In Haiti, at least half its children, 2.6 million, are expected to need immediate lifesaving assistance in 2023, UNICEF warns.

In the last two years, the number of Haitian children in need of humanitarian aid has increased by half a million as an upsurge in armed violence, a resurgence of cholera, combined with food insecurity and skyrocketing inflation have restricted access to essential health, nutrition, water and hygiene, and education services for millions of children and their families.

1 in 2 children depend on humanitarian aid to survive this year – Haiti | ReliefWeb

  Sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments rose 49% to $205.6 billion in the latest fiscal year.

Sales approved in the year included $13.9 billion worth of F-15ID fighter jets to Indonesia, $6.9 billion worth of Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships to Greece, and $6 billion worth of M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland.

There are two major ways foreign governments purchase arms from U.S. companies: direct commercial sales negotiated between a government and a company, and foreign military sales in which a foreign government typically contacts a Defense Department official at the U.S. embassy in its capital.

The direct military sales by U.S. companies rose 48.6% to $153.7 billion in fiscal 2022 from $103 billion in fiscal 2021, while sales arranged through the U.S. government rose 49.1% to $51.9 billion in 2022 from $34.8 billion the prior year.

U.S. arms exports up 49% in fiscal 2022 | Reuters (archive.is)

  Housing Secretary Michael Gove has admitted he believes the system of regulation was “faulty and ambiguous” and not policed properly by the government and it contributed to the Grenfell fire tragedy

 Chevron announced a record-shattering $35.5 billion in profits for 2022 as well as a $75 billion share buy-back to lavish on its wealthy shareholders. Chevron also raised its quarterly dividend by around 6%.

“What Big Oil has done over the last year is the definition of war profiteering,” said Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for the Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. “After working with Russia for decades, companies like Chevron have used the war in Ukraine as cover to jack up prices and suck billions directly out of the pocket of American families.” Henn added, “Big Oil is rolling in cash while families are struggling to heat their homes or fill their gas tanks.”

 Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement, “It has price gouged consumers in plain sight and it’s going to get away with it. Once oil prices spiked after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a government not compromised and captured by Big Oil would have done the commonsense thing of taxing Big Oil’s windfall profits and returning the proceeds to consumers,” said Weissman. “The failure to impose a windfall profits tax reflects Big Oil’s raw political power, not any principled policy dispute.”

‘The Definition of War Profiteering’: Chevron Posts Record $35.5 Billion in Profit for 2022 (commondreams.org)

 Crises around the world have taken away the headlines about Syria’s problems. Syria now has the sixth-highest number of food insecure people in the world

Following 12 years of war, an economy crippled by runaway inflation where food prices have increased nearly twelve-fold over the last three years, a currency that has collapsed to a record low, 12 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from. 2.5 million people who are severely food insecure, and their lives are at risk without food assistance. Child and maternal malnutrition are increasing at a speed never seen before – not even during over a decade of war.

Another 2.9 million people are at risk of sliding into hunger, meaning that 70% of the population may soon be unable to put food on the table for their families.

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, said:

 “If we don’t address this humanitarian crisis in Syria, things are going to get worse than we can possibly imagine. Another wave of mass migration like the one that swept across Europe in 2015 – is that what the international community wants? If not, we must urgently seize this opportunity to avert the looming catastrophe and work together to bring peace and stability to the Syrian people.”

Hunger soars to 12-year high in Syria, WFP chief calls for urgent action – Syrian Arab Republic | ReliefWeb

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the lobby group which represents powerful voices in the agriculture sector, questioned about the government’s proposed targets on water pollution, tree planting and rewilding.

It told the government: 

“Broadly, we consider the level of ambition across the nutrient targets to be unachievable, inconsistent and irrational. The NFU and its members are committed to building on past successes and further reducing nutrient losses to the environment from agriculture. However, this effort must be balanced with the need to produce food, fibre and energy on farm, thereby protecting the rural economy and maintaining food security.”

 It did not agree with targets to reverse species extinction, and in particular spoke out against reintroducing lost species. It said: 

“The NFU has long advocated that we should support species that are already present before we seek to introduce new species. So instead, we believe that we should aim to prevent the loss of species, as such a bespoke target approach to rare and threatened species could be beneficial in driving action to reduce biodiversity loss.”

