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The United States (US) national labour union coalition along with racial and social justice organizations plan to stage a mass walkout on July 20th to highlight racism. Workers belonging from tens of thousands of fast-food, ride-share, nursing-home and airports in more than 25 US cities are planning to join “Strike for Black Lives”- a full day strike where workers will walk off from their jobs. The workers who won’t be able to join the strike for a whole day plan to walk out for about eight minutes- the same amount of time a white Minneapolis police officer put his knee on George Floyd's neck leading to George’s death and the resurgence of anti-racism protests all over the US. The strike is in remembrance of Black men and women who died recently at the hands of police. The organizers o...

On Wednesday, Facebook took down 50 personal and professional pages connected to Roger Stone who is a long-time adviser to US President Donald Trump. The social media platform has been under pressure from civil rights advocates, allied groups and hundreds of advertisers with more than  40 major brands across a variety of industries, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Unilever,  joining a boycott under the StopHateForProfit campaign demanding the company crackdown on hateful and divisive messages. Facebook officials reported that they removed Stone’s personal Facebook and Instagram pages as well as his Stone Cold Truth Facebook page with 141,000 followers. Facebook Inc. removed Stone’s 54 Facebook accounts and 50 pages that had spent more than $300,000 on advertisements over these couple ye...

According to a human rights watchdog, at least 25 Bangladeshi civilians were killed by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in the first half of 2020. On Monday, a Bangladesh-based human rights group called Odhikar released a report stating that the BSF killed 45, injured 17, and abducted 3 Bangladeshi citizens between January and June 2020. The report also said: "During this period, a BSF member entered Bangladesh and shot dead an SSC (secondary school certificate) examinee engaged in agricultural work.buy levitra oral jelly online https://www.ecladent.co.uk/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/inc/new/levitra-oral-jelly.html no prescription " According to local Bangladeshi media reports the secondary school certificate examinee, Shimon Roy aged 16, was shot dead on April 19 in the ...

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "Beijing has a pattern of instigating territorial disputes. The world shouldn’t allow this bullying to take place, nor should it permit it to continue". The US Secretary of State referred to the recent June 15 Galwan Valley territorial dispute between India and China, which left 20 Indian soldiers killed. Pompeo accused China of taking "incredibly aggressive action" in the clash with India over the disputed area on the Line of Actual Control. The US Secretary of State, during a news conference at the State Department, stated that "The Chinese took incredibly aggressive action. The Indians have done their best to respond to that,” and that we should “put this in the context of General-Secretary Xi Jinping and his behaviour throughout ...

The director of FBI, Christopher Wray, in an hour-long speech for the Hudson Institute in Washington, outlined a multi-pronged disruption campaign by China. The speech involved talking about Chinese interference in the US via an economic espionage campaign, data and monetary theft and illegal political activities where China allegedly uses bribery and blackmail to influence US policy. Wray referred to these acts of Chinese espionage and theft as the “greatest long-term threat" to the future of the US. The FBI director said, "China is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the world's only superpower by any means necessary". He stated that China was targeting Chinese nationals living abroad under a programme called “Fox Hunt” which is geared at forcing Chinese nationals li...

On Tuesday, the United Nations (UN) expert on extrajudicial killings stated in a report that the United States (US) drone strike that killed Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was "unlawful". The Iranian generals’ killing was ordered by the US President Donald Trump on January 3 via a drone strike near Baghdad international airport. The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, Agnes Callamard, in her report on arbitrary executions stated that "In light of the evidence that the US has provided to date, the targeting of General Soleimani, and the deaths of those accompanying him, constitute an arbitrary killing for which, under IHRL [international human rights law] the US is responsible." Callamard’s reported concluded with the killing being calle...

On Tuesday, Russia and China vetoed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from extending its approval of the year-long aid delivery to Syria from Turkey. Russia and China blocked the aid delivery despite the UN warnings of Syrian lives depending on the cross-border access. Stephane Dujarric, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, said that cross-border access was “vital to the wellbeing of the civilians in northwest Syria ... Lives depend on it.” This UNSC draft resolution was drafted by Germany and Belgium in order to reopen the Iraq crossing for six months to help Syria fight the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution was voted in favour by 13 council members. Global North diplomats have stated that the blocking of the Iraq crossing cuts off 40% of medical ...

The United States (US) formally withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) after the Trump administration notifies the US congress and the United Nations. In the notice sent to the secretary-general of the United Nations, a US State Department official stated that the US’s intention to withdraw is effective on July 6, 2021, drawing a one-year timeline. The Trump administration’s decision comes following a threat Donald Trump made about quitting the WHO on Twitter in May. Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, on twitter, announced the move saying, "Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the ⁦@WHO⁩ in the midst of a pandemic. To call Trump's response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn...