International

Athens – The Greek authorities are failing to tackle a rising wave of xenophobic violence that has left migrants afraid to walk the streets, says a [Human Rights Watch report](http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/10/greece-migrants-describe-fear-streets).

“The situation in Israel and Palestine is very simple,” said Noam Chomsky during a meeting with Tomas Hirsch, Humanist and Former Chilean Presidential Candidate. According to Chomsky, the real problem is Washington. Israel could not do what it is doing today unless it had the support of the US and it has been that way for over 35 years.

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, yesterday approved a bill on third reading that will allow the authorities to compile a website blacklist, fuelling concern about Internet filtering and censorship. The bill will have to be passed by the upper house and ratified by President Vladimir Putin before it takes effect.

Four people dead, many injured and a priest battered by the police following massive protests in Cajamarca, Peru, are just the tip of the iceberg. Conga gold mine threatens the water of four lakes. The same story repeats throughout several Latin American countries. Multinationals (surprise, surprise!) are involved. Financial crisis fuels Gold (and other minerals) Rush

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit with expressions of deep disappointment from broad sections of members of the media and the environmental NGOs, who saw little new commitments to action in the final text that was adopted by the heads of states and governments and their senior officials.

Seemingly unconnected events like the unfolding civil war in Syria and a President deposed by his Parliament in Paraguay are in fact remarkably similar in their ultimate goals, if not in their methods. As the International Financial Empire fears losing its hegemony we witness its attempts to discipline dissenting voices.

The last ten days of May, and the first twenty of June, 2012, proved difficult ones for Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The conflict between the two countries, which has gone on for over two decades, has led to numerous deaths. And in spite of the fact that a truce has by and large held between the two nations, people continue to die on the line of contact.

The online whistleblower WikiLeaks continues to release documents from the Syria Files, more than 2 million emails said to be from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies over a 6 year period ending earlier this year. WikiLeaks spokesperson Sarah Harrison said the files would embarrass not only the Syrian government but many of its political foes.

The United Nations is calling for a number of new taxes in a bid to help aid the world’s poor. In a new report, the World Economic and Social Survey calls for proposals including taxes on carbon emissions, financial transactions, and on the world’s billionaires. Robert Vos of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs unveiled the report.

Around three years ago, the U.S-born world financial crisis forced five European Union member countries to receive a really little honorable “title” — the PIGS. These were Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. With Ireland added to the group, the acronym became PIIGS. More recently came Cyprus, the current EU president.