Dough
https://www2.qanonbin.com/paste/fppaHTdiq
(kept getting "Internal Server Error" on Clearnet)
Originally midnightriders #272 >>58744
News Corp., the parent company of the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, said it has reached a three-year agreement to provide content from its news sites around the globe to Google in exchange for “significant payments” from the search giant.
The deal appears to resolve a long-simmering standoff between News Corp. and Google that has spilled across multiple continents and spurred government efforts worldwide to curb Google’s growing dominance over online advertising, most prominently in Australia.
In addition to the Wall Street Journal and The Post, among the News Corp. publications participating in “Google News Showcase” in the US will be Barron’s and MarketWatch, the company said Wednesday. In the UK, the Times, the Sunday Times of London and the Sun will participate, and in Australia, it will include a range of news platforms including The Australian, news.com.au, Sky News and multiple local titles.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but News Corp. said the deal involves the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of ad revenue via Google’s ad technology services, the cultivation of audio journalism and meaningful investments in innovative video journalism by YouTube.
“Ethiopia conflict | A humanitarian disaster stares Tigray region in the face, warn experts”- https://youtu.be/xsN4K9jZcFo
Interesting that the conflict in Ethiopia started on the day of the US elections, 3 November. Coincidence?
Also, he mentions Eritrea’s involvement and Sudan taking the opportunity to reclaim a disputed territory.
“Latest reports say pregnant women are amongst the tens of thousands of people in need of assistance in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where fighting between the government and regional forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) is ongoing since November 2020. There are growing accusations of gross rights abuses on both sides. And, since the conflict erupted three months ago, nearly two million Ethiopians have been forced to flee the country's region, many arriving in neighboring Sudan with horrible injuries. We spoke to William Davison, who is the International Crisis Group's Ethiopia Senior Analyst earlier, to have him unpack the latest situation around fighting and the humanitarian crisis as it unfolds.”
Very Welcome!
Sorry it took so long, I kept getting the message about only so many threads can be created per hour and then Clearnet wanted to behave badly so here we are on Tor
“DR Congo Conflict | More than 2 000 people killed in eastern DRC in 2020”- https://youtu.be/4nHPp8DvsEo
[Conflict intensified from October 2020.]
“In 2020, the United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, and its partners registered a record of more than two-thousand civilians killed in three eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC. The deaths were recorded in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. Attacks by armed groups are carried out on the suspicion of collaboration with other rebels, or the Congolese security forces. Some of these locations are under threat from multiple armed groupings. Civilians find themselves trapped in the middle. To tell us more, we're joined from Kinshasa by UNHCR Representative for the DRC, Liz Ahua.”
Noteworthy statement;
13:55 – “Quite naturally, we are also advocating for the regional powers including the African Union to play a role to ensure the DRC which is a vastly rich country, one of the richest on the planet, is able to look after its population.”
[She probably did not get the memo that the DRC president is now the chair of the AU. If nothing was done until this point, nothing will ever be done.]
15:04 – “So there will be an end to it [conflict] but not by DRC alone, it has to be with the co-operation with of the international community. It has to be with the cooperation, continued cooperation that being reinstated because as you know the UN has a mission here, MONUSCO, and so there has been engagement and that engagement has to be sustained until such a time that DRC is able to find peace and recover security and develop itself.”
MONUSCO’s [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] involvement in the DRC
Below are a few excerpts from their website, https://monusco.unmissions.org/en/background.
Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the establishment of a new government there, some 1.2 million Rwandese Hutus — including elements who had taken part in the genocide — fled to the neighbouring Kivu regions of eastern DRC, formerly Zaïre, an area inhabited by ethnic Tutsis and others. A rebellion began there in 1996, pitting the forces led by Laurent Désiré Kabila against the army of President Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila’s forces, aided by Rwanda and Uganda, took the capital city of Kinshasa in 1997 and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In 1998, a rebellion against the Kabila government started in the Kivu regions. Within weeks, the rebels had seized large areas of the country. Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe promised President Kabila military support, but the rebels maintained their grip on the eastern regions. Rwanda and Uganda supported the rebel move¬ment, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD). The Security Council called for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of foreign forces, and urged states not to interfere in the country’s internal affairs.
Following the signing of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in July 1999 between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and five regional States (Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe) in July 1999, the Security Council established the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) by its resolution 1279 of 30 November 1999, initially to plan for the observation of the ceasefire and disengagement of forces and maintain liaison with all parties to the Ceasefire Agreement. Later in a series of resolutions, the Council expanded the mandate of MONUC to the supervision of the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement and assigned multiple related additional tasks.
On 1 July 2010, the Security Council, by its Resolution 1925, renamed MONUC the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) to reflect the new phase reached in the country.
The new mission was authorized to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate relating, among other things, to the protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence and to support the Government of the DRC in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.
