Region

Geneva – While the Syrian regime “brutal crackdown” on pro-democracy protesters continues unabated, with the death toll surpassing 3,500, the UN has now voiced concern over “shortages of food, water, electricity and medical services in Syria.”

Cairo – The four-decade-long bid to liberate the Middle East from all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) starting with nukes, will move next year to Helsinki as Finland surprisingly decided to host an international conference on the establishment of a Middle East nuclear-free zone.

Impassioned critic of neo-imperialism, military occupations, and violent models of economic ‘development’, Arundhati Roy speaks at the People’s University in Washington Square, New York during the Student Week of Action in support of #Occupy. As this young movement continues to inspire the inspiring more voices converge from all corners of the world demanding change

The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global corporations including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new venture aspires to “transform the water sector” by inserting the corporate sector into what has historically been a public service.

The ‘India Against Corruption – Hong Kong’ volunteer group gathered together 13 November, 2011, to better understand the success story of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and to get to know how this organisation eradicated corruption in the territory, as a guide to how India can do the same as corruption has plagued India for decades.

With two years of failed plans, pseudo-plans and announcements of plans, Europe has acquired a huge pile of debt and a decade of agony.

New York – Liberty Plaza (or Park or Square) looks an awful lot like Zuccotti Park again—aside from the damaged flower beds and a broken plastic peace sign lying in the gutter. At 1 in the morning, hundreds of police in riot gear stormed the plaza, shining floodlights and tearing down tents.

“Zuccotti Park is not Tiananmen Square,” said Scott Stringer, the Borough of Manhattan’s Democratic Party president, criticizing the way the New York police manhandled reporters and kept them at a distance as they evicted Occupy Wall Street protesters from their camp in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park in the early hours of yesterday.

Thousands of defiant OWS protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park late Tuesday, less than 24 hours after police forcibly removed them from their camp. Police arrested more than 200 people, including about 12 who had chained themselves to each other and to trees. As protesters returned, a judge upheld the city’s ban preventing them from bringing backpacks and tents into the park

New York, London, Zurich… Not a glamorous multinational but a seemingly coordinated action to evict protesters from campsites. “Health and Safety” reasons. Too many “vulnerable” people. Concerns from local businesses. Public Highway legislation… Why is it not spelt out? Occupations are drawing undue attention to the corrupt and dehumanising practices of the Financial Sector.