‘This is stupidity’: Centralising WHO, giving it control of global health amounts to giving Big Pharma free reign over our lives
The evidence (for example, here and here) points to the fact that regional approaches, grounded in local contexts and community empowerment, offer a much more promising path toward a healthier future for a lot more people.
President Yoon of South Korea apologises for hours-long martial law, puts his fate in hands of parliament
On Friday Han said Yoon was a danger to the country and needed to be removed from power, increasing the pressure on Yoon to quit even though PPP members later reaffirmed a formal opposition to his impeachment.
No reason given as Burkina Faso’s PM sacked, government dissolved by military junta
The country is one of several West African nations where the military has recently taken over, capitalising on popular discontent with previous democratically elected governments over security issues. However, since its inception, the junta has struggled to end Burkina Faso’s security challenges – the very reason that it claimed had prompted it to take power.
Police officers in Haiti UN peacekeeping mission have been paid salaries, no resignations, says inspector-general
While some Haitians welcome them, others view the force with caution, given that the previous intervention – the UN’s 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission – was marred by allegations of sexual assault and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people.
State faces stinging criticism as South African court orders convicted murderer of anti-apartheid hero deported to Poland
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Friday that Walus would be deported to Poland and that the Polish government would bear all costs of the deportation process.
Feeling cheated and abused by US and own government, Kenyan police in Haiti resign over pay delays
National police chief Douglas Kanja addressed reports in Kenyan media of pay delays at a news conference on Wednesday, saying the officers had been paid “up to the end of October”. The three officers disputed this, saying they were last paid in September.
Redesigned AU conflict intervention force suits African needs but requires funding
Inevitably money is the key issue. The last large AU missions, launched in Mali in 2013 and the Central African Republic in 2014, were quickly passed wholesale to the UN. The AU’s Peace Fund – moribund for years – only recently reached its $400 million target (actually surpassing it by $208 million following a pledge in July by the African Export-Import Bank). But to put that figure in perspective, AMISOM is estimated to have cost $1.2 billion a year.
France’s Macron to name new PM in coming days, blasts far-right and left-wing parties for uniting to create ‘a mess’
It was unclear if a new government will be in place before a ceremony on Saturday to reopen Notre-Dame Cathedral, which has been renovated after a devastating fire. World leaders including US President-elect Donald Trump are expected to attend.
Trump taps politician with business experience as ambassador to China to steer relations riven by deep mistrust, trade tensions
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated China hardliners for other senior roles in his administration, including Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state, in a signal his policy toward the United States’ main strategic rival could go beyond trade measures.
‘While donor countries often respond sluggishly to warnings of food crisis, combatants close borders and make it difficult to deliver aid’
The first famine the IPC identified – in 2011 in Somalia – illustrates the devastating toll when aid arrives too late. Drought and armed conflict among militant groups fighting for control of the country’s south led to mass displacement and dire food shortages from 2010 through 2012. IPC analyses repeatedly warned of an imminent risk of famine.
