28/10/2012
New satellite imagery [2] obtained by Human Rights Watch shows extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area of the coastal town of Kyauk Pyu – one of several areas of new violence and displacement.
Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Image Copyright: DigitalGlobe 2012; Source: EUSI
“The government of Burma should take immediate steps to stop sectarian violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Arakan State, in western Burma, and ensure protection and aid to both Rohingyas and Arakanese in the state,” Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch identified 811 destroyed structures on the eastern coastal edge of Kyauk Pyu following arson attacks reportedly conducted on October 24, 2012, less than 24 hours before the satellite images were captured.
The area of destruction measures 35 acres and includes 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges adjacent on the water, all of which were razed.
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27/10/2012
By Pepe Canales, Madrid, 27 October 2012 – Yet another bad day for Spain. On Friday 26 October, while ministers of the ruling conservative political bloc Partido Popular (Popular Party!) were once more trying to inject a new dose of fake, forced optimism, two official reports came to ruin their day, and this of millions of citizens.
Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajo | Wikipedia Commons
On the one hand, the nationalised bank, Bankia, hit new record losses with 7,053 billion euro (some 8,5 billion USD), the largest hole in the history of Spanish financial system.
Bankia was chaired until recently by former International Monetary Funds chief and outstanding Popular Party politician, Rodrigo Rato, who was vice-president of Jose Maria Aznar’s right wing government (1996-2004).
Just to give an example of the magnitude of this new collapse, Bankia has lost during three months only– this year’s third quarter, the huge amount of 2.605 million euro.
And government officials fear that Bankia’s losses will amount to up to10,000 million by the end of 2012.
The news has a strong impact on the already ill Spanish economy as Bankia accounts for 46 per cent of the total needs of capital injection of the country’s entire banking sector.
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27/10/2012
Athens, 27 October 2012 – Greece Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called an emergency meeting on Saturday 27 October with the ministers of finance, labor, health and administrative reform to discuss the new package of measures required by foreign creditors, i.e. the so-called Troika formed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for the disbursement of 31.5 billion euros worth of funding.
**Massive protests in Athens | Credit Kotsolis at English Wikipedia
Samaras aimed at striking a deal by Sunday 28 October over the new package of reforms, with his junior coalition partners, such as socialist PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos who on Friday 26 Oct. said that he would not back certain cutbacks to social security benefits while a number of PASOK deputies have said they will not vote for some of the privatization bills.
Another coalition member, Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis demands an improvement in the terms concerning labor reforms, which it strongly opposes. (Read the following report on the impact of the new austerity package).
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27/10/2012
New York, 27 October 2012 – The top United Nations envoy in Iraq on Saturday ]27 October] condemned “in the strongest terms” a series of attacks that killed and injured a number of people during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
**US lead an international military coalition to ‘liberate’ Iraq. Photo credit: User:Acdx
At least 20 people have reportedly been killed today [27 October] in the attacks, which took place in various parts of the country.
Among those targeted were pilgrims practicing their religious duties, either visiting relatives, the graves of dead family members, or shrines during Eid, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a news release.
“This is an atrocious act of violence against innocent worshipers of various faiths,” said Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNAMI.
“The targeting of worshipers is an appalling crime,” he added, urging those responsible for the attacks to show respect for Iraqis during the religious holiday.
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27/10/2012
Moscow, October 27 (RIA Novosti*) – Beijing vows to make no concessions on its territorial sovereignty and threatens to use force, against Japan among other countries, in response to any challenge to its territorial integrity, Xinhua news agency said citing a senior diplomat.
Senkaku Islands | RIA Novosti
“We want to live in friendship with all countries including Japan, but we have to uphold our principles and bottom line,” Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun was quoted as saying at a news conference.
Earlier in the month, Tokyo lodged an official protest with Beijing after Chinese surveillance ships entered the territorial waters of disputed islands in the East China Sea.
“However, should anyone want to challenge China’s bottom line on the issue of sovereignty, China will have no alternative but to respond forcefully so as to remove disturbance and obstacles and move steadily on the path of peaceful development,” the high-ranking Chinese diplomat added.
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27/10/2012
“Buddhist and Muslim communities continue to suffer from the violence in Rakhine State, so it is imperative that the Government pursues a policy of integration and long-term reconciliation between the two communities,” a United Nations independent expert said. “This will necessarily involve addressing the underlying causes of the tensions, which includes the endemic discrimination against the Rohingya community.”
UNHCR has distributed relief supplies to tens of thousands of people in communities affected by the unrest in Rakhine state. Photo: UNHCR Myanmar
Expressing concern about renewed deadly violence, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, called for the underlying causes of the tension and conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to be addressed as a priority.
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26/10/2012
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
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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26/10/2012
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
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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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 