19/03/2016
UNITED NATIONS, 19 March 2016 (IPS) – When the only female candidate failed in her attempt to become UN Secretary-General back in late 2006, an Asian diplomat weighed in with an upgraded Biblical quote: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle”, he said, “than for a woman to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations.”
**Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the only female candidate failed in her attempt to become UN Secretary-General back in late 2006 | NATO photos
But as an unrelated New Yorker cartoon jokingly pronounced: “We (may still) need either bigger needles or smaller camels.”
That female candidate, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, never made it to the 38th floor of the UN Secretariat, the office of the UN chief.
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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples |
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19/03/2016
By Uri Avnery*
19 March 2016
SO IS Hezbollah a terrorist organization?
Of course not.
So why has the Arab League decided that they are?
Uri Avnery
Because most of the league’s member states are Sunni Muslims, while Hezbollah is a Shiite organization supporting Shiite Iran and Alawite (quasi-Shiite) Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
So were Israel’s Arab parties right when they condemned the league’s resolution?
Right, yes. Wise, no.
LET’S START with Hezbollah. Surprisingly enough, it is in a way an Israeli creation.
Lebanon is an artificial state. For centuries, it was considered a part of Syria.
Because of its mountainous terrain, it was an ideal place for small persecuted sects, which could defend themselves there. Among them is the Maronite Christian community, called after a monk by the name of Maron.
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Posted in Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords |
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19/03/2016
Añelo, a Patagonian town in southwest Argentina that experienced explosive growth because it is next to the country’s biggest shale oil and gas field, is now starting to feel the impact on the development of these resources due to the plunge in international oil prices. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS
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Posted in Climate Crisis, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples |
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19/03/2016
The UN on 18 March 2016 appointed Red, the leader of the “Angry Birds” mobile game characters, as an envoy to inspire climate action toward a sustainable and happier future for all.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Red from the ‘Angry Birds’ who was appointed Honorary Ambassador for International Day of Happiness. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples |
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19/03/2016
16 March 2016, (Oxfam)* – Banks in France are relying heavily on tax havens to increase their profits, according to a study based on new data that for the first time allows a proper analysis of the role that tax havens play in European business.
**Paris business district of La Défense (cities of Puteaux, Courbevoie and Nanterre) as seen from the tour Défense 2000. | Author: Dimitri Destugues | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. | Wikimedia Commons
The five banks investigated in today’s [16 March] new study disclosed having 16 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands alone – with no staff – from which they still declare €45 million in profits.
The study by Oxfam, CCFD-Terre Solidaire and Secours Catholique-Caritas shows that the “big five” French banks make a third of their international profits in tax havens – close to €5 billion – even though they pay only a fifth of their taxes to these jurisdictions (€825 million).
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