Phalombe-(MaraviPost)-Second Vice President Enock Chihana is presiding over the launch of this year’s 2025/2026 tree planting season at Mpata Primary School in Phalombe District, under the theme “Trees and Forests for Community Resilience.”
The event marks a significant milestone in Malawi’s efforts to enhance environmental sustainability and community resilience.
Chihana has planted fruit trees in Karama Village to mark the official launch, setting an example for others to follow.
He is accompanied by Minister of Natural Resources, Alfred Gangata, highlighting the government’s commitment to environmental conservation.
Other dignitaries include the Democtric Progressive Party Regional Governor for the South, Charles Mchacha, Mayor of Blantyre City, Isaac Jomo Osman, and senior government officials, underscoring the collaborative effort to promote tree planting.
The Department of Forestry says it has planned to plant over 41 million trees during the season, which started on 15 December and will end on 15 April, a ambitious target that requires collective action.
This initiative aims to make a tangible impact on Malawi’s environment and communities, promoting a greener future for all.
Protests intensify in Minneapolis after a second ICE-related shooting, as President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota. Venezuela’s top opposition leader brings her Nobel Peace Prize to Washington to press her case with President Trump, even as the U.S. signals support for an interim leader. And President Trump unveils what he calls a new healthcare plan, leaning on cheaper insurance with limited benefits as Congress debates the future of ACA subsidies.
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(0:00) Introduction (1:57) Trump and Minnesota (05:29) Venezuela’s Opposition (09:20) Trump’s Healthcare Plan
Agnès Callamard is Amnesty International’s Secretary General
Credit: World Economic Forum/Gabriel Lado. Source: Amnesty International
LONDON, Jan 16 2026 (IPS) – “The ‘spirit of dialogue’, the theme for this year’s meeting in Davos, which begins January 19, has been painfully and increasingly absent from international affairs of late. President Trump’s first year back in office has seen the United States withdraw from multilateral bodies, bully other states and relentlessly attack the principles and institutions that underpin the international justice system.
At the same time, the likes of Russia and Israel have continued to make a mockery of the Geneva and Genocide Conventions without facing meaningful accountability.
“A few powerful states are unashamedly working to demolish the rules-based order and reshape the world along self-serving lines. Unilateral interventions and corporate interests are taking precedence over long-term strategic partnerships grounded in universal values and collective solutions.
This was evident in the Trump administration’s military action in Venezuela and its stated intent to ‘run’ the country, which the president himself admitted was at least partially driven by the interests of US oil corporations. Make no mistake: the only certain consequence of vandalizing international law and multilateral institutions will be extensive suffering and destruction the world over.
“When faced with diplomatic, economic and military bullying and attacks, many states and corporations have opted for appeasement instead of taking a principled and united stand. Humanity needs world leaders, business executives and civil society to collectively resist or even disrupt these destructive trends. It requires denouncing the bullying and the attacks, and strong legal, economic, and diplomatic responses.
What should not happen is silence, complicity and inaction. It also demands engaging in a transformative quest for common solutions to the many shared and existential problems we face.
“We need UN Security Council reform to address abuse of veto powers, robust regulation to protect us against harmful new technologies; more inclusive and transparent decision-making on climate solutions; and international treaties on tax and debt to deliver a more equitable, rights-based global economy. But this will only be achievable through cooperation and steadfast will to resist those who seek to strongarm and divide us.”
-Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza
-The USA’s military action in Venezuela, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the conflicts in Sudan, DRC and Myanmar
-The importance of revindicating and revitalizing multilateralism
-The need for global tax and debt reform and universal social protection
-The urgent need for a full, fast, fair and funded fossil fuel phase-out
-The need to massively scale up climate finance, including to address loss and damage
-Big Tech, corporate accountability and the risks of deregulation
-How to limit the harmful impact of artificial intelligence on human rights, including the right to a healthy environment
