World AM News Briefs For Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Good Morning Australia!! - Hillary finally gets the endorsement she's been seeking - Fears that Beijing could become an even wilder card now that it's lost a key territorial ruling - A move is underway to destroy Hitler's birthplace - And more in your CareerSpot International News Briefs:
In the US, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has formally endorsed his Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton for President of the United States of America. "In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up," Sanders said. For his supporters, the senator prefaced his usual messages about the minimum wage and inequality with, "Hillary knows," and saying his Democratic Socialist political movement will live on. Slamming the racist and anti-Semitic Republican Party candidate Donald Trump, Sanders said, "This election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up."
Beijing is rejecting an international tribunal's decision that China has absolutely no legal claim to the reefs it has taken in the South China Sea (.pdf link). China's neighbors are not expecting the big giant to take this well: "This award represents a devastating legal blow to China's jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea," said Ian Storey, from The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) think tank in Singapore. "China will respond with fury, certainly in terms of rhetoric and possibly through more aggressive actions at sea," he added. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about US$5 Trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan have competing claims in the sea which is several hundred kilometers beyond China's actual maritime boundary.
Two passenger trains collided head-on in an olive grove in southern Italy, killing more than 20 people. Crumpled cars and debris littered the single stretch of track in the Puglia countryside between the towns of Corato and Andria. One local mayor described the seen as looing more like a plane crash. Investigators will now determine why the trains were on the same track.
Austria is moving to seize the building where Adolph Hitler was born to prevent it from becoming a gathering place for neonazis and fascist scum in a Europe with an increasingly boisterous right-wing and nationalist underground. "It is my vision to tear down the house," said Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka. Other officials oppose this plan and would rather use it to educate against fascism and naziism. Burn it down, I say.
The European Union is criticizing Israel for passing a law that forces non-government organizations (NGO) to disclose foreign sources of funding. The law is written is such a way to impact mostly Left-wing and peace groups that get their money from overseas, while right-wing and nationalist groups that rely on local, wealthy private donors would be exempt. Meanwhile, there is concern over the military's new chief rabbi; in 2002, Rabbi Colonel Eyal Karim implied he condoned the rape of non-Jewish women in war. A decade later, he said his words were taken out of context.
The EU is threatening to fine Spain and Portugal for failing to reduce their deficits to below three percent of GDP. The European Council ruled that the two nations apparently hadn't tried hard enough. Portugal's prime minister said imposing fines would be "counterproductive" for the Eurozone, and common friggin sense says that creating more debt to try and reduce debt won't reduce debt and it's a stupid damned idea.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the military to monitor ports and food processing plants to guarantee production and distribution of food and medicines. The country is going through a terrible economic crisis, one that Maduro maintains is being created by the US-backed private sector moneyed elites holding back on production and imports. The Army will take over logistics, and we'll how that goes.