10/09/2012
London, by Silvia Swinden, Pressenza* – The Credit Rating Agencies, the OECD and the World Bank continue to forecast – and perhaps also induce – worse to come in the World Economy, prompting further austerity measures, cuts, privatisations and rounds of QE (not Queen Elizabeth but Quantitative Easing: Printing Money without printing it but electronically making it available to banks).
Source: Pressenza
The EU demands that high unemployment stricken Greeks work a longer week (!?) and rescue packages to banks disappear into the black holes of Tax Havens.
Climate Change forecasts disasters but the Chinese are blamed for “dumping” cheap solar panels on Europe – and for increasing their carbon footprint as we outsource them industrial production, whilst expecting they should save the global economy.
The – many and varied – sane economic alternatives are dismissed outright. Not everything is what it seems.
read more »
Posted in Market Lords, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
10/09/2012
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced the launch of a new aid partnership targeting millions of Afghans with more nutritious foods, as part of ongoing efforts to improve the level of vitamin and mineral deficiency in the Central Asian country.
A Jalalabad woman receives her food voucher from WFP
With the collaboration of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, as well as WFP, the partnership is set to provide some 15 million Afghans with nutritionally-fortified wheat flour, vegetable oil and ghee – a clarified butter common in Central and South Asian cuisine – in order to help reduce the prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies among the country’s more vulnerable groups, such as children under the age of five and women of reproductive age.
This figures is equivalent to half of Afghan population estimated in slightly over 30 million.
read more »
Posted in Asia, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
1 Comment »
09/09/2012
10 September 2012 – Three United Nations independent experts today strongly condemned the destruction of Sufi religious and historic sites in various parts of Libya, as well as the intimidation and excessive use of force against unarmed protesters opposing the destruction.
A lone protester holds up a placard condemning the destruction of a Sufi shrine in Tripoli as he approaches the site of the demolition. Photo: UNSMIL/I. Athanasiadis
“The attacks on Sufi religious sites require a swift and rigorous response by the authorities, without which they are likely to continue and spread,” according to a joint statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt; the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed; and the UN Independent Expert on minority issues, Rita Izsák.
“These events amount to the violation of numerous human rights provisions,” they added.
They also urged the Libyan authorities to take all necessary measures to protect places of cultural and religious significance that may also be threatened, and expressed concern at reports that the Libyans authorities did not seek to stop the destruction, the UN reported.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
07/09/2012
By IRIN*, Beirut – Progress in terms of providing more and better aid to the steady influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is being held back by government indecision stemming from fears that the ongoing violence in Syria may destabilize the country’s fragile politics.
**Syrian refugees have taken shelter at a makeshift tent camp set up for Syrian seasonal labourers in Al Qaa, Lebanon | Photo: Courtesy of Freedom House | IRIN
Sectarian clashes in the northern city of Tripoli in recent weeks have left at least 15 dead and 120 wounded, and while politicians on all sides have pleaded for calm, many view the refugees as a security threat.
Gen Ibrahim Bachir, secretary-general of the High Relief Commission (HRC), an aid agency in the prime minister’s office (originally set up to coordinate post-war reconstruction in 2006), said his first priority was “keeping this country safe”.
Tension in Lebanon is high: Michel Samaha, a former minister of information with close ties to Damascus, was arrested on 9 August on charges of plotting bomb attacks in the north, including one targeting the Maronite patriach.
Nevertheless, all major parties seem to have an interest in keeping the situation stable.
read more »
Posted in Asia, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
06/09/2012
Washington – The United States government during the Bush administration tortured opponents of Muammar Gaddafi, then transferred them to mistreatment in Libya, according to accounts by former detainees and recently uncovered CIA and UK Secret Service documents, Human Rights Watch reported.
*Bush. Credit: Original uploader was Craig Michaud at en.wikipedia
“One former detainee alleged he was waterboarded and another described a similar form of water torture, contradicting claims by Bush administration officials that only three men in US custody had been waterboarded.”
