UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)* – President Donald Trump’s decision to veto a bi-partisan Congressional resolution to end US military involvement in a devastating Saudi-led four-year conflict in Yemen– is expected to escalate the ongoing war in the trouble-plagued region.
Yemen home for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The weapons used by the Saudis in the reckless bombing of mostly civilian targets, including schools and hospitals, are largely from the United States: F-15 fighter planes, Bell helicopters, drones, air-to-surface missiles, M60 battle tanks, laser-guided bombs and heavy artillery.
Stress, excessively-long working hours and disease, contribute to the deaths of nearly 2.8 million workers every year, while an additional 374 million people get injured or fall ill because of their jobs, the UN labour agency, ILO, said on Thursday [18 April 2019].
ILO/Deloche P | Syrian workers process tobacco leaf in Lebanon. (file)
In a new report underlining ILO’s message that no paid work should threaten your wellbeing, your safety or your life, the agency identifies several new or existing occupational risks of growing concern, that affect women more than men.
Statement by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Policy Director, Ole Solvang, on the US President’s veto to a bill to end military support for the war in Yemen*
17 April 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* – “President Trump said that withdrawing from the war in Yemen would ‘negatively affect ongoing efforts to prevent civilian casualties.’ Yet if he was truly concerned about civilian life, he would first and foremost ensure that the US-supported Saudi-led coalition stop breaking the laws of war and depriving millions of Yemenis of life-saving assistance.
Yasser al Hibshi, 38, lost his house and three of his children in one of the first air raids launched by the Saudi-led coalition on the night of 26 March, 2015. Photo: Nuha Mohammedi/NRC
18 March 2019 (Wall Street International)* – In my last essay for the Wall Street International Magazine, I argued that Democrats and Independents need to push now for a single term presidency in the effort to prevent Trump from winning a second, if not third, presidential term1.
Trump is running high with the apparent economic boom in hiring (that is financed by heavy federal debts and tax reductions for the very wealthy), and the (false) belief that he has been “totally exonerated” after accusations of electoral “collusion” with Russia.
Trump believes he can win a second term, and he could do almost anything to win. There is also a real possibility that he could attempt to stay in office longer than the legally mandated two terms in office.
Beira, 16 April 2019 (IOM)* – One month after Cyclone Idai made landfall through Mozambique and neighbouring countries, despite the concerted efforts of humanitarian organizations, many families remain in need, and without assistance they lack the resources to repair and rebuild their homes. Latest figures indicate that more than 1.8 million people are in need, and nearly 240,000 houses were affected, half of those partially destroyed, and the other half totally destroyed.
Baby Ernesto was born the day before the cyclone; his family’s home was destroyed. They are now living in Samora Machel site. Photo: Amanda Nero
Heavy shelling overnight on Tuesday [16 April 2019] which hit a densely-populated neighbourhood of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, was condemned “in the strongest terms” by the head of the UN Mission there, after “scores” of civilians were reportedly killed and injured.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke | Former Parliament Speakers Chamber in Tripoli, Libya.
“Horrible night of random shelling of residential areas”, tweeted UN Special Representative Ghassan Salame on Wednesday, after the Abu Slim district was hit. “For the sake of 3 million civilians living in Greater Tripoli, these attacks should stop. NOW!”
Representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations agree more must be done, and urgently, to manage the millions of tonnes of e-waste produced each year.
GENEVA, 17 April 2019 (ILO)* – The ILO has called for urgent action to better manage the toxic flood of electric and electronic waste (e-waste) produced around the world, so it can be turned into a valuable source of decent work.
17 April 2019 (Wall Street International)* — Today there is worldwide concern over ecological problems and climate change in particular. A systems-view of the world shows us that pollution and climate change mutually interact, thereby spawning further crises: the loss of biodiversity, the huge wealth gap between rich and poor that forces the dispossessed to migrate towards wealthier nations, and the destabilization of democracy. There is much to be concerned about, and the rage and anxiety felt by those most affected is exacerbated by the indifference of the majority of influential governments.
Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency, as Max Blumenthal points out in his insightful book “The Management of Savagery: How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump,” was made possible not only by massive social inequality and concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of the oligarchic elites but by the national security state’s disastrous and prolonged military interventions overseas.
Swedish schoolgirl climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, reacts before a meeting of the Environment Committee at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 16 April 2019. [Photo: EPA-EFE/PATRICK SEEGER]
