TheDailyBlog.nz Top 5 News Headlines Saturday 24th October 2015

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5: 

Top U.N. Official Links Israel-Palestine Unrest to Ending Occupation

Meanwhile at the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the current unrest would not be happening if Palestinians had their freedom.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson: “This crisis would not have erupted, I suggest, if the Palestinian people had a perspective of hope towards a viable Palestinian state, if they had an economy that provides jobs and opportunities, if they had more control over their security and the legal and administrative processes that define their daily existence—in short, if the Palestinians did not still live under a stifling and humiliating occupation that has lasted almost half a century.”

Democracy Now 

4: 

Govt accused of community housing flip-flops

In a speech to the Community Housing Aotearoa Conference in Wellington today, Mr English said the government wanted to work with the social housing sector to fill the gap.

However, community housing groups said government policy made it very difficult

for them to remain financially solvent let alone meet the needs of vulnerable clients.

Nelson Tasman Housing Trust director Keith Preston said organisations like his spent too much time battling red tape because the government kept changing the rules.

“To-ing and fro-ing of policy and this ‘start off with a good idea and then nibbling away at the edges of it until the policy becomes unworkable’ and it’s happened time and time and time again, particularly in relation to funding.

“There’s no continuity at all – for groups like ours, it’s constantly stop-start.”

Radio NZ

3: 

Hurricane Patricia: Mexico braces for ‘strongest ever’ storm in east Pacific

Hurricane Patricia strengthened into a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm as it churned toward Mexico’s Pacific coast, having grown at an “incredible rate”in the past 12 hours, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday.

“This is really, really, really strong. It’s comparable with Typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines with such devastating effect a couple of years ago.”

The Guardian

2: 

The EU appears to have broken a promise to reinforce environmental protections in a leaked draft negotiating text submitted in the latest round of TTIP talks in Miami..

In January, the bloc promised to safeguard green laws, defend international standards and protect the EU’s right to set high levels of environmental protection, in a haggle with the US over terms for a free trade deal.

But a confidential text seen by the Guardian and filed in the sustainable development chapter of negotiations earlier this week contains only vaguely phrased and non-binding commitments to environmental safeguards.

No obligations to ratify international environmental conventions are proposed, and ways of enforcing goals on biodiversity, chemicals and the illegal wildlife trade are similarly absent.

 The Guardian 

1: 

Lockheed Martin, Boeing Rally Around Saudi Arabia, Wave Off Humanitarian Concerns

Representatives from two major defense contractors whose advanced weaponry is being used in the Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign that has killed scores of civilians in Yemen were quick to defend the human rights record of the Persian Gulf kingdom in a panel discussion held last week in Washington, D.C.

Ronald L. Perrilloux Jr., an executive with Lockheed Martin, complained of an atmosphere of “hostile media reports” shaping the views of Congress, most of which, he said, are “patently false.”

“Another significant irritant,” Perrilloux said, “is the application of human rights laws” toward U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Perrilloux argued that these countries, despite being “better partners to us than some of our NATO allies,” were being unfairly judged compared to Chinese human rights abuses.

Democrats on Capitol Hill recently blocked arms transfers to Saudi Arabia over concerns regarding the rising civilian death toll caused by the campaign.

The Intercept 

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hurricane Patricia heading for Mexico, likely to be one of the worst storms recorded, is superseded as headline news in the NZH, by Richie McCaw’s opinions on the AB v Springbok game coming up!

    At least Stuff has it as its main news item. well it did earlier today.

    Says it all about the FJK manipulated NZH!

    • TPPA latest leaked doc’s.

      Section III – Trade and Sustainable Development – Environmental aspects

      TPPA has no Environmental protection here, as it is non binding at all, so any party can say “restriction on trade” will hurt it, so productivity and economy will suffer so they can opt out!!!!!!

      Good bye to our environment under TPPA.

      5. “The Parties acknowledge that nothing in the Agreement should prevent either Party from adopting or maintaining measures to implement the Multilateral Environmental Agreements to which it is a party, provided that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the Parties or a disguised restriction on trade.”

      Section III – Trade and Sustainable Development – Environmental aspects

      Article 10

      Multilateral environmental governance and rules

      1. The Parties recognise the value of global environmental governance and rules, including Multilateral Environmental Agreements, to tackle environmental challenges of common concern and stress the need to enhance the mutual supportiveness between trade and environment policies, rules and measures.

      2. Each Party reaffirms its commitment to effectively implement in its domestic laws and practices the Multilateral Environmental Agreements to which it is a party.[3]

      3. The Parties should continue to strive towards further ratification of Multilateral Environmental Agreements and cooperate in this regard, including through exchanging information on advancement and supporting each other’s full participation in, or membership to, multilateral environmental agreements, international bodies, and processes;

      4. The Parties commit to consult and cooperate with each other as appropriate in Multilateral Environmental Agreements and other global environmental matters, in particular trade-related environmental issues.

      5. The Parties acknowledge that nothing in the Agreement should prevent either Party from adopting or maintaining measures to implement the Multilateral Environmental Agreements to which it is a party, provided that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the Parties or a disguised restriction on trade.

  2. Yes….if New Zealanders only knew just how much the TPPA is about to trash the country… More concern maybe…

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