The 154-page report, “Delivered into Enemy Hands: US-Led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya,” is based on interviews conducted in Libya with 14 former detainees, most of whom belonged to an armed Islamist group that had worked to overthrow Gaddafi for 20 years.
Many members of the group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), joined the NATO-backed anti-Gaddafi rebels in the 2011 conflict. Some of those who were rendered and allegedly tortured in US custody now hold key leadership and political positions in the country, adds the report which was released on 6 Sept. 2012.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
06/09/2012
The decision by Bahrain’s appeal court to uphold sentences against 13 opposition activists and prisoners of conscience is outrageous and the authorities must ensure it is overturned and the activists immediately and unconditionally released, Amnesty International (AI) said*.
Bahrain Prisoners of Conscience demo in Denmark© AI
The High Criminal Court of Appeal in Bahrain on Tuesday [4 Sept. 2012] upheld the convictions and sentences of the 13 men, who were convicted last year before military courts on charges related to anti-government protests.
Amnesty International sent a trial observer to Bahrain who was present in court.
“Today’s court decision is another blow to justice and it shows once more that the Bahraini authorities are not on the path of reform, but seem rather driven by vindictiveness,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
read more »
Posted in Asia, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
06/09/2012
“United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned at the harsh sentences, including life imprisonment, upheld by a Bahrain appeals court against 20 Bahraini political activists.”
Demonstrators in Bahrain | UN
“He urges the Bahraini authorities to allow all defendants to exercise their right to appeal and to ensure that due process is observed,” his spokesperson added in a statement on 4 Sept 2012.
“The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal to the Bahraini authorities to ensure the application of international human rights norms, including the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
The men, who include activists Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Ebrahim Sharif, were originally sentenced last summer to between two years and life in prison, according to media reports. The charges included espionage and “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution.”
Since February, there have been clashes in Bahrain between security forces and demonstrators, a year after widespread civil protests first emerged in the Gulf country, the UN said.
Ban called again on the Bahraini Government to complete the full implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations. The Commission had reportedly found that Government forces had used excessive force during the crackdown in February and March 2011 and had tortured some detainees.
read more »
Posted in Asia, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
05/09/2012
As heavy fighting continues in Syria, the UN refugee agency reported that the number of those fleeing to neighbouring countries rose to over 100,000 in August–the highest monthly total to date.
A Syrian family gets a lift at a crossing to Lebanon where they will register at UNHCR centres. Photo: UNHCR/S. Malkawi
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 103,416 people sought asylum in countries neighbouring Syria in that month, bringing the total number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration as of 2 September to 235,368 – mainly in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.
Those figures include Iraqi refugees who had previously fled to Syria and are now returning to their homeland by the thousands, a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told a news briefing in Geneva on 4 Sept. 2012.
Bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest, Syrian population is estimated in 22,530,000.
read more »
Posted in Asia, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
Leave a Comment »
05/09/2012
Coordinated international action is urgently needed to prevent rising food prices from hurting tens of millions of people over the coming months, the heads of the three United Nations food and agricultural agencies said in a joint statement.
Food on sale at a market in Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: IRIN
“The current situation in world food markets, characterized by sharp increases in maize, wheat and soybean prices, has raised fears of a repeat of the 2007-2008 world food crisis. But swift, coordinated international action can stop that from happening,” they said.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples |
Leave a Comment »
04/09/2012
Jobless rates among young people will get even worse globally as the spill-over of the euro crisis spreads from advanced to emerging economies, according to a United Nations paper.
An unemployed youth. Photo: ILO
“Ironically, only in developed economies are youth unemployment rates expected to fall in the coming years, but this follows the largest increase in youth unemployment among all regions since the start of the crisis,” said Ekkehard Ernst, the lead author of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO)’s paper, entitled Global Employment Outlook: Bleak Labour Market Prospects for Youth.
The paper forecasts the youth unemployment rate in developed economies dropping gradually, from 17.5 per cent this year to 15.6 per cent in 2017 – far higher than the rate of 12.5 per cent registered in 2007, before the crisis struck.
read more »
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples |
2 Comments »
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 