The Irish president demanded the UN chief use Chapter Seven mechanism under the world body's Charter to establish an international defense of a corridor to deliver aid to Gaza.

Irish President Michael Daniel Higgins has urged the United Nations to invoke Chapter Seven of its Charter against Israel in an effort to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

President Higgins appealed to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to invoke Chapter Seven powers that allow to bypass the Security Council to take enforcement action, including the use of force, to protect international peace and security.

“I am personally in favor of the secretary-general of the UN using Chapter Seven procedure, by which, whether or not the Security Council agrees, and even if there's a blockage, the right exists for the secretary-general to seek to put together an international defense of a corridor,” Turkey’s Anadolu Agency quoted the Irish president, citing a broadcast by Ireland’s national television, RTE News.

Higgins said that Guterres should invoke the UN Charter’s Chapter Seven to help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which he described as “incredible destruction of an entire people.”

“Are we to watch children starving, women dehydrated, or trying to feed their children?” he said.

Israel has imposed a crippling siege on Gaza since early March, restricting the entry of food, water, and other basic supplies into the territory. The regime has also set up its own aid distribution centers to replace UN-run zones. The centers however have caused global outcry as a growing number of aid seekers have been shot dead by Israeli forces, while waiting to get food.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 1,370 Palestinian aid seekers have lost their lives in fatal shootings by Israeli forces since May 27.

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei called on the international community to put an arms embargo on Israel as part of measures to end the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Brazil reacts to Bolsonaro's house arrest. Although his allies threaten "war," a seemingly normal atmosphere persists on the streets.

In recent weeks, the far-right leader who governed Brazil between 2018 and 2022 has shown little interest in complying with the measures imposed by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading an investigation against him for attempting a coup d'état against President Lula... Bolsonaro continued his agitation campaign, and this image taken last Sunday in Sao Paulo seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. A video call made by a deputy from his party... the former president, whose use of social media is restricted...

The United States has become a key player in this case… Donald Trump has cited Bolsonaro's impeachment as one of the arguments for imposing high tariffs on Brazilian products, and one of the former president's sons, Eduardo, has settled in Washington, where he is lobbying intensively to push for sanctions against Brazil. This detail doesn't go unnoticed on the street…

Alexandre de Moraes was absolutely right, and Eduardo needs to come back here so they can do the same to him.

Support for Bolsonaro is conspicuous by its absence here, at least among those who agree to give us an interview.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Bolsonarist deputies announces an internal war in Brazil.

The Sudanese government has denounced that it has compelling evidence of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) involvement in financing and sponsoring mercenaries from Colombia and several neighboring African countries involved in the armed conflict that has plagued the country since April 2023.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted that "thousands of fighters" were recruited in different regions of the African continent. However, the official statement does not detail the evidence or specify which African countries are involved.

"This unprecedented phenomenon poses a serious threat to peace and security in the region and across the continent ," he said.

The response from Abu Dhabi was swift. In an emailed statement to the Associated Press, the UAE Foreign Ministry flatly rejected the Sudanese accusations , calling them attempts to "derail the peace process" and divert attention from domestic responsibilities in the conflict.

"The UAE emphasizes that these claims are mere attempts to derail the peace process and evade the moral, legal, and humanitarian obligations to end the conflict and pave the way for a transition process that reflects the Sudanese people's aspirations for security, stability, and development ," the UAE government said.

Sudan has repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of providing weapons to the Rapid Support Forces , a paramilitary group opposed to the Sudanese army.

Although the Gulf country has repeatedly denied any military support, previous reports contradict these claims. In late 2024, the Sudanese army captured Emirati-made armored vehicles equipped with French technology. In response, the UAE reported being the target of a disinformation campaign.

The conflict in Sudan has left more than 40,000 dead and 12 million displaced , in addition to causing one of the most serious humanitarian crises on the African continent.

Regarding the Colombian presence, investigations carried out at the end of 2024 by the media outlet La Silla Vacía revealed that at least 300 former Colombian military personnel were fighting in the conflict in Sudan alongside the RSF .

