02/05/2018
By Ellen Brown*
The Fed is aggressively raising interest rates, although inflation is contained, private debt is already at 150% of GDP, and rising variable rates could push borrowers into insolvency. So what is driving the Fed’s push to “tighten”?
Ellen Brown
30 April 2018| Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service
On March 31st the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time in 3 years and signaled its intention to raise rates twice more in 2018, aiming for a fed funds target of 3.5% by 2020.
LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate) has risen even faster than the fed funds rate, up to 2.3% from just 0.3% 2-1/2 years ago.
LIBOR is set in London by private agreement of the biggest banks, and the interest on $3.5 trillion globally is linked to it, including $1.2 trillion in consumer mortgages.
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02/05/2018
By Shabia Mantoo*
On arrival in war-torn country, refugees and migrants are routinely subjected to detention and abuse as UNHCR calls for unhindered access to detainees.
New arrivals rescued after the capsizing of a smuggling boat in the port of Aden in March 2009. © UNHCR/Rocco Nuri
ADEN, Yemen, April 2018 (UNHCR)* – In excruciating pain from weeks of beatings and now suffering from gangrene and facing a leg amputation, 30-year-old Ethiopian refugee Jon* never imagined his quest for safety would result in such a horrific ordeal.
“I landed in Yemen about a month ago. I was dragged by armed men who held me captive for over a month. They beat me so badly that I lost track of what was happening,” he recounted while awaiting surgery.
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02/05/2018
Alejandro: Photo from IOM
“I was born and raised in Mexico. From a young age I was interested in faraway lands, attracted by their different languages, picturesque landscapes and buildings, food and traditions. I studied International Business, and during this time I had the chance to do a couple of international exchanges to the United States.
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02/05/2018
Raising alarm over a “sharp” escalation in hostilities in Myanmar’s Kachin province, a UN human rights expert has called on all parties to ensure greater protection for civilians.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré | Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.
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The military have reportedly carried out aerial bombing and used artillery and heavy weapons in civilian areas close to the border with China.
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02/05/2018
After seeing for themselves the conditions facing Rohingya refugees in the camps of southern Bangladesh as well as homes they fled in Myanmar, Security Council members on 1 May 2018 called for them to be allowed a safe return.
UNRCO/Aye Thaw Da | The UN Security Council delegation, on mission to Myanmar, prepares to board a helicopter to fly to Maungdaw from Sittwe airport.
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Speaking to the press at the end of a four-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, Council members highlighted the need to establish conditions within Myanmar that allow the “safe, voluntary and dignified return” of refugees as well as accountability for the human rights violations that prompted the exodus.
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02/05/2018
More than 50 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving personnel serving with the United Nations and its partners in the field were received in the first three months of this year, the global organization said on 1 May 2018.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider | Secretary-General António Guterres has made fighting sexual exploitation and abuse a key priority.
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The allegations have not all been verified and many are in the preliminary assessment phase. They involve 66 victims, including 13 girls under the age of 18, and 16 victims whose age remains unknown.
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02/05/2018
United Nations agencies in Somalia have stepped up their response in the wake of devastating flash floods across large parts of the country that have impacted nearly 500,000 people and displaced close to 175,000 from their homes.
UN Photo/Ilyas Ahmed | The town of Belet Weyne in the Hiraan region of Somalia as seen from the air submerged in flood waters from the Shabelle river on 30 April 2018. Belet Weyne is currently experiencing its worst flooding ever and over 150,000 people have been displaced.
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According to the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the current floods are some of the worst the region has ever seen, and the current water level
exceeds a 50-year return period in most locations.
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02/05/2018
Science and technology offer part of the solution to climate change, inequality and other global issues, a United Nations official on 1 May 2018 said, spotlighting the enormous potential these fields hold for achieving humanity’s common goal, of a poverty and hunger-free world by 2030.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve (2nd right), the Permanent Representative of Belgium to the UN and chair of the session, speaks at the plenary session during the ECOSOC Integration Segment. Also in the picture are Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (left), Kamoliddinzoda Ilyos Jamoliddin, Deputy Minister of Trade of Tajikistan (2nd left) and Emer Herity, Secretary of ECOSOC (right).
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01/05/2018
April 2018 (UNEP-WCMC)* — A new study has revealed that human activities are affecting the deepest part of the ocean, more than 1,000 kilometers from the mainland.
Plastic pollution is emerging as one of the most serious threats to ocean ecosystems.
World leaders, scientists and communities recognize the urgent need for action, but the impacts of plastic pollution are not well understood.
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01/05/2018
By Franklin Lamb*
30 April 2018 – TRANSCEND Media Service* — “Uridu an aouda ela bayti fi Sourya!” (“I want to return home to Syria!”).
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 