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WHO: Israeli attacks cripple health services in Lebanon

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Funeral ceremonies are held for health workers Ali Jaber and Joud Sulelman, who were killed in an Israeli strike carried out a day earlier in the town of Haruf in Nabatieh province in southern Lebanon on March 25, 2026. [Murat Şengül – Anadolu Agency]

Israel’s ongoing attacks in Lebanon cripple health services in Lebanon, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Lebanon Emergency Situation Report said, Anadolu reports.

Since Israeli attacks on the country expanded since March 2, access to healthcare worsened, the report stated earlier this week.

64 attacks on the healthcare were identified, killing at least 53 healthcare workers and injuring 91 others, it said.

Nine hospitals were damaged, 50 primary healthcare centers were closed, and four primary healthcare centers were damaged.

Five hospitals, including Bahman Hospital, Al-Sahel Hospital, Bint Jbeil Public Hospital, Mays al-Jabal Public Hospital, and Al-Burj Hospital, were closed, the report added.

On Friday evening, the Lebanese Health Ministry announced that the death toll from the Israeli attacks rose to 1,142, with 3,315 others wounded.

The Israeli army has pounded Lebanon with airstrikes and launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2.

The ongoing Israeli offensive on Lebanon comes amid a heightened regional tensions since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has retaliated with waves of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, inflicting casualties and infrastructure damage while disrupting global markets and aviation.

READ: How can Lebanon face the Zionist aggression?

Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel's criminal war for Israel's genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said "I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.

Continue ReadingWHO: Israeli attacks cripple health services in Lebanon

Morning Star Editorial: The far right is more menacing than ever in Britain — but together, we can take it on

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/far-right-more-menacing-ever-britain-together-we-can-take-it

 Counter protesters, organised by Stand Up To Racism, in West Parliament Square, Edinburgh, ahead of an anti-immigration protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh ,March 21, 2026

THIS weekend’s Together march promises to be the largest anti-racist demonstration in generations.

It is needed as a confident assertion that we have an anti-racist majority in Britain and we will not allow the far right to turn communities against each other.

We have seen that anti-racist majority in action. In the summer of 2024 a wave of racist riots swept British towns. Neighbourhoods were trashed, hotels housing refugees targeted.

The community response was swift and magnificent, both the collective clean-up efforts in affected towns and the huge mobilisations, from Newcastle in the north to Brighton in the south, warning that the racists would not pass. The riots fizzled out.

But the far right has advanced since then. Donald Trump’s re-election that winter in the United States has emboldened it globally, as liberal governments cringe before a leader of the “free world” who peddles racist conspiracy theories, openly supports ethnic cleansing and unleashes state terror on immigrants, black people and entire communities like Minneapolis.

The US right is not just an inspiration for the Tommy Robinsons and Nigel Farages.

It supports them politically. The White House National Security Strategy commits to promote “the influence of patriotic parties” to “help Europe correct its current trajectory.” Last summer US Vice-President JD Vance used a “holiday” in England to meet a suite of far-right politicians and “influencers.”

It supports them financially. Reform UK is awash with foreign cash and tech tycoon Elon Musk paid Robinson’s legal fees last October.

Rolling in money, the far right is well placed to exploit the grievances felt by millions of people who — rightly — see Westminster politics as an insiders’ game where corrupt politicians dance to the tune of big business and ordinary people’s living standards and public services decline year on year.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/far-right-more-menacing-ever-britain-together-we-can-take-it

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: The far right is more menacing than ever in Britain — but together, we can take it on

Compassion out of the window as government escalates sanctions regime

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/compassion-out-window-government-escalates-sanctions-regime

 STARK REALITIES: Crips Against Cuts Portsmouth protest, in April 2025, as benefits applications are bureaucratic and often unfairly denied / Pic: Tim Sheerman-Chase/CC

DYLAN MURPHY looks at how Labour is breaking its pledge to protect the disabled and vulnerable

… The latest quarterly statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) paint a grim picture. As of November 2025, the sanction rate for Universal Credit (UC) claimants had risen to 5.9 per cent, an increase over the past year.

With 2.1 million claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, this means approximately 123,900 people were undergoing a sanction in November 2025 alone. In October 2025, 63,000 sanction decisions were made, peaking at 65,000 in January 2025.

