Archive for October 26th, 2012

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26/10/2012

One Year after IMF Bailout, Greece Still Big on Military Spending

Human Wrongs Watch

By RT*, 26 October 2012 – Exactly one year ago, the EU agreed to several extreme measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis, to mixed results. But despite its unique economic distress, Greece shows no sign of cutting back its considerable military budget.

Vladimir Kremlev for RT

­A year ago to the day, EU leaders met to tackle debt troubles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as Europe’s worst economic crisis since the end of WWII. The EU spent a month negotiating the deal, which was proclaimed to have saved Greece by writing off half the country’s debt, which at the time amounted to 160 percent of its GDP.

The second aim of the package was to protect other European countries from financial instability. The EU decided to more than double the eurozone bailout fund, also known as the European Financial Stability Facility.

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26/10/2012

Burma – More Violence in Muslim Rakhine State, UN Calls for Urgent Action

Human Wrongs Watch

By IRIN*, Bangkok, 25 October, 2012 – The UN is calling for urgent action in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State as levels of communal violence worsen.

Photo: Contributor/IRIN. Conditions inside the camps remain poor

“The needs of the displaced people in Rakhine are urgent,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ashok Nigam told IRIN from Yangon. “Significantly more resources are needed to sustain the humanitarian efforts. I would urge all partners to help us meet these challenges in Rakhine State immediately.”

The call comes amid a fresh wave of communal violence between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic (mainly Buddhist) Rakhine this week which has already left at least four people dead and over 1,000 homes burned.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar on 23 October, 531 houses in six villages in Minbya Township and 508 houses in two villages in Mrauk-U Township were burnt down. Many say the real number of casualties could be much higher.

The Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority of 800,000, unrecognized as citizens by the Burmese government, have long faced persecution and discrimination in Myanmar. 

Ethnic and religious tensions have prompted thousands to flee, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh.

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Posted in Asia, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | 3 Comments »

26/10/2012

Mounting, Uncontrolled Violence against 800,000 Muslims in Burma

Human Wrongs Watch

In the wake of renewed violence, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged authorities in Myanmar to take action “to bring an end to the lawlessness currently affecting the north of the Asian country’s Rakhine state.”

Internally displaced people in Myanmar sheltering in Shwe Zayti monastery, Sittwe, after being displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Photo: OCHA/Gemma Connell

“While the Secretary-General notes the clear recognition at the highest political levels in Myanmar of the need to contain this communal violence, he calls on the authorities to take urgent and effective action to bring under control all cases of lawlessness,” Ban’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said on 25 October 2012.

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26/10/2012

“Liberated” Libya: Bani Walid Reportedly Being Wiped Out as Media Remain Silent

Human Wrongs Watch

By RT*, 26 October 2012 – The Libyan city of Bani Walid is reported to be under heavy attack from pro-government forces and militias. Witnesses say that more civilians are being killed by shelling, while houses are engulfed in flames.

**A montage of the Libyan civil war. By Kudzu1 and NovusLux | Wikimedia Commons

­Earlier reports suggested that the city had fallen, but continuing reports of wide-scale killing and armed gangs and militias patrolling the streets and looting people’s homes indicate that those reports are not true.

An individual in Italy who claims to have relatives in Bani Walid told RT earlier that at over 600 people have so far been killed while the number of people in hospitals is over 1,000.

A local told RT that the troops patrolling the streets were bulldozing homes and setting them on fire.

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26/10/2012

EU Bio-energy Policies Increase Carbon Emissions, Says Leaked EU Study

Exclusive, by EurActiv* – Bioenergy production often increases greenhouse gas emissions in the short term even though the EU currently counts it as a carbon neutral technology, according to an unreleased EU report, which EurActiv has obtained.

Sugar/Ethanol Plant located in Piracicaba, São Paulo State, Brazil. Photo: Mariordo | Wikimedia Commons.

Bioenergy made up over two thirds of the EU’s primary renewable energy production in 2009, according to Eurostat, and will account for more than half of EU states emissions reductions planned for 2020 in their National Renewable Energy Action Plans.

But a literature review conducted by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) concludes that, according to best known science, “the use of roundwood [trees] from forests for bioenergy purposes would cause an actual increase in GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions compared to fossil fuels in the short term”.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

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