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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Active Citizens
TURKMENISTAN: Money Buys Freedom For Tiny Gas-Rich Turkmenistan
Disregarding Washington's advice against doing business with Teheran, Turkmen president Saparmurad Niyazov, is moving on with his grand plans to ship an annual 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Europe via Iranian pipes.TAJIKISTAN: Foes Bury The Hatchet And Agree To Multi-Party Democracy
The way is now clear to legalising the opposition parties in Tajikistan and finalising a political solution to a five year old civil conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.RUSSIA: Chaotic Chechnya Still Deadly Dangerous For ECHO Aid Teams
There will be no quick return to widespread aid deliveries in war-ravaged Chechnya, despite this week's follow-up peace pact, supposed to bring Moscow's 400 year fighting feud with the separatist Chechens to a halt.TURKMENISTAN: Afghan Deals Are Central To Gas-Oil Pipeline Plans
When the representatives of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) meet in the Turkmen capital of Ashqabat on Wednesday, they will focus on the extraction and export of the immense oil and gas reserves of Turkmenistan.TAJIKISTAN: Failed Assassination Triggers Clampdown On Opposition
Following a failed assassination attempt against its president, Imamali Rahmanov, in the northern city of Hojand last week, the Tajik government is settling scores with its leftist opponents in the north.RUSSIA-CHINA: Different Objectives For A Multi-Polar World
Russia and China have sent a powerful joint message to the self-declared 'global policemen' who would rule the post Cold War 'New World Order'.UZBEKISTAN: Private Developers Cash In On Housing Shortages
Ravshan and Mavzhuda Alimdzhanov and their two small children used to live in a three-bedroom flat which they shared with several other members of both their families.RUSSIA-ENVIRONMENT: Great Siberia Sturgeon Targeted By Poachers
Russian officials are struggling to stop poachers from wiping out the Amur River basin's dwindling numbers of great Siberian sturgeon, whose eggs are a renowned delicacy among caviar aficionados.RUSSIA-HUMAN RIGHTS: Scrap Sharia Provisions, Amnesty Tells Chechens
Amnesty International has urged the authorities in the Chechen Republic to ensure sections of the traditional Islamic Sharia law which violate basic human rights are kept off its criminal justice code.INDIA-RUSSIA: New Delhi’s Arms Buying Spree Gets Moscow All Excited
India is and will remain Moscow's principal strategic partner in the Asia-Pacific region -- and its principal business partner in the regional arms trade.HEALTH: WHO Alert over Typhus Epidemic in Tajikistan
An outbreak of typhoid fever has spread alarmingly in the capital of Tajikistan over the past two months to affect 5,000 people, 46 of whom have died, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) Friday.RUSSIA: Nuclear Reactor Sales To Go Ahead, Despite U.S. Objections
Russia's growing nuclear trade, which reached two billion dollars last year, is drawing increasing criticism from Washington. Moscow is building reactors for Iran and has exported nuclear technology to China as part of a developing relationship.RUSSIA: Moscow Promises To Put Right Its Arctic Chaos – Next Winter
'General Winter' was once Russia's chief ally in defence against its many enemies. But this year the winter snows that once kept Hitler and Napoleon at bay, turned on the Russians.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: U.S. Representative Is Confident of Unity
Regardless of the victor, Chechnya's elections on Monday will pave the way for national unity and international recognition, the Chechen rebel movement's U.S. representative says.RUSSIA-U.S.: Russian General Adjusts Image to Woo United States
Russian General Alexander Lebed, depicted until recently in the United States as a nationalist and authoritarian, has stepped up his charm offensive to prove to politicians and investors here that he could be their man.RUSSIA: Loss Of Reindeer Herds Threaten Indigenous Communities
More than 30,000 reindeer could die in Russia's north east Chukotka peninsula as economic crisis and unusually bad weather continue to bite -- threatening the livelihoods, even the lives of traditional herding communities.UKRAINE: West Given Deadline for Chernobyl Finance
After yet another round of talks with western officials, Ukraine has issued an ultimatum on the proposed closure of Chernobyl.UKRAINE: West Given Deadline for Chernobyl Finance
After yet another round of talks with western officials, Ukraine has issued an ultimatum on the proposed closure of Chernobyl.RUSSIA: Gas Rich Area’s Autonomy Bid Sets Moscow’s Nerves Jangling
Russia's least-known separatist crisis restarted Wednesday with the sub-regional parliament (Duma) in north-eastern Yamalo-Nenets meeting again to decide whether to press plans to separate from its parent Tyumen region and go for autonomy.RUSSIA-HUMAN RIGHTS: Prisoner Of Conscience Walks Free, For A While
Retired naval captain Aleksandr Nikitin, who was released from a St Petersburg prison on Dec. 14, may not be free to address a planned press conference in Moscow Wednesday, but his friends are increasingly confident that he will stay out of jail.RUSSIA: Cold War Secret City Comes Out Into A Cold World
Two hundred metres underground, carved out of a granite mountain deep in the Siberian hinterlands, accessible only by a five kilometre tunnel, Zheleznogorsk's Mining and Chemical Combine (GKhK) was one of the Cold War's biggest secrets.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Global Citizen Festival in New York. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Active citizens are committed to social change because they know that it is achievable. However, major political challenges face active citizens across the world. For example, in authoritarian regimes in Latin America where the hegemonic party has been in power for decades on end, protestors and human rights activists face enormous repression and struggle to materialize their advocacy into concrete results. The same can be said for Africans, where a shift towards elected government in recent decades has yet to translate into an effective voice in decision-making. Now, the Strengthening Citizen Demand for Good Governance, which uses evidence-based approaches – funded by DFID's Governance and Transparency Fund – seeks to raise their voices.
In 2025, the CIVICUS Monitor’s People Power Under Attack report revealed that civic freedoms are severely limited in 122 of 198 countries and territories, and only 7.2% of the global population now lives in countries where civic space is open. Through partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CIVICUS, IPS reporters across the continent will seek to define the extent and limits of state capability, government accountability and the responsiveness of leaders to the needs of citizens.
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