Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

BLUE SMOKE: A monthly column, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, spotlighting senior appointments at the UN

Damilola Banjo

Damilola Banjo is a staff reporter for PassBlue. She has a master's of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in communications and language arts from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She has worked as a producer for NPR's WAFE station in Charlotte, N.C.; for the BBC as an investigative journalist; and as a staff investigative reporter for Sahara Reporters Media.

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His Peace Plan Will Save Both Ukraine and the UN, Zelensky Tells the Security Council President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine promoted his 10-point peace formula to the United Nations Security Council, meant to end Russia’s war in his country….

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The common thread woven across the dozens of speeches by world leaders at the opening of the two-day United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Summit was a clarion call for faster progress toward achieving the goals’ deadline of 2030. National…

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Moroccans affected by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the North African country on Sept. 8 are calling for humanitarian aid as they search for and hope to rescue loved ones still trapped under the rubble. Yet the country’s…

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The world is wary that the Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved by their deadline of 2030, but Lachezara Stoeva thinks that people should instead be focusing on how to speed up progress at this crucial midpoint. “Although…

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Albania is proposing the creation of a digital platform to complement the United Nations’ humanitarian aid system, drawing donations from corporations and foundations to help alleviate the growing desperation of people across the world. Ferit Hoxha, Albania’s ambassador to…

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LAGOS — When Hilda Bassey broke the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual, she had no real professional cooking experience. Though steeped in Nigerian food culture, she had not gone to cooking school. Her…

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The United States and 90 other countries took a formal stand against weaponizing food in conflicts last week, while more than half — 102 United Nations member states — declined to sign the communiqué pledging to condemn the use…

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The United States is urging the global South to call out Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as many parts of the world continue to confront food insecurity because of the 17-month-old war. Robert Wood, an alternate ambassador for the US…

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Britain is concentrating on the use and regulation of artificial intelligence as a top-priority debate while it leads the United Nations Security Council in July. The agenda reflects part of the country’s plans for building control in the evolving…

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The phrase “gender apartheid” is used in a new United Nations report describing the continuing grave violations of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. The goal of using the term, the experts who wrote the report say,…

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The world needs the United Arab Emirates’ oil moguls to get involved in striving for “peace and security,” in a globe where climate change is creating conflict flash points, said Mira Al Hussein, a fellow at the University of…

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The catastrophe in Sudan is threatening to devolve into a full-blown civil war, inviting countries like Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia to take sides. Some experts say, however, that the solution lies not with global outside powers…

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The grave rights violations allegedly being committed against children by Russian troops in Ukraine in the last year merits listing in the upcoming annual report on children and armed conflict by the United Nations secretary-general, says a new study…

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LAGOS — The death a year ago of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist who worked for Al Jazeera, is a stark reminder of the dangers reporters face operating on the front lines of conflicts. Despite wearing a press…

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Pascale Baeriswyl, Switzerland’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told PassBlue that the country’s historic neutrality does not stop it from speaking out against violations of international law. Switzerland has been a UN member state since 2002, and it…

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UNGA78: A quiz from PassBlue
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

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