Many of them were reportedly hired under promises of jobs as security agents for oil infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, through the Colombian company International Services Agency A4SI (Academy for Security Instruction).

However, testimonies collected in the report point to possible human trafficking practices. "They hire us for one thing and then take us somewhere else to do something else ," one of the former combatants reported.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is, for the second time this century, on the verge of eradicating hunger , a milestone recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, in its annual report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 (SOFI 2025)."

The announcement was highlighted by William Castillo, Venezuela's Deputy Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies, who noted on his X account that his country has managed to mitigate hunger despite the more than 1,041 Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCM) imposed since 2014. Along these lines, Castillo pointed out that the eradication of hunger is the failure of the United States policy "whose objective has been to suffocate the economy and restrict the supply of essential goods, including food, to force a change of government."

The imposition of these sanctions and the economic, financial, and commercial blockade, primarily by the United States and its allies, caused a shortage of products that led to the resurgence of hunger in the country starting in 2015, reaching its peak in 2019.

However, FAO's most recent SOFI 2025 report highlights a significant decline in Venezuela's Prevalence of Undernourishment Index (IPS), which fell from 17.6 percent to 5.9 percent over the last three years (2022-2024) . This means that 3.3 million people have been lifted out of hunger, reducing the figure from 5 million to 1.7 million during this period, representing a decrease of 11.7 percentage points in the undernourishment index.

These figures are a testament to the resilience and organization of the Venezuelan people in the face of one of the most adverse situations they have ever faced as a nation.

Food availability in Venezuela has increased by more than 500 percent between 2016 and 2024, reaching 1,378 g/person/day , approaching the global average.

Source: FAO.

In addition, food energy availability has exceeded pre-lockdown levels with 3,103 Kcal/person/day, again exceeding the global average .

In this regard, the FAO confirms that Venezuela has firmly taken a stand against the war on hunger and is winning , demonstrating a history of victorious resistance amidst the imperialist offensive.

The CLAPs, a boost to Venezuelan agriculture

An essential pillar in this victory over hunger has been the consolidation and evolution of the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) .

Created in 2016 as an effective response by the Venezuelan people to the economic and commercial blockade to guarantee food security , the CLAPs have transformed their operating model.

Initially, the program relied heavily on food imports.

However, thanks to the joint efforts of the Bolivarian Government and organized communities, today more than 90 percent of the items distributed by the program are domestically produced , identified with the seal "Made in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela . "

The CLAPs not only focus on "inch by inch and day by day" distribution in communities, but have also promoted small-scale peasant agriculture .

Currently, seven and a half million families are served by CLAPs , which represents a powerful expression of the Venezuelan people's ability to organize and overcome adversity.

What began as a temporary response to the crisis has become a production and distribution model that strengthens the local economy and guarantees access to food for millions of Venezuelans.

Lebanese people have taken to the streets in the capital Beirut, voicing support for the country’s resistance movement Hezbollah and protesting mounting US- and Israeli-led pressure towards the group’s disarmament.

The rallies took place in the city’s Dhahiyeh neighborhood on Monday night, with participants shouting slogans in favor of “the right to defense in the face of foreign invasion.”

The attendants, who included droves of bike-riding supporters, waved Hezbollah’s flags, hailing the movement as a “major” contributor to the country’s defense.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 with a mandate to defend the country in the face of Tel Aviv, which has been occupying the country’s Shebaa Farms on the common border with Syria since 1967, as well as the regime’s increasing regional expansionism drive.

Ever since, both the regime and the United States, its biggest supporter, have been mounting pressure on the country to have the movement disarmed.

The pressure has grown since 2023 after Hezbollah began staging solidarity operations in support of the Gaza Strip that had come under a genocidal Israeli war.

It soon evolved into heavily Washington-backed escalated Israeli aggression against the country that went on to claim the lives of more than 4,000 people.

Participants in the Monday rally also held up pictures of the movement’s current officials as well as those who have been martyred, including the leading figures assassinated throughout the escalation.

