News headlines in 2024

CAMBRIDGE, MA., Dec 23 (IPS) - A tribunal of trade arbitrators has ruled in favor of the United States in its complaint that Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified corn violate the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA). The long-awaited ruling in the 16-month trade dispute is unlikely to settle the questions raised by Mexico about the safety of consuming GM corn and its associated herbicide.

MERIDA, Mexico, Dec 23 (IPS) - When he promoted the Maya Train (TM) in 2019, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who ruled Mexico between 2018 and October this year, stated that the railway line would be an engine of development for the southeastern Yucatan peninsula.

TORONTO, Canada, Dec 23 (IPS) - Do you sometimes feel like a hamster on its wheel, or perhaps stuck on a runaway train hurtling towards the abyss? Whatever metaphor one might choose for our world looking back on 2024, rainbows don’t easily spring to mind.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (IPS) - As talks of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine intensify, bombardments in Gaza continue, raising the number of civilian casualties and internal displacements. A December 19 report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned Israeli authorities for committing acts of genocide upon the people in the Gaza Strip, including the deprivation of water and the destruction of critical water sanitation infrastructures.

BUCHAREST, Romania, Dec 23 (IPS) - The days are short with bitterly cold rain in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, the largest Balkan country located south of the Ukraine. Over the border, temperatures in Kyiv will plummet to a daily average of zero in December as the Ukraine war grinds on.

NAIROBI, Dec 23 (IPS) - Climate and environmental activists from Japan have criticized the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for financing the controversial Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project to the tune of USD 3 billion in a loan signed in July.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 23 (IPS) - In December 2024, Vanuatu experienced yet another harrowing reminder of its vulnerability to disasters—a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific nation’s capital, Port Vila, leaving 14 dead, over 200 injured, and thousands more affected.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (IPS) - The United States and Western allies have jointly provided a staggering $260 billion in aid, mostly weapons and military assistance, to Ukraine as the long-drawn-out conflict continues following Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels early December, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “All told, the United States has provided $102 billion in assistance to Ukraine, and our allies and partners, $158 billion”.

A little over two weeks after a surge of violence in the Cité Soleil commune of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, a UN report has concluded that more than 207 people were executed by the Wharf Jérémie gang.

The humanitarian crisis in Syria continues to escalate, with millions struggling to access basic resources as fuel shortages and damaged infrastructure hinder relief efforts, the UN reported on Monday.