Stand With The Philippines

The horror of what's happened in the Philippines is unimaginable. Ten thousand people wiped away by a 25ft wall of water driven by 300km/h winds. A city of 200,000 people looks like a nuclear bomb hit it. It's the worst storm on record, but it's just the beginning, unless we act.

Right now the world's powers are in a global climate conference talking about whether to hand over billions promised to help the most vulnerable amongst us when climate change disasters hit. Yeb Sano, the Philippines' chief negotiator, just addressed the room, tearfully pledging a hunger strike until a real deal is reached to help his family, fellow citizens and all the other most vulnerable nations who are at the most risk for violent storms like this one.

Yeb is standing alone, facing a room of bureaucrats who are doing almost nothing to help. But if we bring the power of our 29 million strong community in to stand with him, we could change the tide and push the richest polluters to pay up now. Click below to make it happen:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stand_with_the_Philippines/?bkEJafb&v=31102

Yeb Sano, the climate negotiator for the Philippines, spent hours trying to reach his brother after the storm. He finally found him, part of a crew moving the bodies of victims so relief workers could begin cleanup. After hearing the news he gave an amazingly brave speech to the world's climate delegates, saying:

"I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm. I also speak for those who have been orphaned by this tragedy. I also speak for the people now racing against time to save survivors and alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the disaster. We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life... What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw."

We owe it to the victims of Haiyan, and all future storms like it, to think bigger picture than our leaders are. Climate change killed them. And climate change is what we need to stop. A greater commitment to fund climate change management efforts is a key piece in the global deal we desperately need to save the world. And the richest countries have already pledged millions for this effort! So far, almost none of the money promised has arrived, but this can and must change. And the tragedy of the Philippines right in the middle of the climate conference is our chance to make it happen.

Click below to stand with Yeb and his country and with all those who have been and could be victims of climate change disasters:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stand_with_the_Philippines/?bkEJafb&v=31102

Yeb ended his speech by writing a pledge to everyone: “In solidarity with my countrymen who are struggling to find food back home and with my brother who has not had food for the last three days, in all due respect Mr. President, and I mean no disrespect for your kind hospitality, I will now commence a voluntary fasting for the climate. This means I will voluntarily refrain from eating food during this COP until a meaningful outcome is in sight.” Together, our movement can rise to this challenge, and bring hope to him and his family and generations of our most vulnerable world citizens.

With hope and determination,

Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

PS - This campaign was started by Yeb Sano, chief climate negotiator for the Philippines. Start yours now and win on any issue - local, national or global: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?

More information:

In hard-hit Tacloban, children ripped from arms (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-tacloban/index.html

Typhoon Haiyan: what really alarms Filipinos is the rich world ignoring climate change (The Guardian)

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-rich-ignore-climate-change

Typhoon Haiyan influenced by climate change, scientists say (Sydney Morning Herald)

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/typhoon-haiyan-influenced-by-climate-change-scientists-say-20131111-2xb35.html

Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines destruction 'absolute bedlam' (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24894529

Deadly Typhoon Haiyan Devastates the Philippines, Heads for Vietnam (TIME)

http://world.time.com/2013/11/10/deadly-typhoon-haiyan-devastates-the-philippines-heads-for-vietnam/

article by :

Ricken Patel

CFR International Management 2013/2014

The Commission For Refugees under The Multipurpose Inter Parliamentary Union announced the International worldwide management for 2013/2014

Chairman : Datu Fazhir Aranan

International Secretary : Ir.Neha Sharma

Chief Of Information : Sheri Mehmood Ahmed

Director Of Continent :-

1. Director For S/E Asia : Dato Sri Dharmadass A/L KR Damoo

2. Director For Europe : Atty. Bar. Fabrizio G. Nucera

3. Director For Africa : Serigne Saliou Cisse Salleh

Director General :

1. Malaysia : Datu Hanafi 

2. Philippines : Dr.Kamarulaizian Kamsah

3. Ethiopia : Samson Alemayehu

4. India : Dr.Arvind K. Sharma

5. Cyprus : Rana Rafaqat Ahmed

6. Germany : Rizwan Ahmed

7. Bangladesh : Dr. Safiul Alam

The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa

The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution on Sunday after an al Qaeda threat that U.S. lawmakers said was the most serious in years.

The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday “out of an abundance of caution” and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The United States initially closed 21 U.S. diplomatic posts for the day on Sunday. Some of those will reopen on Monday, including Kabul, Baghdad and Algiers.

Four new diplomatic posts – in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius – were added to the closure list for the week.

Last week, the State Department issued a worldwide travel alert warning Americans that al Qaeda may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

“There is an awful lot of chatter out there,” U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He said the “chatter” – communications among terrorism suspects about the planning of a possible attack – was “very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.”

