Over 43 million people are in poverty in the US, says Trump in his speech to the US Congress

A Journal of People report

Source: Internet

US president Donald Trump delivered his first address to a joint session of the US Congress on Tuesday evening. His speech cites a few facts that expose condition of the US society:
“Tonight … we must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited.
“Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.
“Over 43 million people are now living in poverty, and over 43 million Americans are on food stamps.
“More than 1 in 5 people in their prime working years are not working.
“We have the worst financial recovery in 65 years.

26,000 children, mostly unaccompanied, crossed the Mediterranean in 2016, says UNICEF

A Journal of People report

Source: http://www.helprefugees.org.uk/

Almost 26,000 children made dangerous journey across the Mediterranean in 2016, and nine out of 10 of these children were unaccompanied, said a new report by UNICEF.
The figure is double the number of children who crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. The fact points to a spike in the number of unaccompanied children attempting to enter Europe from North Africa, mostly via Libya.
The UNICEF report A Deadly Journey for Children found that three-quarters of migrant children said they had experienced violence, harassment or abuse from adults.
The report is based on interviews with women and children in Libya. The migrants came from 11 different countries, and some of the children interviewed were actually born in Libya during their mother’s migration. The report details violence, harassment and aggression suffered by children at the hands of adults over the course of their journey.

Calcutta Notebook

by B J

Frontier | Vol. 49, No.33, Feb 19 – 25, 2017

The challenge for the Finance Minister in 2017 is to improve the quality of government expenditures. The present drive of demonetisation and towards cashless economy will lead to more transactions coming into the tax net. This will lead to a higher tax burden on the people. Lesser money will remain in the hands of the people and more money will come in the hands of the government. A person with an income of Rs 10,000 per month was, say, paying tax of Rs 2,000 earlier. He will now pay taxes of Rs 2,500 because more of his purchases will be of tax-paid goods. He will be poorer by Rs 500. The reduction of money in hands of the people will lead to a reduction in demand for goods in the market. This will have a negative impact on the economy. However, the final impact will depend upon how the government uses the additional revenue that is collected. This money can be used by the government in two ways : for increasing government investments in infrastructure such as railways and highways, or for increasing government consumption such as by providing higher salaries to government servants.

Bangladesh: February 21 and unchained participation

by Farooque Chowdhury

Frontier | 21 February, 2017

Aspiration for unchained participation in all walks of life is at the core of the spirit of Ekushey February, the Language Day observed on February 21 by the Baangaalees, and now observed as International Mother Language Day throughout the world. Aspiration for unchained participation is the spirit peoples nourish transcending time and ages all around the world as it’s a part of democratic way of life peoples aspire for around the globe. Ekushey’s spirit, thus, is democracy, universal.

Martyrs of Ekushey February, the February 21 Baanglaa Language Movement in 1952, and the role the people in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, played in the movement have vitalized the spirit. The movement was a duel between a people chained and a capital bent on imposing its demonic rule on the people in Bangladesh. And, the people emerged victorious.

Rulers in pre-1971-Pakistan were trying to keep the Baangaalee people in Poorba Baanglaa, East Bengal, disenfranchised to secure the interests of the capital the rulers represented. The plan to impose another language, Urdu, on the Baanglaa-speaking people in East Bengal was a part of that ill-motive. But the concerned capital was not matured and powerful enough to impose its requirement on the people. The capital had to stumble. Ultimately, it had to make a retreat.

Contention For Hegemony: Japan, China, America

by Mohan Guruswamy

Frontier | Vol. 49, No.33, Feb 19 – 25, 2017

Japan became Asia’s first world power when it defeated Russia in the 1904-5 Russo-Japanese war. This was the first major war of the 20th century and the first time a non-European power defeated a major European nation.

The war, which began the previous year in 1904 with the Imperial Japanese Navy laying siege to Port Arthur and with the Japanese Navy destroying the Russian Pacific fleet in a series of surprise attacks, ended with the climactic naval battle in the Tsushima straits between Korea and Japan.

Russia’s Baltic Fleet, which set sail from St Petersburg eight months earlier to relieve Port Arthur, consisted of eight battleships, including four new battleships of the Borodino class, as well as cruisers, destroyers and other auxiliaries for a total of 38 ships. The Japanese Combined Fleet, which was commanded by the now legendary Admiral Heihachiro Togo, had originally consisted of six battleships, was now down to four (two had been lost to mines), but still retained its cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats.

Shell Knew, Too: Investigation Reveals Big Oil Co.’s Decades-Long Climate Lies

by Nadia Prupis, staff writer

Common Dreams | 28 February, 2017

“Our energy consuming way of life may be causing climatic changes with adverse consequences for us all,” the video states. (Photo: FraserElliot/flickr/cc)

Oil giant Shell also knew of the dangers of climate change decades ago, while it continued to lobby against climate legislation and push for fossil fuel development, a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Dutch newspaper The Correspondent revealed Tuesday.

Shell created a confidential report in 1986 which found that the changes brought about by global warming could be “the greatest in recorded history,” and warned of an impact “on the human environment, future living standards, and food supplies, [that] could have major social, economic, and political consequences.”

Berta Cáceres’ Murder Linked to U.S.-Trained Soldiers, Leaked Court Docs Show

by Nika Knight, staff writer

Common Dreams | 28 February, 2017

A vigil for Berta Cáceres. (Photo: Daniel Cima/CIDH/flickr/cc)

Leaked court documents obtained by the Guardian and reported on Tuesday appear to corroborate a whistleblower’s claim that U.S.-trained special forces within the Honduran military were responsible for the death of prominent Indigenous land defender Berta Cáceres last year.

The whistleblower, a former soldier, alleged that the Honduran army was murdering activists on a secret “kill list,” as Common Dreams reported.

“Eight men have been arrested in connection with the murder, including one serving and two retired military officers,” the Guardian writes. “Officials have denied state involvement in the activist’s murder, and downplayed the arrest of the serving officer Maj Mariano Díaz, who was hurriedly discharged from the army.”

U.S. blockade of Cuba violates international law

Granma | 01 March, 2017

Photo: Jorge Luis González

PARÍS.–The U.S. blockade of Cuba was denounced as a violation of international law and the principal obstacle to the island’s development, according to participants in a colloquium on current affairs in Cuba, held in the French capital.

Héctor Igarza, Cuban ambassador in Paris, commented that despite the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the United States government continues to enforce the economic, commercial and financial blockade and, increasingly, its extra-territorial reach.

He recalled that since 2009, fines for a total of 14 billion dollar have been levied on international banks and companies, for doing business with Cuba, in a clear violation of international law.

Chilean Court Sentences 11 Pinochet-Era Intelligence Agents

telesur | 27 February, 2017

Agosto Pinochet staged a coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende with the support of the U.S. as part of Plan Condor. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A Chilean court condemned 11 agents of the intelligence services of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet Monday over the 1974 forced disappearances of Maria Alvarado Borgel and Martin Elgueta Pinto.

According to testimony, both victims were tortured before they were killed in the facilities of the intelligence service called Londres 38.

Special judge Leopoldo Llanos also ordered the Chilean state to pay about US$77,500 to each of the five brothers of the victims, all activists with the Revolutionary Left Movement, or MIR.