This Week’s Under-reported News Summary – March 25, 2026

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Vietnam attempting to expand international relations beyond relying on China and the US
  • Third World nations seek debt relief for environmental conservation
  • Former Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development U.S. representative slacks off on ethics pledge

As U.S. president Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prosecute a war of aggression against Iran, the aftermath of an earlier regime-change war in Libya continues to destabilize that oil-rich nation. The son of Libya’s longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi, Salif al-Islam Qaddafi, was murdered in early February. At his well-attended funeral many supporters wore green, the color of the old Qaddafi regime which was ousted by the U.S. and NATO in 2011. A brutal civil war has gripped Libya ever since.

(“No Good Options,” Economist, Feb. 19, 2026)

In early January, police raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists, over charges that his advocacy for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining India’s national energy security. Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate claim that Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of the group, Satat Sampada, or “Nature Forever,” were paid more than $660,000 to support the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.

(“Indian Police Raid Home of Environmental Activists over Anti-Fossil Fuel Campaign,” Guardian, Jan. 8, 2026)

For decades, America’s corn crop has dominated the nation’s agriculture. Corn, grown on 90 million acres in the U.S. heartland, is used to feed livestock and is a main ingredient in processed foods. Over the past two decades, corn-derived ethanol has been blended into American gasoline, but it comes at a steep price. Barn Raiser Media reports that research finds that the nitrogen fertilizer used to grow corn, is warming the planet and contaminating water.

(“Ethanol Promised a Low Carbon Future. Its Climate Footprint Shows Otherwise,” Barn Raiser Media, Dec. 4, 2025)

 

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