TDB Top 5 International Stories: Thursday 2nd March 2017

5: Lorde Just Lit Up Installations Across Auckland With Her New Lyrics

Lorde has dropped another series of glimpses of her upcoming release, teasing fans with lyric snippets at three locations around her hometown of Auckland.

It looks like we’ve also got a name for Friday’s single release: “Greenlight”. The words appear at the end of a video projection, screened on a downtown brick wall.

The singer tweeted a map to three spots around the city where passersby could find installations: a green-lit, smoking car, green lights at the beach, and a projection of her performing what appears to be a snippet of the upcoming song.

Vice News

4: Trump Wants You to Think All the Immigrants He’ll Deport Are Criminals. They’re Not.

PRESIDENT TRUMP on Tuesday night blamed undocumented immigrants for violent, criminal behavior — also accusing them of hurting the economy, stealing jobs from struggling families, costing the government billions of dollars, and generally creating “an environment of lawless chaos.”

The man who began his presidential campaign talking about “rapists” coming over the border cast his crusade to deport and block undocumented immigrants as a moral choice between protecting Americans or leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and death. “What would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income, or a loved one, because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?” he asked.

Trump’s special guests at his joint address to Congress included relatives of Americans who had been killed by undocumented immigrants. “We will never stop fighting for justice. Your loved ones will never be forgotten, we will always honor their memory,” Trump promised them.

He also touted the creation several weeks ago of a special office in the Department of Homeland Security called Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, or VOICE. This office will be tasked with recording crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and supporting those victimized by them. Its funding will come in part from canceling all DHS “outreach or advocacy services” for undocumented immigrants.

Trump claims his immigration crackdown is a way to keep Americans safe — that he isn’t interested in tearing apart families, just in stopping violent criminals. VOICE will give the Trump administration a stream of propaganda intended to reshape the image of undocumented immigrants in the minds of the American public, from one where these migrants are simply seeking a better future for their families to one where they are hardened criminals, ready to prey on innocent Americans.

That’s a big lie. The reality is that undocumented immigrants are no more likely to commit crimes in America than anyone else. And there are plenty of migrants who are not violent criminals who are being targeted by immigration enforcement. As a result, innocent people are fearful.

The Intercept

3: Forced evacuation of east Aleppo was war crime, says UN

The United Nations has accused the Syrian government of deliberately attacking an aid convoy near Aleppo last September, and labeled a forced evacuation of opposition-held parts of the east of the city as a “war crime”.

In a report covering the capture of Aleppo by forces supporting the Syrian regime, the UN also accused Damascus of repeatedly using chemical weapons and cluster munitions, and systematically destroying hospitals.

The UN commission of inquiry for Syria said war crimes were committed by both sides from July until the city fell on 22 December.

However, it levelled extensive criticism at the government of Bashar al-Assad, which was strongly supported by Russian jets and Iranian-backed militias throughout the campaign.

The Guardian 

2: UN: Both sides committed war crimes in Syria’s Aleppo

Both sides in last year’s battle for Syria’s Aleppo city committed war crimes, including a “deliberate” bombing of a humanitarian convoy by the Syrian government, according to a new United Nations investigation.

The UN Commission of Inquiry’s report released on Wednesday said Syrian government and allied Russian forces “pervasively used” unguided munitions to bomb densely populated areas in rebel-held eastern Aleppo between July and its fall on December 22, amounting to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks.

Aljazeera

1: Bernie Sanders Slams Trump for Ignoring Climate Change, Income Inequality & Voter Suppression

Following President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders responded forcefully to Trump’s speech. We air part of Sanders’ response last night and speak to his former advisor, economist Jeffrey Sachs.

Democracy Now!