News headlines in July 2024, page 24

SYDNEY, Jul 03 (IPS) - Fifty years ago on 1 May 1974, the Sixth Special Session of the General Assembly (April–May) adopted a revolutionary declaration and programme of action on the establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) “based on equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among all States, irrespective of their economic and social systems”. The hope was that a NIEO would “correct inequalities and redress existing injustices, make it possible to eliminate the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries and ensure steadily accelerating economic and social development and peace and justice for present and future generations”. Alas, what evolved is far from what was envisioned or called for.

LONDON, Jul 03 (IPS) - Myanmar’s army, at war with pro-democracy forces and ethnic militias, must know it’s nowhere near victory. It recently came close to losing control of Myawaddy, one of the country’s biggest cities, at a key location on the border with Thailand. Many areas are outside its control.

ATLANTA, Georgia, Jul 03 (IPS) - Zionism is broken. It is finished as a political philosophy and cannot long survive. Having earned the visceral opposition of multitudes of people and countries around the world for engaging in vast overkill in Gaza, that historical reality will likely become clear to the Israeli people over time.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 03 (IPS) - The US gun lobby justifies the unfettered American gun ownership in the US on a misguided premise: Guns don’t kill people, it’s bullets that kill people.

The accusations of genocide and war crimes in Gaza have been directed firstly, at Israel, for the killings of more than 37,700, mostly civilians, and over 86,000 injured, in retaliation for the 1,200 killed by Hamas last October, according to estimates from Gaza health officials, as cited by Cable News Network (CNN) last week.

The UN envoy for Haiti on Wednesday welcomed recent strides towards restoring democracy amid alarming levels of violence, while the country’s interim Prime Minister emphasized that the people “continue to fight for a better future.”

The UN’s top human rights official on Wednesday underscored the need for free and open debate in Venezuela as the country prepares to hold Presidential elections later this month, and local, regional and legislative polls next year.

China-based inventors are filing the highest number of generative artificial intelligence patents, a new report from the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows.

The Gaza Strip is virtually “split in two”, with blockades not only restricting the movement of displaced people seeking shelter, but also aid workers trying to assist civilians in desperate need, a UN relief official said on Wednesday.

A new report from UN human rights monitors in Ukraine has revealed the “horrific toll” of attacks by Russian armed forces, with May recording the highest number of civilian casualties in nearly a year.

Citizens and civil society critical of the Belarussian authorities face worsening repression, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and harassment, nearly four years since widespread public protests took place surrounding the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, a UN independent human rights expert said on Wednesday.