News Articles worth reading

25/03/2024

A must read: the bitter reality of life for thousands of women, children caused by the sugar industry that supplies coca-cola and Pepsi in India.

An investigation into the sugar-cane industry in the Indian state of Maharashtra found workers ensnared by debt and pushed into child marriages and unnecessary hysterectomies.

12/03/2024

I'm not a movie buff. I can't even remember the last movie I saw. Well, now I just did, some old black and white piece in a special theatre with a movie-maker and his kid. But now that the Oscars are over, how can you escape the titles, and the winners of seven Oscars; Oppenheimer was overwhelmingly declared the winner. But there are some parts of the story that will never make it to the screen. This opinion piece will open that up for you.

The Oscar-winning film centers on one man’s remarkable history. My uncle’s life tells a very different story about the fallout of the atomic bomb.

29/02/2024

Our world is turning more violent. We all have been sensing that. If you want some proof, this well-written article points out where and why. And it’s probably true that things won’t get better anytime soon.

01/02/2024

What is life like in Palestine for the Palestinians? Why is there so much anger? This article attempts to make some sense to the everyday deepening divisions that persist in the West Bank today.

As the war grinds on in Gaza, settler attacks are rising — and Palestinian anger is growing.

29/01/2024

Truly worth reading and talking about. Could there be another holocaust? Surely not. But a survivor of the holocaust has payed a heavy price in her life and she has also spoke out, of the suffering and evils, and made a difference in her Italy. Now she wonders if it meant anything…. What do you think?

Liliana Segre, who has become Italy’s conscience on the Holocaust, says she is pessimistic in the face of rising anti-Semitism.

12/01/2024

Who needs more apocalyptic type news? But this article sends another crucial message to our world about the need for conservation and peace in our world.

The crisis, worsened partly by climate change, has been accompanied by soaring food prices and could have consequences for hunger, elections and migration worldwide.

27/12/2023

One of the most shocking aspects of the war in Ukraine by the invading Russian forces has been the kidnapping of thousands and thousands of children. This story is about some of the children who have been rescued. Just looking at the photos is enough to touch your hearts. I recommend reading it and it’s entirety!



Thousands of young Ukrainians were separated from their parents by the Russian authorities in the early stages of the war. They are among the most forlorn victims of the invasion.

13/12/2023

A beautiful (moving) story and video of a Thai woman taken hostage by the Hamas.

A Thai farmworker clung to hope during her nearly 50 days of captivity in Gaza by befriending a young Israeli girl and dreaming of reuniting with her boyfriend, who had also been abducted.

09/12/2023

A sad finish to a terrorist act that killed a teacher. The case involved numerous students and one girl in particular who lied … which may have led to the terrorist act. That lie alone makes this a poignant article worth your time to read.

The teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded in 2020 by an Islamist extremist after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students to illustrate free speech.

04/12/2023

Sometimes it seems incredulous the flow of humanity fleeing their homelands. Sénégal is not a place known for war or great religious persecution, yet thousands are leaving every year. One man is trying to change all of that. It’s not been as successful as hoped, but he’s not giving up. This is his fascinating story.

Witness to a tragedy on a boat to Spain, Moustapha Diouf has made it his mission to persuade young people not to emigrate from Senegal, but even he concedes that it’s getting harder to make his case.

06/11/2023

From warn torn Somalia to the Netherlands…. A life ruined, then redeemed.

A true story in creative telling.

(Some scenes depict violence)

Through reconstructions in a special effects studio, “Neighbour Abdi” embarks on a candid journey through Abdiwahab Ali’s personal history scarred by war.

05/11/2023

Even some of the best minds, strategists, presidents and more are wondering if peace is possible. Obama reminds us of the complex nature of the two peoples.

The former president said everyone was “complicit to some degree” in the current bloodshed and acknowledged the points of view on both sides of the conflict.