Hezbollah itself has vowed to continue defending the nation, as it successfully has throughout both the escalation and two full-scale Israeli wars in the 2000s. It has warned the Lebanese against succumbing to the pressure tactics that are aimed at serving the regime’s expansionist ambitions.

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Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil and his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop, chaired the Second Meeting of the Venezuela-Mali Political Consultation Mechanism and identified opportunities to accelerate cooperation and strengthen the bilateral alliance.

During this meeting, held at the Antonio José de Sucre Yellow House, headquarters of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in Caracas , both officials signed a political consultation document to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various sectors.

Among the aspects outlined in the memorandum, the plan is to strengthen collaboration in key areas such as education, health, energy, agriculture, trade, industry, and finance . In this regard, Gil announced the awarding of 30 new scholarships for Malian students to study in Venezuela , a further step in the consolidation of educational ties.

Both foreign ministers took the opportunity to condemn the unilateral coercive measures imposed on their countries. They also expressed their rejection of the attacks against the Palestinian people and advocated for the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state , as established by the United Nations Security Council documents, within its pre-1967 borders, " with East Jerusalem as its capital and with the return of all refugees ," Gil stated.

Minister Diop, for his part, conveyed greetings to the Venezuelan authorities from Mali's transitional president, Assimi Goita, and condemned the more than 1,000 sanctions imposed by the United States and satellite nations against the homeland of Bolívar and Chávez .

" Mali opposes the unilateral coercive measures unjustly imposed on Venezuela and demands their immediate withdrawal so that its people can fulfill their deepest aspirations. These measures are contrary to the United Nations Charter and international law ," the Malian Foreign Minister said.

Additionally, Diop expressed Mali's solidarity with Venezuela and recognized the resilience and determination of the Venezuelan people as a source of inspiration. The Malian Foreign Minister affirmed that, despite facing similar challenges, the two nations maintain excellent relations of cooperation, solidarity, and fraternity.

This visit marks a turning point in diplomatic relations, which will celebrate their 49th anniversary this year . The Joint Working Committee is scheduled to convene next year to further promote exchanges and cooperation.

The Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation arrived in Venezuela last Saturday, August 2, to strengthen bilateral cooperation and hold the Second Meeting of the Venezuela-Mali Political Consultation Mechanism. Diop is scheduled to meet with other Bolivarian Government officials later this week.

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis., The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) condemned the genocide of the capitalist system against Palestine and expressed its solidarity with that people.

Yesterday, inaugurating the Meeting of Resistances and Rebellions: Some Parts of the Whole, with the participation of representatives from 37 countries, its spokesperson, Subcomandante Moisés , stated: “Today, in one of the tiny parts of this Earth, the capitalist system is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. We cannot forget or ignore them; therefore, our humble word to them is: 'We are all Palestinian girls; we are all Palestinian boys.'”

As work began at the Comandanta Ramona Seedbed in the Caracol of Morelia, in the official municipality of Altamirano, hundreds of militiamen and women marched in military-style uniforms (green pants, caps, and brown shirts), banging their clubs in synchronized motion.

They all carried on their backs a bow, wooden spears, and the black, white, and green flag of Palestine as a sign of support and solidarity with that people.

After a military salute upon arriving at the site where the Zapatista leaders were positioned, a woman spoke to announce the start of the inaugural ceremony.

“We will listen to the words of our comrade insurgent subcommander Moisés ,” he said, and the rebel spokesman immediately took the microphone.

Welcome, everyone. We want to begin our meeting to share our struggles and strive for life in every anti-capitalist geography, because capitalism is present in every corner of the world and destroys all living beings, he stated in a message released via video on the EZLN's official website.

According to Captain Marcos' report on July 30, 768 people from 37 countries registered to attend and participate in the meeting, which will take place from July 2 to 17.

In the call issued on June 2, signed by Moisés , the EZLN asked those participating in the meeting to share their experience and proposals in the anti-system struggle. Several hundred Zapatistas (men, women, other people, children, and the elderly), from the various work groups, commissions, and responsibilities within the Zapatista autonomy and commons, will be present to listen to you and learn from you.