A National Security Agency surveillance program that electronically collects communications on cellphones and emails – known as intercepts – had helped gather intelligence about this threat, Chambliss said.

It was one of the NSA surveillance programs revealed by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to media outlets.

Those programs “allow us to have the ability to gather this chatter,” Chambliss said. “If we did not have these programs then we simply wouldn’t be able to listen in on the bad guys.”

‘SERIOUS THREAT’

“This is the most serious threat that I’ve seen in the last several years,” Chambliss said.

U.S. military forces in the Middle East region have been on a higher state of alert for the past several days because of the threat, a U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The threat also has prompted some European countries to close their embassies in Yemen, home to an al Qaeda affiliate that is considered one of the most dangerous: al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemeni soldiers blocked roads around the U.S. and British embassies in Sanaa, while troops with automatic rifles stood outside the French Embassy.

Interpol, the France-based international police agency, on Saturday issued a global security alert advising member states to increase vigilance against attacks after a series of prison breaks in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

“Al Qaeda is in many ways stronger than it was before 9/11, because it’s mutated and it spread and it can come at us from different directions,” U.S. Representative Peter King, a Republican, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“And al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is probably the most deadly of all the al Qaeda affiliates,” he said.

Republicans and Democrats alike on Sunday television talk shows said the threat was serious and sought to defuse the controversy over the NSA surveillance programs, which critics say are an invasion of privacy and civil rights.

“The good news is that we picked up intelligence. And that’s what we do. That’s what NSA does,” U.S. Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“We’ve received information that high-level people from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack,” he said.

The threat information came just before the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan later this week and just over a month before the anniversary of al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

A September 11 attack last year killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans in Benghazi.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the actions taken to close the embassies and issue the global travel alert showed the Obama administration had learned lessons from Benghazi.

“Benghazi was a complete failure. The threats were real there. The reporting was real. And we basically dropped the ball. We’ve learned from Benghazi, thank God, and the administration is doing this right,” he said.

The bomb contained ball bearings, nuts and bolts.

KARACHI: A bomb exploded at a bus stop near the Peoples Chowrangi in Karachi, on Tuesday, killing at least three and injuring 30 others. Five of the injured were reported to be in critical condition. The police said the attack was caused by an explosive device planted in flower pots under a poster of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain. When MQM workers discovered that someone had torn the poster, they gathered to inspect. Soon after people started gathering, the explosive device containing ball bearings, nuts and bolts, blew up. At least 30 people were injured and two were killed. Soon after the explosion, all nearby shops shut down.

Rescue ambulances rushed to the site and shifted the injured to Imam Clinic, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Ziauddin Hospital.

Hasan Ali Jaffery, who was among those injured, said that he had stopped near the crowd gathered at the blast site. 10 minutes after, the bomb blew up.

Ex-MPA Sheikh Salahuddin, who has previously contested from that area, said that they were planning their campaign activities when they found out that a poster bearing the picture of Altaf Hussain had been torn. When workers and supporters gathered at the spot, the bomb blew up.

Salahuddin blamed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other parties who were trying to break the MQM’s vote bank. He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the security arrangements.

Several vehicles near the bomb site were damaged while windows of nearby buildings were also broken by the impact of the blast.

DIG West Zafar Bukhari said that one and a half kilogrammes of explosives were detonated. BDS officials confirmed, adding that the bomb was detonated using a remote-controlled device, while the bomb had been concealed in a plastic container. It left a crater three feet wide a foot deep.

MQM shuts election offices Soon after the blast on Tuesday, MQM chief Altaf Hussain directed that all of his party’s elections cells to be closed temporarily.

The MQM also announced a day of mourning for Wednesday across Sindh. The party’s coordination committee has appealed to traders and transporters to suspend their activities, and raise their voice against rising incidents of terrorism.

Sheri Mehmood Ahmed.

A bomb blast near an army truck killed a man and injured at least 10 soldiers in Karachi

Thursday, police said. The blast in Korangi area of Karachi also injured six more civilians, they said. The army truck was destroyed in the attack.

Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The TTP spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told the media via phone that the attack was part of the Taliban policy to target the security forces.

Sources said that the troops were returning from election duty when came under attack near headquarters of paramilitary forces, military sources said.

Police said that the bomb was attached to a motorbike and was parked along the road. Troops were deployed in parts of Karachi to ensure security for the by-elections. The injured were sifted to military and civil hospitals.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast in Karachi, which resulted into injuries to security men and civilians. Sympathizing with the affected families, the Prime Minister prayed for the early recovery of those injured in the blast.

Sheri Mehmood Ahmed.