The Facts - read the full story from Verity News here

• The International Court of Justice (ICCJ) opened its largest-ever case on Monday, with arguments scheduled to be heard from around 100 countries regarding what nations should be legally obligated to do to address climate change.[1][2]
• The case originated from a campaign made by Pacific Island law students, which received unanimous support from the UN General Assembly in March to proceed with the hearings.[3][4]
• The case — to be examined by 15 international judges — will hear from countries including the US and China. Australia has already argued that its own climate obligations stem from treaties such as the Paris Agreement.[1][5]
• This comes as Vanuatu, an archipelago of 82 islands with 335K residents, has experienced a 0.2-inch sea level rise over three decades, as well as an increase in extreme weather events.[3]
• The country's envoy argued that the "handful" of countries at fault for rising emissions won't face the same impact as poorer and island nations.[3]
• While the ICJ's advisory opinion will not be legally binding, it could significantly influence future climate litigation and international negotiations.[1][6]

The Spin

Narrative A

Rich countries that caused this climate crisis through significant carbon pollution must aid weaker and island nations facing climate threats by funding adaptation projects, investing in renewable energy, and transferring to green technology. Small states like Vanuatu and Tuvalu face rising seas, with survival dependent on others making global emissions cuts to prevent further devastation.

Narrative B

Climate campaigns, even from island nation politicians, are using fear to push an agenda. Claims such as the threat facing polar bears, the Great Barrier Reef dying, and sinking Pacific islands have already been disproven; most atoll islands are growing due to natural processes. If alarmists get their way, these costly climate programs will economically destroy vulnerable countries.

The Facts- read the full story from Verity News here

• Belgium's Court of Appeals Monday found the state guilty of crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo under its colonial rule, where the administration forcibly separated children from mothers and took them to orphanages.[1][2]
• The court ruled that five Belgian Congolese-born women were victims of "systematic kidnapping" and were placed in Catholic institutions because of their mixed race. It ordered reparations of €50K ($53K) to each for "moral" or emotional harm.[3][4]
• The women, now in their 70s and 80s, sued the state in 2020 amid growing demands for Belgium to reassess former King Leopold II's regime under which millions reportedly died in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.[5][6]
• Monique Bitu Bingi, Léa Tavares Mujinga, Noëlle Verbeken, Simone Ngalula, and Marie-José Loshi filed the case seeking compensation. The number of such biracial children from former Belgian colonies is estimated to be around 15K.[7][8]
• The women's lawyers argued that the state sought to prevent interracial unions, isolating the "children of shame" so they wouldn't claim links with Belgium. This was the first such case related to children in interracial families.[5][8]
• In 2021, a lower court rejected the case of the "métis" — the term for such children separated between 1908 and 1960. But the appellate judge concluded that Belgium had carried out "an inhumane act of persecution," ordering the compensation.[9][10]

The Spin

Narrative A

Acknowledging the profound harm caused by colonial exploitation, former imperial powers must confront their histories and make reparations — financial and symbolic — to their victims. Reparations are not mere charity but a moral obligation to redress stolen wealth, lives, and dignity. They can begin to heal the enduring scars of imperial violence and injustice.

Narrative B

The call for reparations faces insurmountable barriers of fairness, practicality, and historical nuance. Deciding eligibility amid a tapestry of mixed ancestries and global migrations just creates endless disputes. Solutions should prioritize broad, forward-looking strategies to combat systemic inequities rather than abstract arguments to provide concrete financial compensation.

Critics say the new U.N. carbon market is prone to fraud and double-counting of carbon credits. With plans to sell billions of dollars of credits, Indonesia will provide an early test of the market, which is set to launch as soon as next year. Read more.

https://preview.redd.it/bqdjzdbq9n4e1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10d18ee5529b16db6b216e5bdb6952f77791d0c4

Every article on the Gaza genocide is worded consistently as "allegation" or "alleged genocide" when referring to the South Africa genocide case even though the Gaza Genocide article alone is filled with clear evidence with trustworthy sources. Another article is "Palestinian genocide accusation". Again, worded with the same questionable language while giving numerous proofs to defend the genocide claims.

It's honestly very morally repugnant and depressing that in this century, after so many years of learning about the Holocaust, knowing what a genocide constitutes, and trying to prevent another serious one from happening, the west has to force the writers of these articles to word it this way so as to not completely offend Israel or make it look completely guilty. You'll never see any article on the Holocaust being worded as "alleged". That would ironically be called out as antisemitic.

WFP: $16.9 billion.

https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/s10-economist-arif-husain-wfp-how-much-does-it-cost-to-feed-the-world

How should governments balance security and basic freedoms? The UN Human Rights Chief urges Georgian authorities to respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly amidst protests. Disproportionate force against demonstrators raises critical concerns. Share your thoughts on balancing order and rights!

More on the same in our article:
https://www.theworkersrights.com/georgia-protests-un-human-rights-chief-calls-on-authorities-to-protect-basic-freedoms/

The Facts- read here

• Ukrainian officials made a renewed push to convince allies in NATO to consider the war-torn country's invitation to the military alliance late this week.[1]
• In a letter to foreign ministers of NATO nations ahead of their meeting on Dec. 3-4, excerpts of which were published by Reuters on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said: "The invitation should not be seen as an escalation."[1]
• "On the contrary, with a clear understanding that Ukraine's membership in NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for continuing this unjustified war," he added.[1]
• Last month, an invitation to NATO was central to Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "victory plan." However, according to reports at the time, NATO's key members — including the US and Germany — were not convinced about the idea, particularly with Ukraine's conflict with Russia ongoing.[2]
• On Friday, Zelenskyy gave an interview to Britain's Sky News in which he again pitched the idea. "If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," he said. "That's what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically."[3]
• The developments come amid a deteriorating battlefield situation for Ukraine, with incremental Russian advances continuing to be reported across the frontlines, including in the Russian Kursk region. AP News has reported that Ukraine is facing a growing desertion problem in its military ranks, with an estimated 50K soldiers going AWOL this year.[4][5]
• Meanwhile, in an attack of 90 missiles and 100 drones, Russia again targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, alongside military sites, late this week. Nearly a million Ukrainian households were left without power, Ukrainian officials said.[6]

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

The US and Germany have been Ukraine's biggest supporters, but it must be understood that its immediate invitation into NATO is simply not possible while the conflict is ongoing. This would lead to a wider NATO-Russia war that could escalate further.

Politico

Pro-Ukraine narrative

If Ukraine becomes a properly confirmed member of NATO, it will show Russian Pres. Putin that he will be lost from a geopolitical point of view. As Ukrainian Pres. Zelenskyy said, Russia must recognize that Europe has borders and independent states, and everyone has the right to choose their own future.

Ukrainska Pravda

Pro-Russia narrative

Dragging Ukraine into the NATO military alliance is what started this whole conflict in the first place, particularly NATO's cultivation of Ukrainian nationalism that resulted in a violation of rights against the country's Russian-speaking citizens. Without eliminating the root cause of the conflict, it's impossible to achieve a fair settlement.

My grandfather was a holocaust survivor who knew 8 languages fluently. He was a translator to the UN from what I understood, although I am not able to verify this.

Is there an area/advice I could get access to that could help verify this info and get more info on what exactly he did there?

The likely period would have been 1940-1960's. He lived in the United States (Massachusetts to be exact)