel forces from the blockaded Tigray region, where malnutrition and starvation deaths are rising while UN officials coordinating the humanitarian response have been deported from the country. Major air and ground operations against rebel positions in the neighbouring Amhara region reportedly commenced...
‘Democracy’ and Dictatorship: Choice between accepting people’s will and facing a violent revolution
‘________________________________________ Written: December 23, 1918 First Published: January 3, 1919 in Pravda No. 2 Source: Lenin Collected Works, Volume 28 (p. 368-72) Transcription\Markup: Brian Baggins Online Version: Lenin Internet Archive (marxists.org) 2000 ________________________________________ A few numbers of the Berlin Red Banner and the Vienna Call (Weckruf) , organ of the...
Dignity therapy: Why dying patients crave dignity, not ‘rest in eternal peace’ when it’s all over
In the mid-1990s, psychiatrist Harvey Max Chochinov and his colleagues were researching depression and anxiety in patients approaching the end of their lives when they became curious about this question: Why do some dying people wish for death and contemplate suicide while others, burdened with similar symptoms, experience serenity and...
Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy strains under donor funding freezes, currency shortages
Hunger is rising in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and the clearest sign may be who’s now struggling to afford food: the educated, urban, and middle-class. Weeks after the Taliban’s mid-August takeover, Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy is straining under donor funding freezes and currency shortages. Food and commodity prices are soaring, work and income...
Mental health: Young people are finally getting the attention they deserve
Worldwide, at least 13 per cent of people between the ages of 10 and 19 live with a diagnosed mental-health disorder, according to the latest State of the World’s Children report, published this week by the United Nations children’s charity UNICEF. It’s the first time in the organisation’s history that...
Why Hollywood stars don’t want to shower: ‘Maybe in the end, it is more about others than it is about us’
Showering wasn’t really a thing in 18th-century France. There weren’t showers, for one. Clean water was scarce. To contemporary sensibilities, the pre-revolutionary French probably could have used at least a rinse. Especially since public sanitation was rudimentary and the streets held sewage runoff. In Patrick Süskind’s 1985 historical novel Perfume,...
