rotests poster featuring the removed “comfort women” memorial statue is displayed during a rally in Manila, the Philippines, Aug. 14, 2025. The statue was installed in December 2017 at the same protest site but was dismantled just four months later under sustained pressure from Japan. (Photo: China News Service/Zhang Xinglong)

Philippines: Women & Girls Remember Crimes of Japanese Fascism! (16.8.2025)

The greater percentage of this crime occurred within China – but involved many other ethnic groups as victims – including the Filipinos. Although a statue was raised in Manilla in 2017 to record their suffering – just four-months later – the Japanese government succeeded in cajoling the Philippines Authorities in removing it! Whether Trump ordered this first time around is open to speculation. For Socialists, WWII was a People’s War against the common enemy of fascism. WWII was not the usual bourgeois excess of one competing nationality against another – although for many – this is exactly how it is remembered. Indeed, many of the victorious nations have taken on a vitriolic attitude of blatant nationalism when it comes to remembering WWII – a nationalism that steers very near to the wind of fascism that was purportedly defeated. A People’s War led to a People’s Victory and not one nationalist group over another. The US and its lackeys often sully the remembrance of this war. It was a victory of the International Working Class over the forces of reaction – against capitalism in decline!

Migrants disembark from a boat that rescued them after two vessels sank off the coast of Italy's Lampedusa island. Photo: Getty Images

Mediterranean Migration Deaths: 25,000 “Missing” in One Year – 27 Die From One Boat! (14.8.2025)

More than 90 people were aboard the two boats before they capsized, Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

The island of Lampedusa is home to a migrant reception centre that is often overcrowded with challenging living conditions. It welcomes tens of thousands of migrants who have survived the often dangerous route across the Mediterranean to Europe every year.

Those who make the journey often travel in poorly maintained and overcrowded vessels.

At least 25,000 people have gone missing or been killed while trying to cross the central Mediterranean since 2014, according to the IOM.

The Youth Hold the Future in Their Hands!

Laos: “If Youth are Empowered to Lead – Real Change Follows!” (13.8.2025)

“By first understanding our rights and choices in life, and knowing that our feelings are valid even if we are unsure or afraid, young people can transform from passive to active participants in life,” he says. Through peer education, social media content, and youth-led activities, Anan has taken on the role of mentor, guiding others through similar processes of discovery and empowerment. He sees voice as central to agency. “By finding our voice, we can contribute and be heard when decisions are made about our futures.”

“United Against Human Trafficking: Safe and Legal Migration Protects Us All.”

Laos: Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare Marks “International Day Against Human Trafficking”! (11.8.2025)

This year’s observance aimed to raise public awareness and intensify efforts to prevent human trafficking, emphasizing the role of safe and legal migration in protecting vulnerable populations.

Human trafficking continues to evolve, with traffickers adopting new and increasingly deceptive methods to exploit victims particularly women and children. Current data shows that one in three victims worldwide is a child, with girls being disproportionately affected. Fraud, manipulation, and coercion remain common tools used by traffickers to lure victims into exploitation.

In response, public education remains a cornerstone of prevention. Awareness campaigns help communities especially women, children, and at risk groups recognize and avoid trafficking schemes. These initiatives are essential in building informed and resilient communities that can resist exploitation.

Healthcare workers protest Israel's weaponization of hunger and mass starvation in Gaza, in Cape Town, South Africa, on Aug. 7, 2025. South African healthcare workers from both public and private hospitals nationwide took part in the protest on Thursday. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua)

South Africa: Health Workers Protest Israel’s Weaponization of Hunger in Gaza! (10.8.2025)

Earlier, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, called on Israel to allow the UN and its partners to carry out their work unhindered.

“Before the spread of famine, community-based distribution centres, supported by partners, provided food and assistance to 2 million people, spread across the Gaza Strip. Five months on the ongoing attempts to replace the UN-coordinated response by four Israeli militarized distribution points, hunger has become the latest killer in Gaza,” he wrote on social media X.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, and 150,000 have been injured.

Brave Spanish Fire-Fighters!

Spain: Brave Fire Brigade Saves Historic Combined Mosque-Cathedral from Blaze! (9.8.2025)

“That allowed them to know all the entrances, the hallways, where they could hook up their hoses,” he said

Forensics police were at the scene to try to determine the cause of the fire.

ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire in the site.

The site was built as a mosque — on the site of an earlier church — between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern city’s then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty.

After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries.

UNESCO designated the building a World Heritage Site in 1984, calling it “an architectural hybrid that joins together many of the artistic values of East and West and includes elements hitherto unheard-of in Islamic religious architecture, including the use of double arches.”

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