junesim63

junesim63 , 3 hours ago (edited 3 hours ago) to random

Finally!
The International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas in Gaza & for President Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Galant for war crimes.

This will put a very large cat among those pigeons who are enabling such war crimes.

#Hamas #Israel #ICC #WarCrimes #Gaza #Netanyahu
Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine | International Criminal Court
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state

junesim63 , 4 hours ago to random

"After seven months of enabling Israel’s large-scale destruction of Gaza...Biden finally took a step toward accountability by suspending one shipment of bombs. But within days, it became clear he would allow Israel to receive a far larger flow of weapons.

Biden will go down in history as a president who had the power to restrain Israel, but refused to use his influence effectively – and allowed the US to be complicit in a ruthless war"
Mohamad Bazzi

#Biden #Israel #Gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-war

chrischirp , 5 hours ago to random

New post by Prof Martin McKee explaining the truth about the WHO pandemic treaty - including why it's absolutely needed and debunking all the pernicious disinformation going round, including by Farage and others

https://open.substack.com/pub/independentsage/p/the-who-pandemic-treaty-is-neccessary?r=315tdh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

junesim63 , 7 hours ago to random

Good article on the difficulty of bringing Rwanda and its officials to justice over its involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Rwanda under dictator Paul Kagame has consistently refused the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) making it impossible to try any cases.
#Rwanda #DRC #M23 #ICJ #ICC
Rwanda’s role in eastern DRC conflict: why international law is failing to end the fighting
https://theconversation.com/rwandas-role-in-eastern-drc-conflict-why-international-law-is-failing-to-end-the-fighting-229731

junesim63 , 8 hours ago to random

Shareholder investment in the top ten privatised UK water and sewage companies has decreased by £5.5bn since privatisation. while dividend payments have increased to £72.8bn according to a new analysis by the University of Greenwich.

Well, colour me surprised.

#Water #Privatisation #Ofwat

Water investors have withdrawn billions from private companies, analyst claims | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-water-companies-bills-privitisation-ofwat-brixham-b2547781.html

junesim63 , 9 hours ago (edited 8 hours ago) to random

Good from Bill Mitchell on how the City of London lobbies and effectively controls government policy, even having an official parliamentary lobbyist, The Remembrancer, installed opposite the Speaker's chair.
Good too on Labour’s fear of the City and why this is wrong. Effective legislation can easily curb its power.

#LabourParty #CityOfLondon #Economics #UKPolitics
Tracing the British Labour Party’s fears of The City – Part 1 – William Mitchell – Modern Monetary Theory
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61760

junesim63 , 19 hours ago to random

The Rwandan government has barred Clementine de Montjoye, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, from entering the country, prompting accusations that officials are seeking to dodge independent scrutiny just weeks before the UK government is due to send asylum seekers there for the first time.

#HRW #Rwanda #HumanRights #AsylumSeekers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/19/rwanda-denies-entry-to-senior-human-rights-researcher

junesim63 , 19 hours ago to random

I prefer to call this the Fascist International.

"International far-right leaders, including France’s Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s Javier Milei, came together in Madrid to rail against socialism and “massive illegal migration”

Other visitors included Israeli minister Amichai Chikli, André Ventura, the leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega party, and the Chilean far-right leader José Antonio Kast.

Lovely.

#Fascism
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/19/european-far-right-leaders-gather-ahead-of-eu-elections

junesim63 , 20 hours ago to random

Harrison's making it all about him.
#TheArchers

junesim63 , 22 hours ago to random

To all members of mstdn.social.

After the migration to new servers, I seem to have lost all old posts from members of my lists. Has anyone else had the same problem?

@stux is there a way of retrieving these?

