PFAS CONTAMINATION MORE WIDESPREAD

PFAS – perfluoroalkyl substances, a family of more than 5,000 hardy chemicals used to make products ranging from firefighting foam to waterproof mascara – have widely pervaded the U.S. water supply, according to a new study by the private, nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG). Several of the chemicals have been linked to liver damage, kidney and testicular cancer, hormone disruption,...

LEBANON: “THE WEEK OF WRATH”

As the top of the economic ladder meet in Davos this week, the bottom rungs, sunk in poverty, deep in desperation, lacking basic human needs, and having lost everything and with nothing left to lose, are losing it. While stock markets across the globe, from which the one percent reap the riches, reach new highs, while England and much of...

IRAQ: MORE PROTESTS. U.S HERE TO STAY

Over the past four days, the street protests that began in October, but were halted following America’s assassination of General Soleimani at the Baghdad airport on 3 January, have continued. Adding to the over 500 killed and the thousands wounded by Iraqi security forces, another five demonstrators were reported killed and scores more wounded. Thousands of demonstrators continue to block...

TARGET IRAN: U.S. MILITARY BUILDUP

There were already over 50,000 U.S. troops in the Middle East before the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, a buildup by the Trump administration despite the President’s promise as a candidate to “end all endless wars.” Since the assassination, the Pentagon has been increasing its ground, air, and sea forces in the region by adding some 4,000 additional American...

LIBYA: ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

On Sunday, the two leaders of warring Libyan factions met in Berlin along with leaders and officials from Turkey, Russia, Egypt, France, Italy, UK, U.S., United Arab Emirates, Algeria, China, the Republic of the Congo, the United Nations, European Union, and African Union for an international summit in an attempt to stop the ongoing military conflict in Libya. On Monday,...

FRANCE: OLD STRIKES END, NEW STRIKES START

Last week, over 500,000 strikers continued the massive protest against proposed changes to the pension system, which is now over a month long. Ending the longest transport strike in the history of France this past weekend, other unions kept the fight going by cutting power to thousands in the southern suburbs of Paris. Last Friday, President Macron and his wife...