15/10/2023

An opinion piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof who has for years reported on the situation in Gaza. A huge takeaway for me : Bombings don’t end extremism; they feed it. And War crimes shouldn’t be avenged by more war crimes.

Killing civilians doesn’t end extremism. It feeds it.

11/10/2023

Afghanistan has known a lot of suffering. This article is about the recent earthquake that devastated villages of poorly constructed homes. The death toll is over 2,000 and climbing. This article in the NYT gives a very human picture, with incredible photography of the sadness.

The deadliest earthquake to strike the country in decades leveled entire hamlets. Many people lost most, if not all, of their immediate family.

18/09/2023

There’s a little country with a long border and history with Russia, Finland. They are also the newest member to be allowed to join NATO. They have gained much wisdom over the years in their relationship to Russia to give to Europe and the world.

President Biden has consulted Sauli Niinisto throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine. Europeans should not dismiss the risks of a wider war, he says.

09/08/2023

More carnage on the Sea. Will it ever cease? Number of arrivals to Italy have doubled compared to this time last year! And the numbers of those lost at sea have also doubled. It’s carnage. It’s time to get real about what is happening with migrants risking life and limb to come to unwelcoming Europe.

Survivors said that 41 people, shunted by traffickers onto a small makeshift iron vessel, had drowned after it capsized en route from Tunisia to Italy.

30/07/2023

More trouble in store for Africa. The rise of military coups, the latest in Niger, a country of 25 million people, is very concerning.

This past week’s military takeover in Niger completed a domino chain of countries ruled by leaders who seized power by force, fueling instability and presenting a conundrum for the United States.

16/07/2023

Remember those who died in the waters, the 600 of them?

By writing an elegy through the words of history, I hope to unearth, or unwater, the dead from beneath a mass of waves.

14/07/2023

An interesting story, maybe a metaphor on how resistant to change we are, even in the face of life-demanding challenges. I once played on Parliament Hill in my bearskin hat, tight red uniform, for the changing of the guard. I know how demanding that can be. Changing the way we do things may be even harder.

Even as climate change upends our lives, we seem set on doing things the way we’ve always done them.

24/06/2023

A balanced opinion piece on the two water tragedies of June. Why was the world so mesmerized by the rescue efforts taken by western governments of the five men in search of adventure while little attention was given to the fishing trawler that sunk in the Mediterranean Sea with 500 drownings? Some good thoughts in this article….

Many see harsh realities about class and ethnicity in the attention paid to the Titan submersible and the halfhearted attempts to aid a ship before it sank, killing hundreds of migrants. But there are other factors.

18/05/2023

A fascinating read about a mega city, a country that we know so little about, Jakarta, Indonesia. The capital is sinking. What do we do about that? Move to an island, that’s the plan. Simple? Read on…

Jakarta, like many places, faces an unsustainable future. Indonesia’s president is responding by building a new capital city from scratch.

15/05/2023

You don’t exactly associate patches of earth littered with land mines that can blow off human limbs with fertile soil for food. But if you’re imaginative like Heidi Kühn, you do —

The founder of Roots of Peace won this year’s World Food Prize ($250,000 ) for her work removing land mines and unexploded bombs from the ground, and then providing farmers with technical assistance and training so they can make a living off the land, instead of dying from it.

Teresa Welsh writes that an estimated 60 million people in nearly 70 countries and territories live at risk of land mines, according to the United Nations. Roots of Peace has helped more than 1 million of them.

Yesterday, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., filled with high-ranking officials in honor of the World Food Prize, one person was conspicuously absent: Kühn herself. She wasn’t there out of some kind of protest; rather, she was in Azerbaijan removing land mines as part of a Mother’s Day tradition.

“I thought how inspiring that someone who has just won one of the most significant awards any of us can give can’t be here,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Because what is she doing? She’s actually doing her work in the field, helping to remove landmines in Azerbaijan. I think that in and of itself is an extraordinary tribute to Heidi and the work that she does.”

