Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – The end of the year brought strife to Iraqi Kurdistan, The northern region has to deal with a reduced area of influence, internal and external political problems, and a financial crisis. This year brought major transformation to the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan and by […]
Saudi Arabia Killed 68 Yemeni Civilians in Just 1 Day: UN
TeleSur | – – A United Nations top official said warring sides in Yemen, especially the Saudi-led coalition, have no regard for human life. The top U.N. official in Yemen said Thursday that Saudi-led airstrikes have killed scores of civilians in the past 10 days, including 68 in just one day, in what he called […]
Egyptian parliament moves to make atheism a crime
Brian Whitaker | ( al-Bab.com The Egyptian parliament’s committee on religion has announced plans to make disbelief in God a crime. Under the current law against “contempt of religions” atheists can be prosecuted for expressing their disbelief in public but the committee’s proposal would go further and criminalise disbelief itself. In 2014, little more than a […]
Barack Obama tells Prince Harry how he felt after Donald Trump’s inauguration (Video)
Prince Harry/ Barack Obama | (BBC News Video) | – – “Barack Obama opens up about how he felt after Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.” BBC: How Obama felt after Trump’s inauguration – BBC News
Is Trump’s threat to sacred Bears Ears like Taliban blowing up Buddhas?
George Nicholas | (The Conversation) | – – For many archaeologists, one of the darkest moments in memory was the destruction of the fourth and fifth-century Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001. That tragedy was later eclipsed by ISIS’s destruction of Baghdad museum artifacts, Palmyra temples and other structures elsewhere. mypubliclands / Creative Commons […]
Heating with Coal Takes 3 Years off Your Life: China Study
Feng Hao | (ChinaDialogue) | – – Lives in northern China are shorter than in the south because of air pollution from heating, reports Feng Hao In Beijing, the switch from coal to gas heating has reduced levels of tiny particles (PM2.5 and PM10) in November by 55% and 46% on last year (Image: Nick McIntosh) Each year, the winter chill creates […]
Ignoring Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing is Creating another Palestine
Middle East Monitor | – – The international community must act swiftly on the Rohingya crisis or the world will create another Palestine. That was the stark warning issued by a delegation from the Middle East in a meeting with the Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament on Tuesday. The members of the delegation included representatives […]
Oil Giants’ $180 Bn Binge on Plastics to *Permanently* Pollute Oceans
TeleSur | – – Major chemical and petroleum companies knew about the copious amounts of water pollution caused by them as far back as the 1970’s. Oil giants will put colossal funding in plastic production raising the production by 40 percent over the next decade, and in turn risking a “permanent pollution” scenario in water […]
Why the Israeli Right is wrong to put Hopes in Trump’s Jerusalem Decision
Shlomo Ben-Ami | (Project Syndicate) | – – Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may have been bombastic, but it will not change much. It does not preclude the city’s eventual division into two capitals as part of a peace settlement, much less guarantee Israel sovereignty over all of Jerusalem as its […]