It argued that the concept of rewilding was damaging to the countryside, warning against “adopting an approach that risks undermining the social fabric of rural communities”. It said:

 “Rewilding, for example, ignores the fact that our iconic farmed landscapes are valued by the many who make 4bn visits to the British countryside each year.”

It also said the tree planting target of 17.5% coverage was too ambitious. It said

“An increase in tree canopy and woodland cover from 14.5% to 17.5% equates to 415,000 hectares of tree cover by 2050, approximately 15,000 hectares of trees a year. This is extremely ambitious, if not unachievable.” 

Environmentalists said the NFU was “deluded and dangerous” and that it was “stunting progress towards a greener future” after its lobbying against nature restoration policies was revealed.

Rob Percival, the head of food policy at the Soil Association, said: 

“The NFU’s attitude towards environmental targets is defeatist, deluded and dangerous. There is clear scientific rationale for regenerating woodlands and increasing tree cover, but the NFU thinks it’s too difficult. Our rivers are choking on excess nutrients, primarily due to the proliferation of intensive livestock systems, but the NFU has dismissed pollution reduction targets as ‘irrational’. Instead they propose more of the same – more poultry, more pollution.

Farmers’ union called UK environment targets ‘irrational’ and ‘unachievable’ | Farming | The Guardian

 Bankers’ pay has risen more than three times as fast as nurses’ pay since the 2008 financial crisis, according to the TUC.

Pay and bonuses for those working in the finance and the insurance sector had risen by an average of 6% a year in nominal terms – without taking inflation into account – since 2008 compared with a rise of less than 2% a year for nurses, midwives, and paramedics.

On average nurses now earn £32,934 a year according to the TUC, up from £26,123 in 2008. This compares with average pay of £80,390 for those employed in finance and insurance sectors, a near-doubling of their average 2008 pay of £43,901.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said, “At a time when ministers are telling dedicated public servants they can’t have a pay rise, they’re letting City executives take home ever bigger sums.”

The TUC said the government’s failure to increase nurses’ pay in line with inflation had left them facing a £42,000 loss in real earnings since 2008. That figure is even higher for midwives and paramedics, who are said to be facing an estimated loss of £56,000.

Separate analysis by the TUC found that bonuses in finance and the insurance sector have reached a record £20,000 a year on average – which it said was almost one-and-a-half times the average pay collected by teaching assistants. Average City bonuses increased by 101% in cash terms between 2008 and 2022. It estimates the latest annual bonus pot (2022) for workers in the finance and insurance sector is £18.7bn.

Bankers’ pay rises three times as fast as nurses’ since 2008 crash, TUC finds | Executive pay and bonuses | The Guardian

 Wealthy businessmen, Gulf royals and states such as China have legally bought up billions of pounds of mostly London property, often via jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Channel Islands.

 On Friday the Companies House register listed 17,754 overseas entities, with thousands more expected to register before the 31 January deadline. Three-quarters of the registered companies are based in five jurisdictions: the BVI, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Luxembourg. With 45% of all overseas owners declared to date, the register shows that the royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own about £1bn of UK property via tax havens such as Jersey and the BVI. 

It also shows that the Chinese Investment Corporation, an arm of the Chinese government, owns at least £580m of property through offshore entities.

Holding properties through offshore companies xperts say can be done to minimise an individual’s tax liability as the owner or buyer of a property, or, until now, to allow a property to be held anonymously. 

“Historically, there have been some really great tax advantages from owning UK property via offshore companies,” said Robert Palmer, the executive director of the campaign group Tax Justice UK. “The government has closed down quite a lot of them but there are still ways you can pay less tax by owning property via offshore companies.”

UK for sale: how the wealthy hold British property via offshore firms | Real estate | The Guardian

 Who Controls the World? – Adam Buick

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio/who-controls-the-world/

Who are the other socialists? – Paddy Shannon

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio/who-are-the-other-socialists/

Manufacturing Reagan – Kevin Cronin

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/audio/manufacturing-reagan/

 The world’s biggest luxury group, LVMH,  said they experienced a second straight record year with revenue and profits despite geopolitical tensions and high cost of living.