Mass evacuation in Syria to proceed after blast kill 68 kids

BEIRUT — More than 3,000 Syrians were expected to be evacuated Sunday from four areas as part of a population transfer that was briefly stalled a day earlier by a deadly blast that killed more than 120 people, many of them government supporters.

As the evacuations were expected to begin Sunday, shells fired by the Islamic State group on government-held parts of the eastern city of Deir el-Zour wounded two members of a Russian media delegation visiting the area, according to state-run Syrian news agency SANA. Russia is a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian journalists enjoy wide access in government-held parts of the country.

The United Nations is not overseeing the transfer deal, which involves residents of the pro-government villages of Foua and Kfarya and the opposition-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani. All four have been under siege for years, their fate linked through a series of reciprocal agreements that the UN says have hindered aid deliveries.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said 3,000 people will be evacuated from Foua and Kfarya, while 200, the vast majority of them fighters, will be evacuated from Zabadani and Madaya.

Abdurrahman said Saturday’s blast —which hit an area where thousands of pro-government evacuees had been waiting for hours — killed 126. He said the dead included 109 people from Foua and Kfarya, among them 80 children and 13 women.

No one has claimed the attack, but both the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Fatah al-Sham Front have targeted civilians in government areas in the past.

A wounded girl, who said she lost her siblings in the blast, told Al-Manar TV from her hospital bed that children who had been deprived of food for years in the two villages were approached by a man in the car who told them to come and eat potato chips. She said once many had gathered, there was an explosion that tore some of the children to pieces.

After the blast, some 60 buses carrying 2,200 people, including 400 opposition fighters, entered areas held by rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, Abdurrahman said. More than 50 buses and 20 ambulances carrying some 5,000 Foua and Kfarya residents entered the government-held city of Aleppo, Syrian state TV said, with some of them later reaching a shelter in the village of Jibreen to the south.

UN relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien said he was “horrified” by the deadly bombing, and that while the U.N. was not involved in the transfer it was ready to “scale up our support to evacuees.”

He called on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and to “facilitate safe and unimpeded access for the UN and its partners to bring life-saving help to those in need.”

Residents of Madaya and Zabadani, formerly summer resorts, joined the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad. Both came under government siege in the ensuing civil war. Residents of Foua and Kfraya, besieged by the rebels, have lived under a steady hail of rockets and mortars for years, but were supplied with food and medicine through military airdrops.

Critics say the string of evacuations, which could see some 30,000 people moved across battle lines over the next 60 days, amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines.

In eastern Syria, an airstrike by the US-led coalition on the village of Sukkarieh near the border with Iraq killed eight civilians who had earlier fled violence in the northern province of Aleppo, according to Deir Ezzor 24, an activist collective, and Sound and Picture Organization, which documents IS violations.

Airstrikes by the US-led coalition had killed dozens of civilians over the past several weeks as the battle against the extremists intensifies in Syria and Iraq.

* * *

Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

‘Why are you Americans killing the black people…?’ – Duterte

PRESIDENT Duterte on Sunday lashed out at the U.S. police killings of black men in his latest outburst against critics of his anti-drug campaign, which has left hundreds of suspects dead.

The Philippines’ brash-talking President also threatened Sunday to withdraw the country from the United Nations after its human rights experts criticized the extra-judicial killings committed under his anti-crime drive.

Reacting to U.S. criticisms, Duterte cited the string of shootings involving police and black men that have sparked protests in the U.S.

“Why are you Americans killing the black people there, shooting them down when they are already on the ground?” he asked. “Answer that question, because even if it’s just one or two or three, it is still human rights violations.”

Criticisms against Duterte’s crusade against a problem that he says has become a pandemic provoked an angry outburst from Duterte, who held a news conference after midnight Saturday that dragged on for more than two hours.

The U.S. State Department and two U.N. human rights experts have urged Duterte and Filipino authorities to stop extrajudicial killings in the fight against illegal drugs and ensure law enforcement compliance with international human rights obligations. Philippine police say more than 500 drug suspects have been killed in gunbattles with police since Duterte was sworn in eight weeks ago.

Agnes Callamard, the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, suggested that Philippine officials could be held liable, saying in a recent statement that “claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings.”

Responding to the criticisms, Duterte pointed to the haunting image of a bloodied child being pulled from the rubble of a missile-struck building in the Syrian city of Aleppo to note the inability of the U.S. and the U.N. to stop such deadly conflicts, complaining that he comes under fire for the killings of criminals.

“Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you’re that rude, son of a bitch, we’ll just leave you,” Duterte told reporters in Davao, where he first built a reputation for his tough crime-busting style while serving as the southern city’s longtime mayor.

Duterte also belittled U.N. work in the Philippines without providing facts, raising questions, for example, about the performance of the world body’s agency that fights hunger.

If the Philippines breaks off from the U.N. — which Duterte called “inutile” and “stupid” — he said he would invite other countries like China and African nations to form a new international body. The U.N., he said, should return Manila’s financial contributions.

“Look at the iconic boy that was taken out from the rubble and he was made to sit in the ambulance and we saw it,” Duterte said, referring to the photo of a 5-year-old Syrian boy, Omran Daqneesh, that has gone viral online.

