Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have hit a record high in 2024, with still no sign that they've peaked, according to a "carbon budget" assessment by the UK-based Global Carbon Project. The researchers found that burning of oil, gas and coal emitted 41.2 billion tons (37.4 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2024, a 0.8% increase over 2023. When added to emissions generated by land-use changes such as deforestation, a total of 45.8 billion tons (41.6 billion metric tons) of CO2 was emitted in 2024. At this rate, the researchers estimate there's a 50% chance that global warming will exceed the 1.5 Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming target set by the Paris Agreement within six years. The findings were published Nov. 13 in the journal Earth Systems Science Data. (LiveScience, DW)

Once-time peacenik icon Tulsi Gabbard has joined Robert F. Kennedy Jr in defecting to the now openly fascist and even Nazi-embracing MAGA camp—actually becoming members of the Trump transition team. Meanwhile, the Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, likewise enamoured of Vladimir Putin and the dictators in his orbit (including mass murderer Bashar Assad), is being represented by a former Trump attorney in her bid to get on the ballot in swing state Nevada. Beyond the threat that she could serve as a spoiler and throw the election to Trump, this raises questions about the cooptation of segments of the American left by MAGA-fascism. It is no longer just the old-school sectarian "tankie" left that's in danger of taking the fascist lure in a Red-Brown alliance, but the pacifist, cannabis-friendly "green" left as well. In Episode 244 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg raises the alarm.

Three Pacific island nations have proposed that ecocide become a crime under international law, which would see the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecute cases of environmental destruction alongside war crimes and genocide. The Sept. 9 move by Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa is unlikely to see fast results but is expected to force ICC member states to at least consider the problem. The initiative could one day lead to company leaders, or even nations, facing prosecution. However, ICC member states notably those do not include China, Russia, India or the United States.

In Episode 239 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg provides an overview of the protest waves and popular uprisings going on across the planet—in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, China, Serbia, Venezuela, and in Israel. This as worldwide protests in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza continue. Amid ongoing protests against Netanyahu in Israel, there have also been protests against Hamas in Gaza. Despite internal dangers and contradictions in all these upsurges, there is a sense that we could be approaching a revolutionary moment such as that seen in 2011—the year of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. And with the planet on an accelerating trajectory toward world war, the linking of these upsurges through conscious solidarity and the infusion of anti-war content to their demands is urgently mandated.

The Indian government has removed a 58-year-long policy forbidding civil servants and bureaucrats from joining or associating with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an opposition leader revealed July 21. Jairam Ramesh, a member of Parliament with the Indian National Congress, posted a photo on Twitter of the memorandum lifting the ban by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT). In his post, Ramesh noted that the ban was put in place in response to the assassination of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi by RSS militant Nathuram Godse in 1948. The initially temporary ban was made permanent in 1966. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely perceived to be "on the same page" as the RSS, and his Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has long-standing ties to the right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization. This has been protested by the opposition as contrary to the spirit of India's secular constitution. The result of India's elections for the lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, was announced June 4, with the BJP-led coalition winning a third consecutive term.

Lawyers for some of approximately 60 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers stranded on the British-held island of Diego Garcia have appealed to the UK's new Foreign Minister David Lammy to intervene after the US blocked them from visiting the island for a hearing set to take place this week. The US runs a secretive military facility on the island, and issued the decision to bar the legal team on a "confidential" basis, citing "national security." The lawyers are accusing the island's government—the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) administration—of illegally detaining their clients, who have been confined to a small camp for nearly three years after fleeing Sri Lanka and India by boat. The BIOT administration claims to have no role in negotiating permission for the visit, but lawyers for the asylum-seekers say the administration has a duty to persuade the US to allow the hearing to take place and ensure the rule of law on the remote British territory.

Indian security forces killed at least 29 Naxal insurgents in Kanker Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state this month. Chhattisgarh is one of several states officially designated as affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), along with Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala.

Amnesty International released a statement Feb. 14 decrying the Indian government's disproportionate restrictions on the right to peaceful protest instated to quell the "Dilli Chalo" (on to Delhi) farmers protest. In response to farmers' cross-country mobilization to protest agricultural policies, Indian authorities imposed limitations on group gatherings, erected barricades along the route of the march, and used tear-gas and rubber bullets against the farmers.