This is not just a continuation of previous policy; it is an escalation. Before Labour took office on July 5 2024, the previous high for monthly sanctions was 57,276 in January 2024 under the Conservative government. Labour has now well exceeded this figure, reaching 65,000 in January 2025.

…

What makes this even more troubling is the severity and duration of these sanctions. According to the latest DWP statistics, there were 26,000 completed sanctions lasting between four and 13 weeks, and 2,800 sanctions lasting over 26 weeks — effectively six months or more.

A six-month sanction means six months without income, six months of choosing between heating and eating, six months of mounting debt and desperation.

This is not modern welfare policy; it is a Victorian attitude towards the “undeserving poor,” dressed up in 21st-century bureaucratic language. It reflects a punitive ideology that views poverty as a moral failing rather than a structural problem.

The human cost is catastrophic. The loss of income from a sanction can trigger a spiral into crisis. People are left unable to pay for rent, food, and heating. For those already struggling with a disability or illness, the stress and anxiety of a sanction can have a devastating impact on their mental and physical health.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/compassion-out-window-government-escalates-sanctions-regime

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Continue ReadingCompassion out of the window as government escalates sanctions regime

Sewage flowed into rivers, lakes and seas for 1.87 million hours in 2025

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sewage-flowed-rivers-lakes-and-seas-187-million-hours-2025

 A tanker pumping out excess sewage from the Lightlands Lane sewage pumping station in Cookham, Berskhire which flooded after heavy rainfall, January 10, 2024

SEWAGE flowed into England’s waterways for more than 1.87 million cumulated hours in 2025 despite drier conditions than prior years, official figures released today showed.

Nearly 300,000 incidents of untreated sewage were spilled through overflow systems into rivers, lakes and seas last year.

The practice of dumping sewage is meant to take place only in what water companies call “exceptional circumstances,” meant to prevent sewers from being overwhelmed in case of storms or heavy rain and backing up into homes.

Findings from the second year of full monitoring of the network by the Environmental Agency revealed that there were 291,492 spills of this type across England in 2025.

Despite these figures marking a reduction from the previous year, down more than a third (35 per cent) from 450,398 in 2024, campaigners have continued to slam the mismanagement of Britain’s water systems, calling for private water firms to be taken back into public control.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sewage-flowed-rivers-lakes-and-seas-187-million-hours-2025

April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
Continue ReadingSewage flowed into rivers, lakes and seas for 1.87 million hours in 2025

Morning Star Editorial: McSweeney’s missing phone reeks of Establishment cover-up

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and then British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC., February 26, 2025

… Parliament determined last month that all government communications relating to Peter Mandelson’s disastrous appointment as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 be made public.

That is to allow voters to understand how this first-order misjudgement, naming to the country’s most prestigious diplomatic post a man famous for his overaffection for the rich, twice dismissed from government amid scandal, and most importantly known for his prolonged intimacy with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

…

No communications are likely to have been more relevant to the appointment than those from and to McSweeney, then Downing Street chief of staff, effectively running the government as top aide to the ineffectual Keir Starmer.

McSweeney was mentored by Mandelson as a close associate in Labour’s unending factional wars, with the younger man carrying forward the latter’s obsessive hatred of the left and socialism.

It is clear that he was instrumental in pushing Keir Starmer to name Mandelson to Washington. It is believed that he was charged with asking the now-disgraced New Labour grandee about his relationship with Epstein.

While the Prime Minister bears the responsibility, it appears that this was a calamity engineered largely by McSweeney, whose messages on the subject would therefore be central to any understanding of it.

Yet it is now unclear if we will ever read them. Now, McSweeney announces that his mobile phone was stolen in London last year, a month after Mandelson’s enforced departure from Washington and when it was already highly likely that some form of public accounting for the misjudgement would follow.

The police concur that McSweeney reported the theft at the time it apparently occurred. Giving an incorrect location, and then asserting that he was near a park in east London when he was in fact miles away in Westminster may perhaps be attributable to the stress of the moment.

Failing to advise the police that he was the No 10 chief of staff, and that his device held any number of secret communications of state significance is far less comprehensible, since that omission must have downgraded the police response.

Still odder, No 10 is unable to confirm that the contents of McSweeney’s phone have been fully backed up in line with government regulations for handling official business.

So on this occasion, the stench of cover-up is powerful, however much Starmer may deny it.

…

Read the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party's tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party’s tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: McSweeney’s missing phone reeks of Establishment cover-up