He also asked them to find a word that will be understood. Because if they come here and only use harsh words, it's for nothing, because we won't understand them. We are confident that we will be a collective, attentive and respectful listener. That's why we hope that their words will be collective, clear, and understandable to those of us who invited them.

The rebel spokesman explained that "the Zapatista communities will explain to you—using whatever means the communities decide—the stage we are in, the problems we face, the progress or setbacks we see."

He pointed out that anyone who wants and can from an organization, group, collective, or movement can attend, although only one person, or several, will share their experience in turn.

She explained that some of the topics to be addressed include: as women, the destruction of nature, attacks on differences in all their forms, the destruction of identities, peoples, and communities, resistance and rebellion in art and culture, migration, racism, segregation, and wars and the destruction of life.

He reiterated that this is not a meeting for analysis or theoretical approaches, but rather for practical experiences of resistance. Those of us who will be there already know what the damned system is and what it does to everyone, as well as to nature, knowledge, the arts, information, human dignity, and the entire planet.

This isn't about, he insisted, theoretically exposing the evils of the capitalist system, but rather about what is being done to resist and rebel, that is, to fight against it. We are not inviting you to teach. We are not your students or apprentices, nor teachers or tutors. We are, along with you, parts of a whole that opposes a system. Giving and giving. You tell us your experiences, and we, the Zapatista people, tell us ours.

Marcos said that according to the registry, representatives from Germany, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Slovenia, El Salvador, Spain, United States, Finland, France, Wales, Galicia, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Kurdistan, The Balkans, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Basque Country, Panama, Peru, Romania, Switzerland, Uruguay are participating.

Better sources?

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34121921

August 2nd 2025

Yousef Fares reporting from Gaza

Hundreds of thousands of starving Palestinians in northern Gaza make a seven-kilometer journey on foot to reach the Zikim military base in Beit Lahia, where trucks loaded with bags of flour are stopped just meters away from Israeli soldiers. To secure a 25-kilogram sack, people must approach the very area where Zionist forces and private contractors carry out daily killings.

Al-Akhbar met with Mohammad al-Sleibi, a former public school teacher in his thirties, who described surviving stampedes and knife fights to grab a single sack. “The soldiers allow only one or two trucks in for over 200,000 people,” he said. “Violence is inevitable. If you hesitate, you go home empty-handed.”

But the danger goes beyond scuffles. Israeli soldiers can open fire at any moment under the pretext of feeling threatened, no permission from higher-ups needed. That’s exactly what happened yesterday. According to survivor Ahmed Miqdad, Israeli soldiers opened fire as crowds rushed toward the trucks. “The soldiers fired round after round at us. We were trapped for hours. Hundreds were killed or injured,” he described. “They shot us like ducks, competing among themselves and probably even betting on who could shoot better. We made it out by some miracle, but without any flour.”

Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that Zionist soldiers killed 53 civilians yesterday and wounded nearly 200 others in that incident alone.

This distribution system, dubbed “self-distribution” by the Zionist occupation and international organizations, has become one pillar of a new three-pronged strategy: air drops, aid traps, and chaos. The aim is to create an illusion of humanitarian assistance in order to strip Hamas of the “famine card” amid growing global outrage over Israel’s engineered starvation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on countries to participate in airdrops over the Gaza Strip. Five planes from Egypt, Jordan, and Israel delivered less aid than a single truck, and some drops landed in “red zones” too dangerous to reach, or directly injured displaced civilians in crowded tent cities. Others, dropped over Gaza’s western areas, injured several displaced people living in the densely packed tent cities that now blanket the region.

Israel’s aid policy goes far beyond preventing Hamas from gaining control of supplies. It is being used to recalibrate Gaza’s social structure under the harshest conditions, in ways that erode the moral and behavioral rules of society.

“The Israeli army is exploiting two years of war and the absence of effective governance to foster organized crime and looting networks,” said human rights activist Abdullah Sharshara. “The army enables aid theft as a way of supporting local militias, like the gang led by Yasser Abu, which looted hundreds of trucks under Israeli protection. It’s a system built on lawlessness.”

