{!hitembed ID=”hitembed_1″ width=”350″ height=”197″ align=”right” !}

Good day folks! It’s the end of the week!

International Politics

Overall

– While Iran denounced Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen, other Arab states agreed on a joint military force to fight in Yemen

– Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. said Iran was supporting the Houthis in Yemen

– Turkey, meanwhile, offered to provide “logistical support” as they support the country’s intervention

– There are mixed signals, on the other hand, from the U.S. on this development

– The United Nations released a report where it was found global asylum applications were the highest in the past two decades

Middle East

– A new report by the Palestinian Association for Human Rights found Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon have not seen any improvement in their lives

– Militia groups in Iraq accused the U.S. of hijacking plans to re-take Tikrit from the Islamic State

– The U.N. warned at least 440,000 Syrians are under siege and it may get worse for them

Asia and Oceania

– Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of Thailand’s military junta, said he would execute anyone should they refuse to “report the truth.”

Europe 

– An interview with a Russian soldier who talks about his time while in Ukraine and what he saw there

– The Germanwings aircraft that crashed in the Alps was caused by a co-pilot who intentionally decided to do so

Latin America, Caribbean and Canada

– Despite the Canadian government seeking to expand its powers when it comes to terrorism, resistance is now brewing to put a stop to potential draconian acts

Surveillance Planet

– Lee Fang: “Deployment of Controversial Urban Sensor System Aided by Aggressive Lobbying”

– The watchdog for the intelligence agency in New Zealand announced an investigation after reading The Intercept’s reporting on mass surveillance of the agency

Financial Matters

– Gallup: Fifty-seven percent of U.S. investors say the Federal Reserve will increase the interest rate in the next year

– Attorney Dimitri Lascaris joins The Real News and focuses on a potential crisis in Greece where the government there is running out of funds

– Imported goods are usually found throughout Iraq due to a mixture of factors ranging from a very decentralized government to an infantile food industry

– Microsoft announced it would force any supplier it works with to provide at 15 days of paid leave for each worker per year

– In response to the Germanwings crash, many airlines announced pilots must be in the cockpit together

Labor’s a-Brewing

– Pew: Despite the Great Recession, there still are undocumented immigrants working low-skilled jobs

– Farmworkers in Mexico are still on strike and the mainstream media can’t even be bothered to cover that

– ALEC, your friendly neighborhood wrecker, now sets its sights on “prevailing wages” laws, which force salaries to go up

– Jesus Garcia, the candidate running for mayor in Chicago, announced he would support $15 per hour

– Turns out slave labor is involved in our seafood, which should be noted is tainted as a result

Politics US

Washington USA

– Journalist Glen Ford joins The Real News and discusses recent comments by President Barack Obama on mandatory voting

– In a vote of 228 to 199, the House of Representatives passed a budget including nearly five trillion dollars cut over the next decade. It now goes to the Senate

– Despite the coal industry’s power waning, they still hold valuable allies in Washington defending their interests

– Laurene Powell-Jobs, a billionaire and widow of Steve Jobs, is tied not only to Hillary Clinton, but Jeb Bush

– A Justice Department report highlighted “sex parties” where DoJ employees could found. One thing found was how such parties were funded by drug cartels

– Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): I think the U.S. must do more than Saudi Arabia in Yemen

– A Navy report found military equipment that was missing turned up on sites like Ebay

Anytown USA

– Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont is spear-heading right-wing changes in the state despite being elected by progressives

– Hilarious article about a Chicago worker who took a photo with Mayor Rahm Emanuel despite the worker not liking Emanuel; I don’t think anyone does

– In Atlanta, an unarmed black man, who was also a veteran suffering from mental illness, was killed by a police officer. Witnesses say the officer used excessive force as it was literally shoot first, ask questions later.

– Proposition 47 in California, which was passed last year, provides the right step forward in stopping mass incarceration

– An explosion in the East Village of Manhattan led to two buildings to be damaged along with at least 19 people injured

– As Bowe Bergdahl speaks about his time in Taliban captivity, there needs to be a challenge to the right-wing narrative on Bergdahl

We Don’t Need No Education

– Faculty at Seattle University are taking a page out of the Fight for 15’s book and demanding higher wages 

The Second Sex

– A bill in Arizona, should it be signed by Governor Doug Ducey, would force doctors to admit abortions are reversible

Planet Earth

– Gallup: Now here’s something: College-educated Republicans are more likely than non-college-educated Republicans to say global warming is exaggerated

– In #1545 of our series of what climate change will bring, “super termites” are now a thing due to interbreeding and, yes, it can be disastrous

– What’s #1546, you say? Well, “mega” icebergs are more frequent in Antarctica nowadays, which spells trouble for the ecosystem there.

– Plus, ice shelves there are melting at such a rapid rate that scientists are surprised; And #1547

– Residents in a Louisiana town persuaded officials from the federal government not to burn military waste

– Residents in small countries, like Vanaudu, are requesting climate reparations should an international agreement be made on climate change

– Noam Chomsky: “Magna Carta Messed Up the World, Here’s How to Fix It”

Mixed Bag

– Something strange is happening in a town in Kazakhstan where people are falling asleep for days and waking up with memory loss

– Amy Goodman: “The Costs of War, the Price of Peace”

Break Time

– Roll Me In [Yui Asaka and Mika Sato]