04/05/2023

By Jonah M. Kessel
Deputy Director, Opinion Video

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. It’s a national crisis and deserves our attention.

Also killing tens of thousands of Americans every year is alcohol. By the count of the Centers for Disease Control, about 140,000 deaths per year in the United States are the result of injuries or disease caused by alcohol.

Only one of these two tragedies has the nation’s attention. The other has been normalized to the point where we seemingly don’t consider more than 100,000 lives lost to a preventable cause a crisis.

While winning the war on drugs is now far out of reach, we do actually know how to reduce American fatalities from excessive drinking.

The answer is taxes. More of them. On alcohol. That’s the solution we explore in an Opinion Video today.

About a half-century worth of research has shown that raising taxes on alcohol reduces alcohol-related deaths. According to researchers, a rough rule of thumb holds that a 10 percent increase in the price of alcohol reduces drinking by 5 percent or more.

In some ways, my comparison to fentanyl is unfair and unneeded. The insidious nature of drug syndicates lacing pills to increase America’s habit is incomparable.

But America’s failed war on drugs has led many experts to believe we should be focusing on harm reduction — strategies to reduce deaths and suffering — instead of on ineffective prohibition and enforcement measures.

Why shouldn’t that same philosophy carry over to a legal and widely used drug like alcohol?

Yes, we know taxes aren’t fun. But even an increase of pennies per drink could lead to fewer car crashes, lower rates of liver disease, a dip in crime — even fewer cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

Would you be willing to pay such a tax if you knew it could save lives?

NYT

20/03/2023

This article shows us that Russia is still very much involved in destabilizing Africa. It wants to wield its influence where the French are loosing it. America is not standing by idly. This is a growing geopolitical African drama of huge proportions and consequences.

The U.S. is reprising its playbook in Ukraine, where it has used classified information to expose plans by Russia. Next target: Chad.

07/03/2023

For many fighting for a dignified life, for the freedom of Ukraine, accepting their own end is a reality and a strength to their not giving up.

So it must be for those who tread the path of war.

09/02/2023

The latest update that helps us see how especially Britain and the rest of Europe is responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This article, though an update, is worth reading .

In a surprise visit that started a two-day blitz of Western allies, the Ukrainian president implored Britain to provide planes he said would represent “wings of freedom.’’

03/02/2023

In my opinion, the war in UKRAINE sadly is about to get more intense with hundreds of thousands more wounded and a death toll that will shock us all when it is all said and done. Here is a well written update by the NYT on Putin’s speech at Stalingrad and his threats to the west, particularly Germany.

Invoking World War II on the 80th anniversary of victory at Stalingrad, Mr. Putin repeated his false justifications for an invasion that has taken a staggering toll.

21/01/2023

Selensky wants, needs more sophisticated weapons that only the west can provide. Yet the west is reticent to give them the tanks they so desire on order to make a spring push. Timing is crucial. And yet it’s more complicated than meets the eye. What would the world think seeing German tanks on the border, reminiscent of both World Wars? Why doesn’t America give the Ukrainian army tanks? Poland has said it is now ready to give the German tanks they have to Ukraine, but they need some approval from Germany. This article helps us to better see the thinking behind the hesitations of some and the push to help Ukraine by others.

The allies differ on strategy for the coming year and the more immediate question of what Ukraine needs ahead of a major offensive in the spring.

08/01/2023

Iran’s theocratic government continues to show the world what happens when religion spins out of control. More beautiful young lives have been taken from their families and futures as the government uses violence to try and quell the protests wracking their country.

At least nine other protesters remain on death row, accused of crimes ranging from burning a trash can to killing security forces.

20/12/2022

A poignant story about a photograph and the family that escaped N**i Germany and returned a generation later.

A 1931 photograph of a menorah on a windowsill also showed a N**i flag in the street outside. This Hanukkah the menorah returned to Germany.