Armed group abducts nearly 400 male students in Nigeria
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-13
TEHRAN, Dec. 13 (MNA) — An armed group has abducted nearly 400 male students at a boarding school in northern Nigeria, local media outlets reported on Saturday.
en.mehrnews.com/news/167124/Armed-group-abducts-nearly-400-male-students-in-Nigeria

Go Vote Yourself a Raise, Georgia—You've Long Earned It
Ralph Nader | commondreams.org | 2020-12-12
Candidates should be pushed to say if they stand with the super-rich profiteering, callous Big Business tycoons or with the people who work for pitiful wages, on the rugged frontlines, and keep our society running. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/georgia_primary.jpg …
commondreams.org/views/2020/12/12/go-vote-yourself-raise-georgia-youve-long-earned-it?cd-origin=rss

Israel-Morocco deal: Palestinians and Sahrawis hope for renewed solidarity
Alex MacDonald | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-12
Israel-Morocco deal: Palestinians and Sahrawis hope for renewed solidarity | Activists have long linked the two people's struggles, and hope the latest normalisation deal will encourage the Palestinian leadership to do the same | Alex MacDonald | Sat, 12/12/2020 – 10: 26 | Supporters of the Polisario Front separatist movement hold a banner reading "All for Palestine, all for Western Sahara" during a demonstratio…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-morocco-deal-palestine-western-sahara-solidarity

[World Report] Humanitarian access deal for Tigray
Sharmila Devi | thelancet.com | 2020-12-12
Humanitarian groups will be allowed into Tigray, Ethiopia, where conflict has displaced thousands and strained health services. Sharmila Devi reports.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32669-6/fulltext?rss=yes

Israel establishes 'formal diplomatic relations' with Bhutan
MEE and agencies | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-12
Israel establishes 'formal diplomatic relations' with Bhutan | Himalayan kingdom is latest country to recognise Israel in a normalisation deal, days after Morocco signed agreement | MEE and agencies | Sat, 12/12/2020 – 23: 25 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the agreement with Bhutan, saying that his country was 'in contact with other countries that want to establish relations with' Israel…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-establishes-formal-diplomatic-relations-bhutan

[Clinical Picture] Occult fracture in teenager's tibia revealed by MRI
Zeng Li, Bin Feng, Xisheng Weng | thelancet.com | 2020-12-12
A 13-year-old girl presented with a 2-week history of mild pain in her right knee. She reported no recent injury. x-rays showed a high-density linear abnormality with a periosteal reaction in the proximal right tibia (figure), which medical staff, at the hospital where she was first seen, thought might have been a tumour of the bone.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32516-2/fulltext?rss=yes

US adopts 'new official' map of Morocco, which includes Western Sahara
MEE and agencies | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-12
US adopts 'new official' map of Morocco, which includes Western Sahara | Washington's ambassador to Rabat says map 'recognises Morocco's sovereignty' over disputed territory after North African nation normalised relations with Israel | MEE and agencies | Sat, 12/12/2020 – 20: 13 | Supporters of Western Sahara's independence hold Western Saharan and Algerian flags during a demonstration in Bordeaux, France on…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/united-states-morocco-western-sahara-adopts-official-map

Nigeria's Security Agents Have Committed Crimes — ICC Prosecutor
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-12
She announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination in a statement Friday and recommended an investigation into the crimes committed. | "Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met", she said. | Her conclusion about Nigeria's security agents was at the heart of the #EndsARS protest in October, which the authorities also crushed. | Her finding verbatim: we have also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces ("NSF") have committed the following acts constituting…
popularresistance.org/nigerias-security-agents-have-committed-crimes-icc-prosecutor/

Go Vote Yourself a Raise, Georgia — You've Long Earned It
Ralph Nader | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-11
All political eyes are on Georgia's runoff election on January 5th, 2021. Two Senate seats are up for grabs and will decide whether the evil Trumpster and corporatist Senator Mitch McConnell stays in total control of the U.S. Senate or not. If the Democrats win both seats, the Senate would be split, 50-50. Vice President…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/11/go-vote-yourself-a-raise-georgia-youve-long-earned-it/

U.S. Recognizes Morocco's Occupation of Western Sahara in Latest Betrayal of Sahrawi People
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-12-11
We continue to examine the U.S.-brokered deal between Morocco and Israel to normalize relations. As part of the deal, the U.S. will become the first country in the world to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the international community. We convene a roundtable to discuss developments: Mouloud Said, a representative of the Polisario Front in Washington; Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco; and Sahrawi journalist and activist Nazha El-Khalidi.
www.democracynow.org/2020/12/11/morocco_israel_western_sahara_sahrawi

Supreme Court Weighs Corporate Liability For Child Laborers On Cocoa Farms
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2020-12-11
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether the world's largest cocoa corporations are liable for child slavery in their supply chains. For 15 years, six citizens of Mali who were trafficked as children to work on cocoa farms have sought legal damages from Cargill and Nestle USA under a 240-year-old anti-piracy law. | The plaintiffs' attorney told the court that the corporations "maintain a system of child slavery and forced labor in their Ivory Coast supply chain as a matter of corporate policy to gain a competitive advantage in the U.S. market."
popularresistance.org/supreme-court-weighs-corporate-liability-for-child-laborers-on-cocoa-farms/

Ethiopia: UN refugee agency calls for 'unfettered access' to Tigray
news.un.org | 2020-12-11
Amidst "disturbing reports" from Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan, the UN refugee agency called on Friday for "unfettered access to Tigray in order to reach people in need".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1079852

Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
wsws.org | 2020-12-11