UN appeals for $18 million to assist flood victims in Burkina Faso

United Nations aid agencies and their humanitarian partners launched an appeal today for more than $18 million to help the victims of deadly floods in Burkina Faso, one of the countries hit hardest this year by the annual wet season in West Africa.

Food insecurity in Somalia expected to worsen in coming months, UN warns

Food insecurity is expected to get worse for the remainder of this year in some drought-affected regions of Somalia, according the latest update from the United Nations humanitarian arm.

Ban sounds alarm on rocket firing into Israel from southern Lebanon

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned today’s firing of at least two rockets into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, urging all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

Senior UN official warns of deadly dangers facing southern Sudan

The people of southern Sudan face serious threats to their security from a brutal Ugandan rebel militia operating in the area as well as a recent flare-up of violent ethnic clashes, a senior United Nations official warned today.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Orders DTE Energy to Restore Power at theHighland Towers; Additional Hearings to be Held Next Week

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory

Event: Meeting to Win a Moratorium on Evictions & Utility Shut-offs
Theme: The People Must Declare an Economic State of Emergency
Date: Saturday, September 12, 2009, 11:00am-1:00pm
Location: Central United Methodist Church, Woodward at Adams
Sponsors: Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shut-offs
Contact: 313. 671.3715
E-mail: ac6123@wayne.edu
URL: http://www/moratorium-mi.org

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen MacDonald Orders DTE Energy to Turn Power Back on at Highland Towers Apartments; Incident Reveals the Need for a Moratorium on Utility Shut-offs

On Friday, September 11, Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen MacDonald ordered DTE Energy to turn the power back on at the Highland Towers Apartments located in Highland Park on Woodward Avenue near Glendale. This decision will be valid for one week when another hearing will be held on the status of the situation at the Highland Towers.

The residents had been without electricity since August 31 when DTE Energy shut off their services without proper notice. The owners of the property have gone into hiding and have set up obstacles to securing justice for the tenants.

The landlords at Highland Towers had not paid the utility bills for months despite these fees being included in the monthly rents collected from the tenants. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition has worked with the tenants to demand that DTE Energy restore services pending the outcome of the current dispute involving the landlord’s creditors’.

Attorney Robert Day of the Legal Aid and Defender Association, Inc. filed the case on behalf of the tenants at Highland Towers. The decision of Judge MacDonald was made in chambers in consultation with Attorney Day and lawyers for DTE Energy.

There is also another hearing scheduled for September 15 in a claim filed by the tenants for damages due to the negligence and fraud of the owners of the building. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition is urging the public to remain vigilant in regard to the ongoing struggle to win justice for the people at the Highland Towers.

Michelle Hall-Edwards of Legal Aid & Defenders said that “There will be further letigation and they will pursue all claims.” LaTanya Lloyd, a resident at Highland Towers, expressed some relief at the Judge’s ruling. She is a co-plantiff in the case against DTE Energy and the absentee landlords.

Case Illustrates Why a Moratorium is Needed

The situation of the people at the Highland Towers shows clearly why the Moratorium NOW! Coalition has been calling for a halt to all foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs. Working and poor people in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and the entire country are being grossly exploited by the criminal actions of the banks, mortgage companies, insurance firms, utility giants and absentee landlords. With the unemployment and poverty rates climbing every month, millions more will inevitably face evictions, utility shut-offs and joblessness.

Consequently, we must demand a declaration of a state of economic emergency in Michigan and in the U.S. as a whole. The interests of working people and the poor must take priority over payments to the banks, insurance firms and utility companies. Utilities, water, housing, jobs, healthcare and incomes are fundamental rights that all people should have in any civilized society.

In addition, we must demand that the federal government enact a real jobs program to provide decent employment and incomes to tens of millions of people in the U.S. who are unmeployed, underemployed and poor.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition will be holding an organizing meeting on Saturday, September 12 at Central United Methodist Church, Woodward at Adams, in downtown Detroit. The meeting begins at 11:00 a.m. We will then caravan to the East English Village for a demonstration against another illegal foreclosure by Wells Fargo Bank against Belva Davis. This action in East English Village will begin at 2:00 p.m.

Abayomi Azikiwe,
Media Liaison
Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs

Astounding hypocrisy

The Vice-President of the European Commission Margot Wallstrom has today given an extraordinary interview to the Irish Herald, in which she attacks “false statements” from the ‘no’ side, and then goes on to pretend that Ireland is having a vote on its membership of the EU, rather than a Treaty.

In what reads like the lyrics of a love ballad, she says: “Ireland would be so much worse off without Europe…. Maybe we don’t tell you often enough: We want Ireland in the EU … Ireland being in the EU, to the rest of the EU, it means so much.”

The paper says: “The Swedish politician is in Dublin to seek support for the Lisbon Treaty.”

Now, the European Commission has repeatedly claimed in no uncertain terms that it does not get involved in national referendums.

See here for example, where the Irish office claimes: “It has been the long standing policy of the European Commission not to interfere in internal elections or referenda in Members States”.

Or here, where Wallstrom’s spokesperson Joe Hennon says: “There will be no advocacy or publicity campaign ahead of the second referendum,” said Joe Hennon, Spokesman for EU Communications Commissioner Margot Wallstrom.

We look forward to reading the full interview tomorrow, which, according to the Herald includes how the European Central Bank is prepared to put “an enormous amount of money” in Ireland and “Ms Wallstrom’s view that Charlie McCreevy must regret his loose tongue.”

No doubt she is referring to McCreevy’s admission that 95% of EU countries would have rejected the Lisbon Treaty if they had been allowed a say on it. Or perhaps his statement yesterday evening at Gresham College, when he said that last time around “Irish people in their wisdom decided… against the advice of everybody and said No.”

We can only wonder how Mr McCreevy will feel about being publicly chastised by his own colleagues for speaking his mind in his own country.

UN force investigating rocket firing into Israel from south Lebanon

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it has launched an investigation into an incident today in which at least two rockets were fired from the southern part of the country into northern Israel.

Paul Ahyi of Togo joins roster of UNESCO Artists for Peace

Togolese artist Paul Ahyi is the newest member of the roster of renowned personalities who use their influence, charisma and prestige to help promote the message and programmes of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Yemen: UN appeal remains unfunded as thousands flee fighting through desert

The United Nations voiced increasing alarm today over the plight of 150,000 people driven from their homes by fighting in northern Yemen, noting that the $23 million emergency appeal it launched nine days ago has not yet received a single cent.

Hunger crisis in Guatemala draws mounting concern from UN food agency

The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today voiced her deep concern about the hunger crisis gripping much of Guatemala, where a combination of the global economic crisis, high food prices, a drop in remittances, harsh weather and poverty has left thousands of people struggling to find food.