8 March 2015 (RT)*— Israel is suffering the “worst crisis since its creation” under Netanyahu’s leadership, a former Mossad director told a crowd of up to 50,000 in Tel Aviv. The anti-government rally was orchestrated and funded from abroad, said the ruling Likud party.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel addresses the General Assembly. UN Photo/J Carrier
Delivering his keynote speech, Meir Dagan, the former Mossad director spoke of the government’s lack of vision and inability to properly direct the country surrounded by enemies.
“I am frightened by our leadership. I am afraid because of the lack of vision and a loss of direction. I am frightened by the hesitation and the stagnation [of Israel’s government]. And I am frightened, above all else, from a crisis in leadership. It is the worst crisis that Israel has seen to this day,” Maj. Gen Dagan told a receptive crowd in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, held under the banner of ‘Israel wants change.’
I was watching The Speech by Binyamin Netanyahu before the Congress of the United States. Row upon row of men in suits (and the occasional woman), jumping up and down, up and down, applauding wildly, shouting approval.
It was the shouting that did it. Where had I heard that before?
And then it came back to me. It was another parliament in the mid-1930s. The Leader was speaking. Rows upon rows of Reichstag members were listening raptly. Every few minutes they jumped up and shouted their approval.
Of course, the Congress of the United States of America is no Reichstag. Members wear dark suits, not brown shirts. They do not shout “Heil” but something unintelligible. Yet the sound of the shouting had the same effect. Rather shocking.
But then I returned to the present. The sight was not frightening, but ridiculous. Here were the members of the most powerful parliament in the world behaving like a bunch of nincompoops.
6 March 2015, Human Rights Watch— The United States continues to fund and support a network of abusive Afghan strongmen in the name of security. It’s time to stop.
**Photo: Central photo: A US soldier and an Afghan interpreter in Zabul, 2009. | DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Adam Mancini, U.S. Army – Mountain Ridge Security | Wikimedia Commons
In October 2013, police in Kandahar — the Afghan province that is the birthplace of the Taliban and home to some of the fiercest fighting in the war — picked up “Tariq” for alleged ties to the insurgents. Whether those allegations were true will remain unknown.
Tariq, whose name has been changed for security purposes, died in custody days later from wounds inflicted on his skull with an electrical drill. His case is not unique.
Over the past two years, dozens of Kandahari residents have been tortured to death by the province’s police — one of a range of forces in Afghanistan that the United States supports and equips.
SHERKOLE CAMP, Ethiopia, 6 March 2015 (UNHCR)*– Every morning, just before 4am, Masika Basemé-Jeanne reaches for the snooze button on her mobile phone alarm. She’d love to continue dreaming of her former life with her husband and driving her taxi around Kinshasa, but she knows there are 1,500 loaves of bread to be baked.
The 47-year-old Congolese lives in Sherkole refugee camp, western Ethiopia, arriving a little over two years ago. Uprooted from a happy life in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she and her family had ended up in the North Kivu province town of Butembo in 2012.
When the fighting in north-eastern Nigeria came to Baga town, thousands of survivors fled across Lake Chad, searching for safety.
UNHCR/Olivier Laban-Mattei | Survivors of the attack on Baga move to a safer location in Chad.
6 March 2015 – A long canoe slips through the reeds on the calm waters of Lake Chad. The faces on board are tense, including that of 16-year-old Alhaji Haoudou, who is eager to jump onto the sandy shores of Baga Sola, Chad. One of more than 80 passengers, he fled Nigeria weeks earlier, throwing himself into an overloaded vessel following a massacre back home on 3 January.
That day, fighters burned down a dozen villages as well as the port town of Baga, on the western shore of Africa’s fourth largest lake. Several dozen people – and perhaps several hundred, according to some accounts – perished in a few days. Others drowned while crossing the lake.
United Nations*, New York, 6 March 2015 – “I already heard in the past that women and men are equal,” said Firuza Sirojeva, a schoolgirl in Tajikistan, after attending a workshop on women’s rights. “But here, at the training, I learned that it might be real.”
This year, International Women’s Day, on 8 March, marks 20 years since the historic World Conference on Women in Beijing underlined gender equality as a global priority.
Solid evidence links the advancement of women’s and girls’ empowerment to the health, education, productivity and welfare of future generations. Yet, around the world, gender equality remains elusive.
7 March 2015 (RT)* – A report from France’s professional equality council details alarming sexism in the workplace, with 80 percent of women claiming to be victims. The French government has called these practices “unacceptable.”
Source: RT
A survey was carried out by the Higher Council of Professional Equality (CSEP), which polled 15,000 French women in 2013. CSEP has now come out with a report that details the impact of sexism on confidence and performance in women, using the data gathered earlier.
The majority of women in the French workplace say they experience chauvinistic attitudes from men on a regular basis. These include patronizing greetings, such as those followed by some diminutive term, and a host of other things to do with sexist decision-making by superiors and, of course, sexist jokes.
All around the world, International Women’s Day represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality.*
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Source: International Women’s Day 2015
Make It Happen is the 2015 theme for our internationalwomensday.com global hub, encouraging effective action for advancing and recognising women.
Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911.
Thousands of events occur to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women’s groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day.
Various organisations identify their own International Women’s Day theme, specific to their local context and interests.
By Oxfam*, 7 March 2015 — Four women who live in camps in South Sudan told us about their difficulties, their challenges and their hope.
Source: Oxfam
Cecilia* – Displaced in UN House, Juba
Cecilia was born and raised in Bentiu, Upper Nile state in South Sudan. She was expecting her third child when the crisis began in December 2013. In search of safety, Cecilia fled to the UN compound to keep her family safe. In June, she relocated to Juba and is now living in “UN House,” a camp where the UN is providing protection for displaced people.
By Oxfam*, 6 March 2015— “Repeated floods and disturbed rain patterns were depriving us of food. Even when there were no floods, early or late rain spells became a permanent threat to our crops which are the source of our livelihoods. I had not heard of the climate change phenomenon. I only later found out that this is the result of climate change.”
Source: Oxfam
Hakim Mai is a 27 year old mother of two small children living in the Multan District of the Punjab Province in Pakistan. “Our district is bearing the brunt of the worst impacts of climate change at present,” she says.
“I was part of a poor community, facing persistent threats to our livelihoods from the effects of climate change.” Hakim and her family members often had to go to bed hungry.
“But then I decided to make a difference, and I am happy with the results of my efforts. I can see how it has improved life for my family and my community.”
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 