NEWS: Syria's First Responders Say They Need a No-Fly Zone, But No One Listens

"For the second time in as many months, United Nations Security Council members have heard from Syrians working to save civilians from the government's exploding barrel bombs and alleged chlorine attacks, and again were asked to impose measures, including no-fly zones, to save lives. But diplomats and officials, including those in the US government, say such steps are unlikely.
Last Wednesday, Raed Saleh, the head of Syria's "White Helmets," a volunteer civil defense search and rescue corp that responds to victims of the country's four year civil war, met privately with EU diplomats and United Nations representatives, accompanied by a representative from Mayday Rescue, a group that has trained and supported the White Helmets.
In an interview with VICE News, Saleh said he wants the "Syrian people to get safe zones to protect civilians from the airstrikes of the Syrian Regime."
"The Syrian people have lost confidence in all the international community," said Saleh. "The Syrian people have been killed for 4 years and nobody acted seriously to stop the killing." Read full article in VICE News. E.T.P. 6'

NEWS: Her Majesty's Jihadists

Image via The New York Times

Great research and article by Anne Marie Weaver in The New York Times. "He was a dreamer, with Che Guevara looks — a jet-black beard and eyes — who built a new persona online, as a Muslim warrior riding into battle in the back of an open-bed truck, dressed in black, his long hair blowing in the breeze, with an AK-47 hanging from his shoulder, strapped to his back. He had just turned 22 — the product of British private schools, a computer aficionado working in customer service at Sky News — when he decided to turn his dream into reality.

In May 2013, Ifthekar Jaman left his comfortable home in Portsmouth, England, explaining to his parents, who emigrated years earlier from Bangladesh, that he wanted to learn Arabic in the Middle East. Instead, he booked a one-way ticket to Turkey. The next time his parents, Enu and Hena, heard from him, he had crossed the Turkish border into Syria and joined the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham — also known as ISIS or ISIL — the most brutal, and now the most powerful, of a dozen or so militant Sunni Islamist groups arrayed against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and his equally brutal Alawite government." Read full article in The New York Times. E.T.P. 13'

The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 25th of May Edition

EDITORIAL

This week's edition features two articles about the victory of of Hindu nationalist Nadendra Modi in India's elections via The Economist and Forbes. Postal services suspended indefinitely and more airlines fleeing Venezuela. In our Science & Technology section Le nouvel Observateur asks if we are living a detox overdose, and Wired shares the story of Oculus Rift. Baratunde Thruston asks if brands will stop trying to 'join the conversation' and actually make products worth talking about in our Design, Business & Innovation section where you can also have a look at some of the Kickstarter projects in NYCxDesign at MoMA. While in Culture & Entertainment, Dazed Digital asks what was really on that famous Pulp Fiction briefcase. La Guía del Perro share with us articles about shelter dogs helping bullied kids and the wonderful Phoenix in In Dog We Trust. And finally Germán is back with a new Sunday (some) Times wishing you all a happy Towel Day!

Happy Sunday, happy reading!


NEWS

Photo via The Independent.

While The Economist appears to be 'economically content' with the election of Narendra Modi as India Prime Minister and dedicate its last cover to him saying that "now, for the first time ever, India has a strong government whose priority is growth. Narendra Modi, who leads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has won a tremendous victory on the strength of promising to make India’s economy work." They clarify that they do not endorse him, but 'looking at the big picture' wish him success anyway: "because we believe that he has not atoned sufficiently for the massacre of Muslims that took place in Gujarat while he was chief minister, we wish him every success: an Indian growth miracle would be a great thing not just for Indians, but also for the world." Read full article in The Independent. E.T.P. 7'

Forbes assumed a much more critical position and questioned if Narenda will be a Prime Minister of all Indians: "Unfortunatly India’s presumptive prime minister, Narendra Modi, was implicated in one of the country’s worst episodes of sectarian violence.  In 2002 in the state of Gujarat, in which Modi served as chief minister, Hindu rioters killed more than 1200 people, mostly Muslims, and forced 150,000 people from their homes.  Eventually the Indian military and national police restored order.  Critics charged Modi with both encouraging the violence and failing to stop it.  Investigations and court cases went on for years." Read full article in Forbes. E.T.P. 8'

Photo: The Procrastinator (some) Times.

And in Venezuelan news, the postal service (that was extraordinarily bad already) has been suspended international mail deliveries. "Employees at the state-run company Ipostel told local media that the service had fallen victim to an ongoing dispute with international airlines over currency controls.
According to El Universal, postal workers said tonnes of undelivered international mail had accumulated at Ipostel sorting offices after deliveries to at least 29 countries were suspended.
"The company is practically bankrupt, not only with its international deliveries but also its basic services because we have no materials or equipment," said Jose Gallardo, of a labour union in the eastern state of Anzoategui."

The same article in the Guardian explains that basically international deliveries are impossible because of a dispute between Venezuela and international airlines as at least three major carriers have stopped or reduced flights to Venezuela: Air Canada, Lufthansa and Alitalia. t has claimed more than 40 lives in three months. "According to the International Air Transport Association, Venezuela owes around $4bn to international carriers." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 4'

The Venezuelan government also owes US$4bn to the local pharmaceutical industry, and this is traduced in a major scarcity of medicines and treatments. Here is the article in El Universal (link in Spanish). E.T.P. 2'

No money, no food, no medicines, no airlines, no postal service, no security, no human rights, no freedom of expression. Viva la revolución.