#MstdnSocial

junesim63 , 1 day ago to random

"Essentially, staging an Olympic Games is about improving how the world thinks of you. With an absoluteness hard to describe, Parisians don’t give a stuff what the world thinks about them. It is, by far, their best feature"

As someone who has lived and worked in Paris, I wholeheartedly concur.
#Paris #Olympics2024 #France

You think Parisians grumble a lot? Don’t get them started on the Olympic Games | Robert McLiam Wilson | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/18/you-think-parisians-grumble-a-lot-dont-get-them-started-on-the-olympic-games

junesim63 , 1 day ago to random

Standing Together, a grassroots movement focused on an Arab-Jewish partnership plans to mobilize Israelis in an attempt to quell the recent spate of attacks on trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza perpetrated by right-wing settlers.
The group is a large, fast-growing movement dedicated to "mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice."

#Israel #Gaza #StandingTogether

Israel News - Haaretz.com
https://archive.is/qsi0Y

junesim63 , 1 day ago to random

"The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.
Shamefully, children from ethnic minorities and homes where someone is disabled are most affected."

The Archbishop of Canterbury in a (useless?) appeal to Starmer to scrap the two-child benefits cap when in government.

#LabourParty #UniversalCredit

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/18/archbishop-canterbury-urges-starmer-to-ditch-cruel-two-child-benefit-cap

junesim63 , 1 day ago to random

I am not going to quote from this article the details of the torture meted out to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. However, the fish rots from the head.

"Lawyers and prisoners’ rights groups draw a direct line between the abuse of Palestinians detained within the Israeli prison system and far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees it and handpicked its new acting head Kobi Yaakobi for his tough stance"

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #Torture
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/18/israeli-abuse-of-jailed-palestinian-leader-marwan-barghouti-amounts-to-torture

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

Lawyers & migrant rights campaigners have warned that the government is heading for a repeat of the Windrush scandal after imposing a “cliff edge” deadline by the end of 2024 for immigrants to switch from physical biometric residence permits (BRPs) to digital e-visas.
Our incompetent Home Office is in charge of this change, so it will go swimmingly of course.

#Immigrants #HomeOffice #EVisas #BRP #HomeOffice

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/18/digital-visa-switch-uk-immigrants-december-deadline

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

He's been a very good boy this morning. It only took two of us and some Dreamies to take his temperature at the vet, and he only growled once (as would I if someone stuck an implement up my bum).
He's had a virus infection, but he now has a clean bill of health. So it's a good #Caturday today.

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

On now on #BBCRadio3, the story of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, started by the remarkable Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim, to bring Arab and Israeli young people together to make classical music.
It’s now its 25th anniversary.

Also moving, as the presenter & violinist Clemency Burton-Hill, who joined the orchestra briefly in 2008, is still recovering from a catastrophic brain injury, which left her initially unable to speak or play.
#ClassicalMusic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001z5h7

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

"If you hadn’t had Ukraine you could make some case that Gaza is a faraway conflict of which we know little..Ukraine’s blown all that out the water. We were very clear: foreign occupation is bad, illegal invasion is bad, bombing civilian neighbourhoods is bad, targeting World Central Kitchen [in Ukraine, as Russia did in 2022] is bad. It’s a genocide, said Joe Biden, very casually"

#Israel #Gaza #MehdiHasan

Mehdi Hasan: “We don’t value Palestinian life” - New Statesman
https://archive.is/iRnfe

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

"This is what it looks like when a community of shepherds is suffocating. The sheep are locked up in their pens and all the grazing land in the vicinity is blocked by violent settlers who have seized control of the area, and all that, combined with the high price of food, deprives the shepherds of the possibility of existence. The children are terrified"
Gideon Levy in Haaretz

#Israel #WestBank #Settlers #SettlerViolence #EthnicCleansing

https://archive.is/G0nEC

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

Some good news.

An insect glue, produced from edible oils, inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey, has been produced in a new trial. A key advantage is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.

#Environment #Pesticides #Farming #Biodiversity #Agriculture

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/18/sticky-trick-new-glue-spray-kills-plant-pests-without-chemicals?CMP=GTUK_email

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

The Labour Party has been accused of “disgusting” behaviour towards a Palestinian man who lost his family in Gaza, after refusing to reveal what information the party has gathered on him.
Police dragged Dalloul Neder out of a Labour fundraising event attended by the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, in January, after he held up a picture of his late mother and told the audience: “I lost my family in Gaza… I want to show you my mum.”