The Council decided that MONUSCO would comprise, in addition to the appropriate civilian, judiciary and correction components, a maximum of 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 members of formed police units. Future reconfigurations of MONUSCO would be determined as the situation evolved on the ground, including: the completion of ongoing military operations in North and South Kivu as well as the Orientale provinces; improved government capacity to protect the population effectively; and the consolidation of state authority throughout the territory.
On March 27, 2018, the Security Council adopted the Resolution 2409 extending until March 31, 2019 MONUSCO's mandate in the DRC, including its intervention brigade’s. The Council also authorized a troop staffing level comprising 16,215 military personnel, 660 military observers and staff officers, 391 police officers and 1,050 members of the formed police units.
MONUSCO's strategic priorities were mainly to contribute to the following objectives: a) Protection of civilians; b) Support for the implementation of the December 31, 2016 agreement and the electoral process that led to the organization of the December 31, 2018 elections and a peaceful transfer of power.
In this resolution and for the first time, the Security Council called on the Secretary-General to develop a phased, progressive and comprehensive exit strategy in collaboration with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations country team and other relevant stakeholders, so as to promote country’s ownership and gradually transfer tasks for the purposes of an orderly withdrawal by MONUSCO. [Yet there were issues with the elections >>12849469 ]
On December 18, 2020, the Security Council adopted the Resolution 2556 and decided to extend MONUSCO's mandate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo until December 20, 2021 and, on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent or calling into question the agreed principles governing peacekeeping operations, by its intervention brigade.
[Yet the UN never resolved the conflict but were given more authority.]
“CRAM Survey: Hunger has worsened”- https://youtu.be/TX_D3dZfh-Q
“The latest CRAM survey found that hunger worsened despite welfare payments to fight the impact of COVID-19. eNCA's Jeremy Maggs and Devan Murugan discuss.”
“Vaal river sewage crisis”- https://youtu.be/3TDGpnZd7lA
“Vaal river polluted ‘beyond acceptable levels’, cabinet must intervene – SAHRC” - https://mg.co.za/special-reports/2021-02-18-vaal-river-polluted-beyond-acceptable-levels-cabinet-must-intervene-sahrc/ . Below are a few excerpts.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) sponsored this Mail & Guardian webinar and launched a report on the Gauteng Provincial Inquiry into the sewage problem of the Vaal River. Panellists included Professor Johann Tempelhoff, North-West University; Maureen Stewart, Vice-Chairperson, Save the Vaal Environment; Samson Mokoena, Co-ordinator, Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance; and Dhesigen Naidoo, Chief Executive of the Water Research Commission. The webinar was moderated by Shirley Mlombo, Senior Legal Officer, SAHRC.
The Vaal river, a source of water for about 19-million South Africans, is now polluted “beyond acceptable levels”, impacting on natural ecosystems and endangering the people’s health. This is according to a new report by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), released on Wednesday, the looks into the Vaal River’s sewage problem.
Experts weighing in on Wednesday said the report showed that the role of municipalities in managing water in the country should be re-evaluated, and that a human rights-based approach to water management more broadly should be adopted.
Among other examples, the reports indicated that the main sewers in Vanderbijlpark were blocked and that raw sewage had also seeped onto people’s properties.
“Kilolitres” of untreated sewage now flow into the Vaal as a result of “dilapidated” wastewater treatment plants, unable to process raw sewage, the inquiry found.
“The consequence is that the pollution is impacting natural ecosystems directly dependent on the water in and from the Vaal,” the report stated. The yellowfish population in the Vaal is also under threat of extinction because of the pollution, while livestock drinking the water have died. Raw sewage flowing into living areas is also a “major health hazard”, the report states. The situation has also impacted negatively on tourism in the area.
The commission found that the fact that raw sewage had flowed into the river for at least five years was a violation of a number of constitutional rights, including the constitutional right to human dignity and an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing.
The commission heard that the municipality had been let down by unprofessional service providers and that it suffered from a lack of skills. But the commission said it was the municipality’s responsibility to ensure that public funds were appropriately spent, and that appropriately qualified experts were available in South Africa.
Mokoena said access to clean water is a fundamental human right. “The capability of the state is key, because if the state cannot fulfil those basic human rights, then we are in a very, very serious situation,” he said.
Johann Tempelhoff said the problems with water management in South Africa were historical, leading to “significant lapses” in governance. Rapid urbanisation, the inability of municipalities to pay water boards, endemic poverty and a lack of technical know-how in government all contributed to the problem, he said.
In its report, the SAHRC acknowledged the legacy issues faced by Emfuleni and other municipalities. However, the report said there had been “extensive non-compliance at all spheres of government with legal frameworks”.
Dhesigen Naidoo, Chief Executive of the Water Research Commission, said there were 144 municipalities in the country delegated as water service authorities, of which Emfuleni was one. Of these 57 are classified as vulnerable or dysfunctional, while 72% don’t have staff with the full set of necessary skills to carry out their functions, Naidoo said.