Languages
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Active Citizens
ENERGY: Chernobyl-type Accident Could not Happen Again
Anti-nuclear protestors chained themselves to a railway line near the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine Friday and demanded its immediate closure, as the 10th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear diasaster was marked by protests and reflection.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Death Of Dudyaev Opens Up Rebel Leadership Issue
The confirmation of the death of Chechen rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudyaev could signify a turning point in the 16-month old conflict in the breakaway republic.ENVIRONMENT: Time To Entomb the Tomb of Chernobyl?
Ten years after the engineers entombed the shattered hulk of reactor number four at Ukraine's nuclear plant at Chernobyl, nuclear safety experts say it is time to think whether a cover is now needed for the cover.HONG KONG-MEDIA: Beijing Sets Sights on Government-Owned Station
China is training its sights on Hong Kong's government owned broadcaster 'Radio Television Hong Kong' in what observers see as Beijing's latest bid to curb the British colony's freedom in the run-up to the July, 1997 hand-over.RUSSIA: Yeltsin Lines Up Foreign Mediators In Chechen Crisis
Russia's Boris Yeltsin is to seek more foreign help for his efforts to end the 16-month conflict in the breakaway republic of Chechnya before June presidential elections.RUSSIA-HEALTH: Tuberculosis is Back, and Harder to Control
Tuberculosis, a disease once thought under control in Russia, is once more a scourge -- at a time when limited resources have reduced the capacity of the beleaguered health services to cope.RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA: Move To Renew Links Falter In Political Sphere
Russia is staging a late bid to ensure that it is not sidelined by U.S. president Bill Clinton's high profile initiative to resolve the stand-off between North and South Korea.ENVIRONMENT: Fighting for The Facts About Chernobyl
The habit of officials to send out incomplete, contradictory or misleading data on nuclear crises -- when they release data at all -- meant the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster were more severe than they need have been.ENVIRONMENT: Ten Years Later, Chernobyl Legacy Still Baffles Many
Ten years after the Chernobyl disaster, detailed studies of the incident have failed to fill all the gaps in knowledge; not only about the incident itself and its direct consequences, but also how radiation affects its victims.RUSSIA-ENVIRONMENT: Nuclear Waste Imports ‘Illegal’ Again
Greenpeace Russia is claiming a "major victory" after Russia's Supreme Court overturned a presidential decree issued last year which allows foreign nuclear materials to be imported.ENVIRONMENT: Chernobyl, Ten Years On, Still Causing Concern
It is ten years since the Chernobyl accident, but its ecological, health and socio-economic consequences are still affecting millions and, worse still, they might continue to plague the world for generations to come.RUSSIA-DISARMAMENT: Work Begins On Massive Plutonium Store
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry are joining forces to build a giant underground storage centre for the former Soviet Union's stockpile of fissile material retrieved from dismantled nuclear weapons.RUSSIA: Peace Plans Fly Thick In Chechnya But Bullets Fly Thicker
Doubts continue that president Boris Yeltsin can enforce the peace plan for Chechnya as it now stands, and speculation is rising that a review of the plan this week may open the door to direct talks with rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudyaev.KAZAKHSTAN: Engineers And Activists Battle To Save Aral Sea
No less than 93 Kazakh and foreign organisations are working on answers to the environmental problems that are shrinking and poisoning the Aral Sea, and not one has so far come up with an effective answer.RUSSIA-BELARUS: Reunited As Sovereign States But CIS Still Dubious
Russia and Belarus were reunited by treaty Thursday within a new political and economic alliance -- but stressed their sovereignty to ease the fears of those who see a future revival of the old Soviet Union in the new deal.ENVIRONMENT-HUMAN RIGHTS: Researcher Faces Treason Charge Thursday
Environmentalist Alexander Nikitin appears before a military court in St Petersburg on Thursday for a preliminary closed hearing into treason charges, brought against him for his work investigating nuclear contamination of the Arctic.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Fighting Slowed, Not Stopped By Midnight Order
Monday's midnight order to Russian forces to 'halt' operations in the breakaway Chechen republic appears to be designed as a means of containing rather than stopping the bloody conflict. Attacks by both sides were reported in the afternoon.EUROPE: Norway, Where NATO Rubs Shoulders With Suspicious Russia
The complex courtship dance between Russia and NATO continued Monday as Russian president Boris Yeltsin arrived in Oslo for two days of talks that will be dominated by defence issues in a area of extreme strategic interest to Moscow.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Bad News From The Front Weakens Yeltsin /REPEAT/
The continuing failure of the Russian military to contain Chechen separatist guerrillas and the terrible civilian casualties they are causing, have become a political liability president Boris Yeltsin is finding too heavy to bear.RUSSIA: Diamond Industry Trains For A Second Challenge To De Beers
A Russian challenge to the near total global monopoly on diamond exports held by the giant South African multi-national De Beers has been seen off for a few years, but the Russians have cleared the way for another bid in years to come.RUSSIA-CHECHNYA: Bad News From The Front Weakens Yeltsin
The continuing failure of the Russian military to contain Chechen separatist guerrillas and the terrible civilian casualties they are causing, have become a political liability president Boris Yeltsin is finding too heavy to bear.« 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.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