#LabourParty #Gaza #UKPolitics
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-information/labour-accused-racism-palestinian-dalloul-neder-angela-rayner-subject-access-request-gaza/?_kx=Y6Jr9DX7uTfIhCWL5xh7Xk6toSLI9GmA13iML-VdLDs.YjCYwm

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

The government is starting a pilot to allow local councils to force the rental of High Street shops vacant for more than a year, for the lowest rent achievable.
Some 80% of vacant shops in the UK have been empty for more than two years, while over one in five has stood vacant for longer than four years.
Of course, landlords aren't happy as they keep them empty to maintain artificially high valuations. Sad.

#HighStreets #CityCentres #Landlords #UKPolitics

https://archive.is/HYLPK

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

Arts Council England (ACE) issued a warning that “political statements” could break funding agreements after discussions with the government about artists speaking out over the Israel-Gaza war.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the issue was discussed in a meeting between ACE and DCMS on 12 December 2023. The meeting, titled “ACE/DCMS Liaison Meeting” included the agenda item “Reputational risk relating to Israel/Gaza conflict”.

#Israel #Gaza #UKPolitics #Arts
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/may/17/arts-council-gaza-political-statements-warning-to-artists-government-talks

junesim63 , 2 days ago to random

Major media companies The New Statesman and Politico have sparked a wave of criticism after allowing Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor, which is behind the UK’s largest new North Sea project, to sponsor events on climate change.

Both saw MPs pull out over the sponsorship, while the first was interrupted by a climate activist.

#Equinor #Oil #Gas #Politico #NewStatesman #ClimateEmergency

https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/17/protests-equinor-media-energy-climate-sponsorship-greenwashing-new-statesman-politico/

junesim63 , 3 days ago to random

Home Office officials fear the number of migrants deported on the first Rwanda flight could be in single figures because of legal challenges.

The concerns are believed to be behind moves to expand the scheme to include ALL failed asylum seekers on top of the initial cohort of 5,700 migrants so far earmarked for deportation.

Given Rwanda only has room for a few hundred currently, this is arrant nonsense and performative cruelty.

#AsylumSeekers #Rwanda #HomeOffice

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/16/fewer-10-migrants-first-rwanda-flights-officials-fear/

rooftopjaxx , 3 days ago to random

Three Hackney councillors dramatically quit Labour to form independent group
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2024/05/17/three-hackney-councillors-quit-labour-independent-group/

#Hackney #Labour #Palestine

junesim63 , 3 days ago to random

Graham King, an Essex businessman who won government contracts paying his firm £3.5m a day for transporting and accommodating asylum seekers has been named among the 350 richest people in the UK.

Profiting from misery the UK way.

#SundayTimesRichList #AsylumSeekers #Billionnaires

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/british-asylum-housing-tycoon-breaks-into-sunday-times-rich-list

junesim63 , 3 days ago to random

One of the first foreign photographers in Gaza, Sean Sutton, who was travelling with NGO UK-Med, documents the destruction in Khan Younis, in hospitals and photographs the destitution in the Israeli-designated ‘humanitarian zone’ of al- Mawasi.
Some shocking pictures.

#Photography #Israel #Gaza #Palestine #KhanYounis #AlMawasi

‘Smoke and chaos’: a snapshot of Gaza – in pictures | Global development | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2024/may/17/smoke-and-chaos-a-snapshot-of-gaza-in-pictures

junesim63 , 3 days ago to random

John Woodcock, formerly a Labour MP & now a crossbench peer, has prepared a review of “far-left” involvement in disruptive protest, including activism against climate change & war. At the same time, he has been chairing & advising lobby groups representing arms manufacturers & fossil fuel firms.

Woodcock gained his peerage for his part in smearing Corbyn. He resigned from Labour to avoid investigations of sexual assault allegations.
A nasty little grifter.

