There is a serious human rights crisis brewing at the prison at Guantánamo Bay. A hunger strike that began in early February has spread to include the vast majority of the prison population, according to attorneys representing some of the strikers. One prisoner told his lawyer that some 130 of the 166 prisoners are refusing food.
The research puts stark numbers for the first time on a long-brewing problem, and puts additional pressure on the Obama administration to take a stand on how to address HFCs in advance of a July 14 United Nations meeting on the subject in Geneva.
Obama S First Major Foreign Crisis Brewing
Clearly, this is only one way that American domestic circumstances cast their shadow on American foreign policy in the age of Obama. As foreign policy has become both inseparable from and subordinate to economic concerns, these concerns play back on foreign policy from several angles. They bring pressure for a more austere defense budget, which in turn affects key planning judgments with major strategic consequences in the future. They promote concern about trade deficits and distorted international capital flows that directly affect US policy towards China and thus, at least indirectly, towards a dozen or so important allies.
From all these sources, bumping against and mixing with one another, comes the foreign policy of Barack Obama. Where the man will lead that policy, or the policy lead the man (the rest of us in tow), is now driven by the fact that the President is adrift conceptually since his initial engagement strategies did not succeed. Obama now awaits the crisis that will forge his legacy, but what that crisis will be, and whether the president will meet it with the American national interest or his personal political concerns foremost in mind, no one knows. No one can possibly know.
Just six months out from the general election, Trump's positions on banking issues remain a complete mystery aside from a general pledge to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act. Indeed, Trump's campaign has avoided giving specifics on most issues, even when they've promised to provide them. Take, for example, Trump's much hyped speech on foreign policy last week, in which his message simply boiled down to putting "America first."
"That was billed as a major foreign policy address and probably something he has given significant more thought to then to banking regulation and there is still nothing there," said Brian Gardner an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. "It was a vacuous statement, some large guiding principles but no meat on the bones for what it means for U.S. foreign policy."
Inside the U.N., talk of Iran has made it into speeches by world leaders as the crisis brewing in the Persian Gulf looms over the annual gathering. But all around, there's been a diplomatic flurry of activity to address the rising tensions, in addition to demonstrations, conversations and interviews all focused on Iran.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev gained conditional approval on Tuesday for its $100 billion-plus acquisition of SABMiller from South African anti-trust regulators, bringing the deal closer to fruition. Conditions attached to the deal include a binding one that no South African employee be laid off because of the merger, the Competition Commission said in a statement. The commission said it had recommended to the Competition Tribunal, which has the ultimate say, that the deal be "approved with conditions." Its recommendations usually meet the tribunal's approval. Other conditions to the tie-up include a requirement the merged entity sell off SAB's stake in liquor maker Distell and that it make a 1 billion rand ($63.60 million) investment in South African agriculture. The companies have also agreed to submit within two years of the merger "black economic empowerment plans setting out how the merged entity intends to maintain black participation in the company, including equity," the commission said in a statement. South Africa's government has a number of targets that companies must meet to lift the ownership of previously disadvantaged blacks in the economy. Jobs are a major issue in South Africa, where unemployment is over 25 percent and income disparities are glaring, and AB InBev granted significant concessions on this front as it strives for approval of one of the largest corporate takeovers. "The Commission received concerns regarding the potential impact of the proposed merger on employment ... In this regard, AB InBev has undertaken that it will not retrench any employee in South Africa as a result of the merger. This condition will endure in perpetuity," the commission said. In the area of social development, AB InBev has committed to investing 1 billion rand over five years in to the agriculture sector that supplies the brewing business, with a focus on emerging black farmers. "This investment will be utilised for the development of the South African agricultural outputs for barley, hops and maize, as well as to promote entry and growth of emerging and black farmers in South Africa," the Commission said. Last week AB InBev gained EU antitrust approval for the transaction. The takeover will give the merged entity a third of the global beer market, selling twice as much beer as its nearest rival Heineken. ($1 = 15.7226 rand) (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; editing by Adrian Croft) 2ff7e9595c
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