Greater Middle East
syria

Iran cites international law in attack on Israel

Iran launched scores of ballistic missiles into Israeli territory, in what it described as an exercise of its “legitimate right to self-defense under the UN Charter.” In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attacks aimed to avenge the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC general Abbas Nilforoushan. Gen. Nilforoushan was apparently killed in the same strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in which Nasrallah was slain. The Iranian attacks came hours after Israel announceda ground incursion into Lebanon, and as UN experts warned of the dire consequences of regional hostilities. (Image: Pixabay)

Afghanistan
Afghanistan women

ICJ case against Taliban over ‘gender apartheid’

Twenty-six countries expressed their support for a legal initiative to hold the Taliban accountable at the International Court of Justice for systematic human rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan. In a joint statement, the countries emphasized Afghanistan’s obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), an international bill of rights for women. Since the Taliban’s seizure of de facto power in 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced severe violations of their rights. The Taliban government has taken various measures to limit their participation in public life and has engaged in systematic discrimination, which has been called “gender apartheid.” (Photo: 12019/Pixabay via Jurist)

Greater Middle East
Beirut

Lebanon: humanitarian crisis under Israeli bombardment

UN officials warn of a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis in Lebanon as death tolls mount from Israeli air-strikes. Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres told the Security Council: “Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon and we should all be alarmed by the escalation.” Human Rights Watch has called for urgent UN action, reporting that some 1,600 Israeli strikes have killed at least 700 people, including 50 children, and injured thousands in the span of four days. The UN Refugee Agency reveals that some 90,000 Lebanese residents had been displaced. (Photo: UNICEF/Dar Al Mussawir via UN News)

North America
Vance

Criminal suit over Trump-Vance libel of Haitian immigrants

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non-profit organization advocating for Haitian immigrants, filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, his running mate in the current presidential race. The charges, brought before the municipal court in Ohio’s Clark County, stem from false claims made by Trump and Vance alleging that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield were abducting and eating local pets. The allegations have sparked outrage and fear within Springfield’s Haitian community. In the court filing, HBA claims that the comments by Trump and Vance have incited anti-immigrant sentiment, resulting in threats and harassment of local Haitian immigrants and those who support them. The complaint calls on the court to issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance on charges including aggravated menacing and telecommunications harassment. (Image via Twitter)

Planet Watch
anthropocene

Storms and floods kill hundreds around the globe

Typhoons, storms and flooding have killed hundreds and left millions homeless across four continents in recent days. More than 600 people—mostly in Vietnam and Burma—died whenSuper Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest typhoons to hit Southeast Asia in decades, tore through the region, triggering landslides. In China, Typhoon Bebinca battered the commercial capital, Shanghai, forcing more than 400,000 people to evacuate. In Europe, at least 23 people died when Storm Boris dumped five times September’s average rainfall in a single week. In the United States, parts of North and South Carolina recorded 45 centimeters of rain in 12 hours—a statistic so rare it’s considered a once-in-a-thousand-year event. Inevitably, the wild weather has been devastating for more vulnerable countries. In conflict-affected northeastern Nigeria, half of the city of Maiduguri is under water after a local dam overflowed following torrential rains; recently emptied displacement camps are being used to shelter the homeless. In neighboring Chad, meanwhile, flooding has killed more than 340 people in the country’s south. (Photo: CounterVortex)

The Caribbean
Martinique

France deploys anti-riot police to Martinique

The French government deployed the special anti-riot police, the Republican Security Companies (CRS), to Martinique in response to ongoing protests over the rising cost of living on the French-ruled Caribbean island. The deployment marks the first time CRS units have been sent to Martinique since they were banned from the territory in December 1959, following violent protests in departmental capital Fort-de-France that drew widespread criticism over heavy-handed police intervention. (Map: PCL)

The Andes
Ecuador

Ecuador moves toward return of foreign military bases​

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced a decision to introduce a bill amending Article 5 of the constitution, to permit the establishment of foreign military bases in the country. A video Noboa posted announcing the decision was recorded at the military base in Manta, ManabĂ­ province. Established in 1999, the base had previously been leased to and operated by the United States military to combat drug trafficking. Ecuadorian activists long protested the presence of the US military. Upon taking power in 2007, left-populist president Rafael Correa—under whom the current constitution was enacted—stated that the lease would not be renewed, resulting in the US military formally leaving the Manta base in 2009. But the statement from Noboa’s office asserts: “Ecuador is facing a battle against transnational crime. This requires a strong national and international response.” (Map: PCL)

Africa
Mali

Mali: jihadist militants attack Bamako

The al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group carried out a major attack in Mali’s capital, Bamako, with reports suggesting that up to 70 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. Jihadist fighters attacked the city’s airport—damaging a plane used by the World Food Program—and stormed a military police school. JNIM only makes rare forays into Bamako, and may be sending a message to the ruling junta that it remains a potent force despite operations launched against it. (Map: PCL)

Watching the Shadows
Tulsi Gabbard

Podcast: against hippie fascism

Once-time peacenik icon Tulsi Gabbard has joined Robert F. Kennedy Jr in defecting to the now openly fascist and even Nazi-embracing MAGA camp—actually becoming members of the Trump transition team. Meanwhile, the Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, likewise enamoured of Vladimir Putin and the dictators in his orbit (including mass murderer Bashar Assad), is being represented by a former Trump attorney in her bid to get on the ballot in swing state Nevada. Beyond the threat that she could serve as a spoiler and throw the election to Trump, this raises questions about the cooptation of segments of the American left by MAGA-fascism. It is no longer just the old-school sectarian “tankie” left that’s in danger of taking the fascist lure in a Red-Brown alliance, but the pacifist, cannabis-friendly “green” left as well. In Episode 244 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg raises the alarm. Listen on SoundCloud, and support our podcast via Patreon. (Image via Freedom Leaf)

Greater Middle East
syria

HRW: detonating communication devices violates international law

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the simultaneous detonation of thousands of communication devices across Lebanon and Syria violated customary international law. The explosions killed some 35 people and injured more than 2,000. The devices were evidently part of the Hezbollah communication network. Israel is widely believed to be behind the explosions, but has not commented. According to HRW, the targeting of the communication devices contravened Rule 80 of Customary International Humanitarian Law. The rule prohibits the use of booby traps attached to objects likely to attract civilians, or “objects in normal civilian daily use.” HRW also stated that the detonation of the devices “whose exact location could not be reliably known” was “unlawfully indiscriminate,” as both military and civilian populations were struck “without distinction.” (Image: Pixabay)

Oceania
Waitangi Day

New Zealand: plan to redefine founding document advances

The New Zealand government revealed its plans to move forward with drafting a controversial bill that would redefine the nation’s founding document, te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi, despite official advice from the Ministry of Justice opposing the policy. If enacted, the Treaty Principles Bill would replace the existing principles of the Treaty, first established by New Zealand’s parliament in the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. Te Tiriti o Waitangi, signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori indigenous people, extended to the Crown a limited power of kāwanatanga (governance) over New Zealand’s quickly expanding British settler population while guaranteeing the Māori tino rangatiratanga (ultimate power and authority) over their lands, their villages and all their treasured possessions. Scholar Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown charges that the Treaty Principles Bill “will radically change the legal and constitutional status of te Tiriti o Waitangi, essentially erasing it.” (Photo: Waitangi Day celebrations, Feb. 6, 2006, at Waitangi, Paihia. Via Wikimedia Commons)