Aid trucks are now Gaza’s main source of goods. The trade in aid has created a massive black market that employs hundreds of thousands of people. This has spawned a vast black market and informal economy that feeds off looted supplies. “Every market needs a product, and aid is all that’s left,” Sharshara said. “The army forces truck drivers to stop in crowded areas and prohibits them from delivering to UNRWA warehouses. This sustains the climate of chaos where people are pushed to loot or steal just to eat.”

This is how the Zionist occupation systematically dismantled Gaza’s civil infrastructure: by eliminating community leaders from public service through targeted assassinations or forced displacement. At the same time, it obstructs the work of security forces and destroys civil society and private sector infrastructure, eroding all forms of societal authority.

“Gaza already had a high percentage of unemployed youth, over 49% before the war.” Sharshara noted. “War economy has allowed them to integrate into a new order based not on labor or production, but on opportunistic accumulation and looting. This class has moved from the periphery to the center of post-war life. Their moral values have been completely redefined.”

Henry Parra, president of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), highlighted the party's historic progress following the recent elections.

For the first time, the PCV has won four mayoralties, bringing the total number of council members to 82 across the country, along with 12 national representatives and eight regional representatives.

Parra celebrated the fact that the PCV has established itself as the second-largest political force in Venezuela, after the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

This achievement represents a significant advance in the party's influence at the national level.

Iranian intelligence operatives have uncovered the full profiles of the Israeli air force pilots, commanders, and drone operators, who partook in the Israeli regime’s unprovoked war on the Islamic Republic in June.

The development was reported by official Iranian broadcast channels and the country’s various news outlets on Saturday.

According to the reports, the discovery had laid bare the air force personnel’s complete personal details, including their identities, places of residence, operational units, military bases, and roles in other crimes.

The reports highlighted that the intelligence coup was realized, despite the regime’s strict efforts to conceal the personnel’s identities as witnessed by Israeli outlets routine blurring of their faces during televised coverage.

The reports named two of the pilots as “Major Yael Ash, deputy commander of Squadron 119 (the "Bat" Squadron)” and her husband Bar Prince. Ash was identified as the paternal granddaughter of Major Shimon Ash, a pilot who went missing during the Yom Kippur War that was fought between the regime and a coalition of Arab countries in 1973.

Picture above Major Yael Ash (L) and her husband Prince Bar

‘They’re no longer safe’

One Iranian channel reported that the country’s intelligence apparatus was now in possesion of “satellite images revealing the exact locations” where the personnel lived.

It referred to Ash’s comments in a televised interview, during which she had claimed “she wanted to restore security” to the Zionists.

“Now, she, herself, is no longer safe,” it said, adding that revelation of the Israeli personnel’s information “makes the entire world unsafe for them.”

The Iranian intelligence apparatus’ knowledge of the personnel’s whereabouts, their equipment, and their movements “provides Iranian intelligence operatives with a strategic advantage” in case any future retaliation was required, the reports stated.

‘Sample revenge already taken’

The reports further clarified that some of the Israeli air force personnel had already seen their residences targeted during Iranian retaliatory operations throughout the imposed war.

One broadcast report featured pictures of the aftermath of one such retaliatory strike against one of the personnel’s residence in the city of Yavne in the central part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Some of the residences, it added, were also hit by Iranian missile strikes.

The reprisal saw Iran’s armed forces launch at least 22 rounds of counteroffensive across the occupied territories.

The retaliation targeted Israeli nuclear, military, and industrial sites, prompting the regime to request a ceasefire just after 12 days.

Failed attempt at vilifying Iran

The reports further revealed that once the personnel’s whereabouts came under Iranian counterstrikes, the regime relocated them to such places as schools.

The evacuation, they noted, took place so the regime could claim that the Islamic Republic had targeted “civilian” sites in case those places were targeted.

The reports finally said what had been made public as part of the discovery so far was only “one example.”

“The disclosures of such classified information will continue.”

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