Category World News

President Duma Boko claimed that the government’s supply chain collapsed as a result of steep cuts in aid from the United States and a depleted government budget.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness earlier this month warned the system was “severely strained” with $ 75 million owed to private health facilities and suppliers, making the announcement on Monday.

It cited a lack of medications for a variety of illnesses, including those caused by hypertension, cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, asthma, mental and sexual health, and said elective surgeries were delayed.

Additionally, the Health Ministry reported a lack of dressings and sutures.

In a televised address on Monday, President Boko declared that “the medical supply chain, as run by central medical stores, has failed.” “This failure has severely impacted the availability of health supplies throughout the country.”

According to Boko, the ministry of finance had previously approved 250 million pula ($18.7 million) in emergency procurement funding. The military would handle the distribution of emergency medicines, with priority given to rural deprived areas.

“Medical prices are frequently inflated five to ten times,” according to the article. This scenario is not sustainable in the current economic climate, Boko continued.

The global diamond market’s ongoing decline is also related to the shrinking national budget.

One of the largest diamond producers in the world is Botswana, which has a population of 2.5 million. About 80% of the nation’s foreign earnings come from its vast diamond reserves, which were discovered shortly after it gained independence from Britain in 1966.

However, recent sales declines have caused a cash-strapped government to suspend some ministerial purchases last month.

Under President Donald Trump, drastic cuts in US aid have strained the economy even more. UNAIDS reported that the US provided $ 12 million through The Global Fund to combat malaria and tuberculosis prior to funding a third of Botswana’s HIV response.

In disputed waters in the East China Sea, Japan has filed a protest, accusing China of carrying out “unilateral development.”

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced late on Monday that it had discovered “a new structure” in the waters west of the countries’ median line, the “new structure.”

The ministry expressed regret that China continues to pursue unilateral development in the East China Sea while the East China Sea’s Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf are still undelined.

Shi Yong, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, was reportedly “strong protests” by director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Kanai Masaaki.

Masaaki also “strongly urged” Beijing to resume discussions regarding the implementation of a 2008 agreement to cooperate in the East China Sea’s natural resources.

Since late 2010, when a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese Coast Guard vessels near the Senkaku Islands, talks on the pact have been suspended.

Following Japan’s recent filing of similar protests in May and June, which were followed by Chinese-made installations, Tokyo issued its most recent statement.

Amnesty International is spearheading calls for a probe into Israel’s systematic destruction of civilian property in southern Lebanon, arguing that war crimes must be brought forward.

The human rights organization reported on Tuesday that Israel had used hand-held explosives and bulldozers to “devastate civilian structures, including homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks, and soccer pitches, across 24 municipalities.”

Amnesty’s senior director Erika Guevara Rosas claimed in the statement that the destruction had “ruined countless lives and rendered entire regions uninhabitable.”

A ceasefire was reached in November 2024, which saw the end of more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of open war in which Israel sent ground troops and launched a significant bombing campaign. Since violating the ceasefire, Israel has almost daily done so.

Amnesty claimed that “more than 10,000 structures were severely damaged or destroyed during that time” from October 1st, 2012, to the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive. According to the statement, “a large portion of the destruction occurred after November 27 when the ceasefire began.”

Soldiers “filmed themselves singing and cheering” the destruction in some videos, according to the statement, adding that the majority of the destruction was “avoidable by urgent military necessity and in violation” of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty claimed to have emailed Israeli authorities about the destruction in late June but had not received a response.

Many residents of southern Lebanon have nothing to return to, Rosas said, “Given the scale of destruction the Israeli military has carried out.” According to the Israeli government, “All victims of international humanitarian law and war crimes, both individual and collectively, must receive prompt, full, and adequate reparations.”

Additionally, Amnesty urged states to end Israeli military support and weapons transfers.

War crimes, losses, and devastation

Israel’s most recent conflict with Hezbollah was previously accused of war crimes by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

HRW claimed that Israeli attacks on Lebanoni doctors were allegedly war crimes in October 2024. It claimed that between September and November 2024, Israel carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Israel claims to target Hezbollah affiliates and sites, but attacks in Lebanon from October 2023, the day before the ceasefire, resulted in the deaths of nearly 4, 000 people, many of them civilians.

The World Bank estimated Lebanon’s total economic cost in March at $ 14 billion, including $ 6.8 billion in physical damage damage.

The Lebanese army deployed to the south and destroyed Hezbollah’s infrastructure there in accordance with the November agreement, which the new government has already started.