“Why is it that United States is not doing anything? I do not read you,” Duterte said. “Anybody in that stupid body complaining about the stench there of death?”

When asked about the possible repercussions of his remarks, Duterte replied: “I don’t give a shit about them. They are the ones interfering.”

Duterte wondered whether U.N. officials were threatening to put him in prison and repeated that he was ready to sacrifice his life and presidency for his country.

Duterte’s drug crackdown has left more than 500 suspected dealers dead and more than 4,400 arrested since he took office on June 30. Nearly 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities, hoping to avoid getting killed. The arrests have further overwhelmed the Philippines’ overcrowded jails. AP/ac/rga

source: globalnation.inquirer.net

WHO declares end of Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone

The UN's health agency said on Saturday that Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone had beaten an outbreak that killed almost 4,000 of its people and plunged the economy into severe recession.

"Today, November 7, 2015, the World Health Organization declares the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone," World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Anders Nordstrom told a ceremony in the capital Freetown, to prolonged ecstatic cheers. —Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Facebook founder calls for universal Internet to help cure global ills

UNITED NATIONS - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of celebrities kicked off a campaign on Saturday to make Internet access universal, saying this was critical to fulfilling the United Nations' newly adopted agenda to combat global ills.

Calling for efforts to ensure Internet access for everyone globally by 2020, Zuckerberg said Internet connections are a dynamic tool for sharing knowledge, creating opportunities, lifting communities out of poverty and promoting peace.

"A 'like' or a post won't stop a tank or a bullet, but when people are connected, we have a chance to build a common global community with a shared understanding," Zuckerberg told at a private luncheon with business leaders at the United Nations.

"That's a powerful force."

The 193 UN member nations on Friday formally adopted a sweeping set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, that aim to end poverty and combat inequality and climate change over the next 15 years and call for shared peace and prosperity.

The objectives, described as "a to-do list for people and planet" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, are intended as a roadmap to be implemented by government and the private sector.

The connectivity campaign calls on governments, businesses and innovators to bring the Internet to the some 4 billion people who now do not have access, organizers said.

Signing on to the connectivity campaign were U2 star Bono, co-founder of One, a group that fights extreme poverty; actress Charlize Theron, founder of Africa Outreach Project; philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates; British entrepreneur Richard Branson; Huffington Post editor Arianna Huffington; Colombian singer Shakira, actor and activist George Takei and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. — Reuters

Climate change boosts conflict risk, flood, hunger —UN

YOKOHAMA - Soaring carbon emissions will amplify the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and migration this century, the UN's expert panel said Monday in a landmark report on the impact of climate change.

Left unchecked, greenhouse gas emissions may cost trillions of dollars in damage to property and ecosystems and in bills for shoring up climate defenses, it said.

The report said the impact of climate change was already being felt and would increase with every additional degree that temperatures rose.


"Increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible impacts," a summary said, in a stark message to policymakers.

The report is the second chapter of the fifth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 to provide neutral, science-based guidance to governments.

"It's a toolkit for managing climate change, but it also provides a framework for understanding, a mindset for understanding climate change and its implications," Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution, co-chairman of the group of scientists who authored the document, told AFP.

These hefty documents—running to thousands of pages—have a political impact that can resound for years.

The last overview, published in 2007, earned the panel a co-share in the Nobel Peace Prize and unleashed a wave of political action that strived, but failed, to forge a worldwide treaty on climate change in Copenhagen in 2009.

The new document, unveiled in Yokohama after a five-day meeting, gives the starkest warning yet by the IPCC of extreme consequences from climate change, and delves into greater detail than ever before into the impact at regional level.

It builds on previous IPCC forecasts that global temperatures will rise 0.3-4.8 degrees Celsius (0.5-8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, on top of roughly 0.7 Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.

Seas will rise by 26-82 centimeters (10-32 inches) by 2100.

Warming of around two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times may cost 0.2-2.0 percent of global annual income, said the new report. UN members have pledged to hammer out a global pact by the end of 2015 to limit warming to 2 C.

Security risk

The impact amplifies with every degree and beyond 4 C could be disastrous, said the report.

Climate change can drive turbulence and conflict, prompted by migration from newly uninhabitable areas and jockeying for water and food, it said.

"Climate change has a tendency to act as a threat multiplier whatever the current range of stressors is," said Field.

"There are many things that make people vulnerable, and when you combine a climate shock with these factors, you can have bad outcomes."

Rainfall patterns will be disrupted, resulting in a significantly higher flood risk, especially for Europe and Asia—and magnified drought risks will add to water stress in arid, heavily populated areas.

This, in turn, will have consequences for agriculture. Yields of staples such as wheat, rice and corn will be squeezed, just as demand will soar because of population growth.

Climate change will also have a ricochet effect on health, through the spread of mosquito or water-borne diseases and heatwaves.

Vulnerable plant and animal species, especially in fragile coral reefs and Arctic habitats, could be wiped out.

Adding a further grim layer to the warning, the report said the most vulnerable ecosystems faced a potential "tipping point" that could pitch them into unstoppable decline.