#Protests
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/government-adviser-on-disruptive-protest-accused-of-conflict-of-interest?CMP=firstedition_email

drandrewv2 , 3 days ago to random

Unite (the union) is lobbying Labour to row back on pledge of no new North Sea oil & gas licenses…

Genuinely interested to hear what people think of this…

I trained in climate science, and now work for a union (formerly and soon to be back in an energy sector union), so I have very strong and possibly conflicting views on the subject!

Tell me your wildest thoughts on workers’ protections in the energy transition. You probably can’t shock me…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/union-urges-labour-not-to-ban-new-north-sea-licences-without-plan-for-jobs

junesim63 , 3 days ago to random

In the Financial Times today:

"Britain’s debt-laden water utilities are being encouraged by the regulator Ofwat to set up new privately financed companies to deliver billions of pounds worth of critical infrastructure such as reservoirs, treatment works and pipelines, which will be paid for through customer bills"

Outrageous. Nationalise them without compensation and abolish Ofwat, which is totally compromised.

#Water #Privatisation #Ofwat #PFI
#UKPolitics
https://archive.is/K408y

wcow , 3 days ago to TheArchers group

Other than the fruit cider, iIs the pond weed another clue? It was stuck on Fallon and George. George moved Alice, maybe transferring some onto Alice.
Where is the Silent Witness team? Grasping at straws in #thearchers @thearchers

junesim63 , 4 days ago to random

"Adnan Al-Bursh was the head of the orthopedic wing at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. During the war, he had to wander from one hospital to the next, as they were all destroyed by the IDF. He has not been back to his home in Jabalya since the start of the war, and last December all trace of him disappeared. Recently, it transpired that he had died in an Israeli jail, apparently due to the torture of beatings during interrogation"
New from Gideon Levy

#Israel #Gaza #Torture
https://archive.is/UafQq

junesim63 , 4 days ago to random

"A defining feature of life in India today is the suffocating atmosphere of menace and threat to critics of the government. Shah is the face and embodiment of this fear, which lurks everywhere, from the newsrooms to the courtrooms, and which inspires a sense of alarm that is bigger than the sum of the facts and anecdotes that can be amassed to illustrate it"

Chilling long read on the rise of Amit Shah, Modi's right-hand man.

#India #BJP #AmitShah #Fascism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/amit-shah-narendra-modi-right-hand-man-india

junesim63 , 4 days ago to random

This is an important case given current crimes against humanity in the Middle East and Africa.
Switzerland tried the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute people for crimes that took place elsewhere.
Philip Grant, head of the organisation that filed the complaint leading to Ousman Sonko's arrest, said the case sends a "resounding message against impunity".

#Gambia #Africa #Europe #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Law #HumanRights

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjljl54n0z1o

RichardJMurphy , 4 days ago to random

Starmer’s plan is for a government offering platitudes, minor admin reforms and a few more teachers in England alone. Ambition has rarely been as small as this. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/05/16/starmers-plan-is-for-a-government-offering-platitudes-minor-admin-reforms-and-a-few-more-teachers-in-england-alone-ambition-has-rarely-been-as-small-as-this/. Starmer’s six new pledges amount to almost nothing of any consequence that will have any real impact on most people’s lives. Has someone so lacking in vision, hope or expectation ever sought power in the UK before?

MissConstrue , 4 days ago to random

Today is #NakbaDay, the day when Palestinians remember being forced out of their homes, and the dawn of the camps which hold so many.
These are my greatgrandparents, and the female survivors of Nakba. They survived only because they were in Lebanon for a cousin's wedding.
At one point, my family was one of the oldest, largest, and wealthiest families in the Levant. We built soap factories that were Unesco heritage sites until the IDF leveled them. We built universities and houses of worship. We had trade routes stretching from China to Persia. When Britain brought Nazi survivors to Palestine, my family built them homes, a temple and a school.
They were repaid by the Irgun waiting until the patriarch was away, then they lined up every male between newborn and death, and shot them. The women were forced to leave with nothing but what they could carry. All of their assets were seized.
We will never forget. After this latest massacre, we will never forgive. #Gaza #Palestine #Nakba