The report said the danger can be substantially reduced, especially for those alive at the end of the century, if greenhouse-gas emissions are cut swiftly.

Even so, countries will have to shore up their defenses—for instance, by making water supplies, coastal areas, homes and transport more climate-resilient.

Poor, tropical nations will be hit harder than rich countries in temperate zones.

Many of the measures for adapting to climate change are easy and cheap, said the report.

They include reducing water wastage, planting parks to ease heat build-up in cities, and preventing people from settling in places that are exposed to extreme weather events. —Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Japan ready to send 1,000 troops to typhoon-hit Tacloban

Tokyo – Japan is ready to send as many as 1,000 troops to the typhoon-ravaged Philippines to help with relief efforts, a defense ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The comments came a day after Tokyo dispatched 50 members of its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to assist in medical support and transport operations following Manila's request for assistance.

Three naval ships and an unspecified number of aircraft would accompany the proposed contingent, Jiji Press news agency reported.

"We will continue consulting with the Philippine government about the size of the deployment it may need," the defense ministry official said.

Their work would be focused on the devastated city of Tacloban, after one of the biggest storms in recorded history demolished entire communities across the central part of the island nation.

The provincial capital was the first Philippine city to be liberated from Japan's occupying forces by US troops in 1944 during World War II.

Thousands are feared dead in the Philippines while 660,000 have lost their homes, according to the UN.

If Tokyo sends a 1,000-troop contingent, it would be the largest single relief operation team sent abroad by the SDF, Japan's de facto military which must adhere to the country's post-war pacifist constitution.

The defense forces have helped in previous regional relief efforts including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The Japanese government also said on Tuesday it would supply $10 million in grant aid to provide evacuees with emergency shelters and other help through aid organizations. – Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

UN disaster assessment team stunned by Yolanda-wrought devastation in Tacloban

A United Nations Disaster Assessment Coordination Team (UNDAC) arrived this morning in Tacloban City. Even such a hardened team of humanitarian workers were shocked upon witnessing the scenes of total devastation in the city where Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) first struck.

Helicopter is the only means of travel at the moment, as the roads are impassable from the airport to the town. Trees and telephone poles lie unmoved across many roads. Even motorcyclists decline the journey, and so many people walk aimlessly, in search of food for their bellies, warmth to keep close, and a place to lay their dead if only for a little while.


Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of the UNDAC team, reported this morning that there is an unprecedented level of destruction.

"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami," according to Stampa. "This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumble weed and the streets are strewn with debris."

The UNDAC team arrived to prepare the ground work for an inter-agency humanitarian
assessment. "There roads between the airport and the town are completely blocked and relief operations will be extremely difficult," he added.

The acting Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines Dr. Julie Hall said. "We wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Government and the people of the Philippines, who have been affected by this devastating typhoon which appears to have caused significant damage across a large tract of the Visayas."

She continued, "We are working very closely with the Government and are ready to respond in any way we can to this tragedy." — VC, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

UN agency calls outdoor air pollution leading cause of cancer

LONDON - The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and should now be classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer agency said on Thursday.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, and said there was also convincing evidence it increases the risk of bladder cancer.

The WHO is a Geneva-based agency of the United Nations focused on international public health matters.

Air pollution, mostly caused by transport, power generation, industrial or agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking, is already known to raise risks for a wide range of illnesses including respiratory and heart diseases.

Research suggests that in recent years, exposure levels have risen significantly in some parts of the world, particularly countries with large populations going through rapid industrialisation such as China.

"We now know that outdoor air pollution is not only a major risk to health in general, but also a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths," said Kurt Straif, head of the IARC's monographs section, which is tasked with ranking carcinogens.

"The air we breathe has become polluted with a mixture of cancer-causing substances."

In a statement released after a week-long meeting of experts reviewing the latest scientific literature, IARC said both outdoor air pollution and "particulate matter"—a major component of it—would now be classified among its Group 1 human carcinogens.

That ranks them alongside more than 100 other known cancer-causing substances in IARC's Group 1, including asbestos, plutonium, silica dust, ultraviolet radiation and tobacco smoke.

IARC's monographs program, sometimes known as the "encyclopedia of carcinogens," aims to be an authoritative source of scientific evidence on cancer-causing substances.

It has already classified many chemicals and mixtures that can be components of air pollution, including diesel engine exhaust, solvents, metals and dusts. But this is the first time that experts have classified outdoor air pollution as a cause of cancer.

"Our task was to evaluate the air everyone breathes rather than focus on specific air pollutants," said Dana Loomis, deputy head of the section. "The results from the reviewed studies point in the same direction: the risk of developing lung cancer is significantly increased in people exposed to air pollution."

Although both the composition and levels of air pollution can vary dramatically from one location to the next, IARC said its conclusions applied to all regions of the world.

IARC's director, Christopher Wild, said the agency's decision to classify outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans was an important step towards alerting governments to its dangers and potential costs.

"There are effective ways to reduce air pollution and, given the scale of the exposure affecting people worldwide, this report should send a strong signal to the international community to take action," he said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com