News 3/19/26

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News 3/19/26 News Anon 3.0 20-03-26 00:27:05 No.2746880

Ecuadorian workers fight back against 10-hour workday
For several decades, following significant struggles by the Ecuadorian labor movement, the maximum workday was set at 8 hours. However, employers have tirelessly sought to undermine that union victory. Thus, the government of Noboa – who belongs to the country’s wealthiest family – has decreed that workdays of up to 10 hours may be implemented.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/03/18/ecuadorian-workers-fight-back-against-10-hour-workday/

Brazil rolls out law boosting online protection of minors
Under the new law, minors under 16 are required to link their social media accounts to a legal guardian to ensure supervision. The legislation also prohibits platforms from using addictive features such as infinite scroll and the automatic play of videos. Digital services are also obliged to implement an effective age verification mechanism that goes beyond self-declaration that the user is over 18 to protect them from accessing inappropriate or prohibited material.
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-internet-regulation-social-media-cd5d8f51ecbc0bb28f43a741dd95bc05

Russian oil tanker heading to Cuba amid US economic blockade
Hundreds of thousands of barrels of Russian oil are heading to Cuba, according to maritime tracking data, as the communist island suffers blackouts under a US economic blockade and Donald Trump threatens to take it over. The sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin loaded 730,000 barrels of crude in the Russian port of Primorsk on 8 March, and on Wednesday at 1600 GMT was in the eastern Atlantic, bound for Cuba, maritime analytics firm Kpler said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/19/cuba-us-economic-blockade-trump-russian-oil-tanker

Mandelson ‘Received £1.5m’ From Collapsed Firm As Staff Got Nothing
The payout reportedly included £250,000 that he received just days before Global Counsel went bust last month. He made between £1.3m and £1.4m in a 2024 sale of shares to friends and associates, former colleagues told the Financial Times. More than 100 staff members lost their livelihoods when clients, including Barclays and Tesco cut ties with Global Counsel, forcing it into administration on 19 February.
https://novaramedia.com/2026/03/18/mandelson-received-1-5m-from-collapsed-firm-as-staff-got-nothing/

French Socialists split over alliance with hard-left party in mayoral runoffs
Several candidates from France’s mainstream left have joined forces with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed to boost their chances in mayoral runoffs on Sunday, even as others reject any association with the hard-left party, exposing a deepening divide in the French left ahead of next year's presidential election.
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260319-french-socialists-split-over-alliance-with-hard-left-party-in-mayoral-runoffs
https://archive.ph/YvLEq

Far-right Israeli minister Smotrich posts picture of son in coma after Hezbollah assault
The unit in which Smotrich's son Benya Hebron was active came under mortar fire close to the Lebanese border on 6 March, when Hezbollah launched a wave of attacks on Israeli forces taking part in the invasion of Lebanon. Hebron sustained liver injuries, when a piece of shrapnel stopping at the wall of the largest blood vessel and has reportedly been in a coma since.
https://www.newarab.com/news/smotrich-posts-picture-son-coma-after-hezbollah-assault

Israel continues Gaza attacks amid regional war, kills several Palestinians
At least three Palestinians have been killed in Israeli drone strikes in war-battered Gaza, nearly two and a half years into Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave, as severely limited medical evacuations restarted through the Rafah border crossing. Doctors at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said two people were killed in a drone strike in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, in the eastern part of Gaza City.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/19/israel-continues-gaza-attacks-amid-regional-war-kills-several-palestinians
https://archive.ph/7cYcF

Trump tells Israel not to repeat strikes on Iranian energy as crisis deepens
Trump's comment came as energy prices jumped on Thursday after Iran responded to an Israeli attack on a major gas field by hitting Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes around a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas, causing damage that will take years to repair. Saudi Arabia's main port on the Red Sea, where it has been able to divert some exports to avoid Iran's closure of the Gulf's exit point, the Strait of Hormuz, was also attacked.
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/03/trump-tells-israel-not-repeat-strikes-iranian-energy-crisis-deepens

‘Waiting for days’: India feels impact of gas supply chain disruption amid Iran conflict
In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where LPG is central to everyday cooking, the impact has been immediate. Slowing imports have strained distribution systems, prompting governments to prioritise household supply and restrict commercial use. The crisis has exposed a deeper weakness: a region with rising energy demand remains heavily dependent on supply routes vulnerable to distant geopolitical shocks.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/19/india-liquefied-petroleum-gas-lpg-supply-chain-disruption-iran-conflict

Gabbard says Pakistan missiles a future threat to US, but experts push back
The written assessment went further, placing Pakistan across multiple threat categories. On missiles, it said Pakistan “continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia, and if these trends continue, Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that would threaten the US”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/19/gabbard-says-pakistan-missiles-a-future-threat-to-us-but-experts-push-back
https://archive.ph/Jgdvw

Thailand's Anutin returns to power with broad backing and nationalist push
The stump speech captured Anutin's strategy of riding a wave of nationalism washing through Thailand in the wake of a fierce border conflict with Cambodia last year - a gamble that paid off. Bhumjaithai won 191 seats in the 500-member parliament, trouncing the progressive People's Party, and then cobbled together a coalition of 16 parties - including the populist Pheu Thai - that together hold 292 seats.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailands-pm-anutin-staked-his-election-nationalism-won-2026-02-08/

Vendors, other affected sectors launch series of protests vs privatization of Carbon Market in Cebu City
The market’s privatization will dispossess an estimated 16,000 vendors and workers of their stalls and jobs. Fees for stalls are expected to increase and vendors will be crammed into much smaller spaces. Clearing the way for the construction of new buildings will also demolish an estimated 700 homes in the nearby Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita.
https://www.bulatlat.com/2026/03/18/sana-oil-as-filipinos-suffer-mega-oil-price-hikes-prices-barely-moved-in-our-asean-neighbors/

News Anon 3.0 20-03-26 00:47:18 No.2746896

‘Not Another Penny for Another Endless War,’ Ilhan Omar Says as Trump Seeks $200 Billion
As US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed reporting that he’s seeking $200 billion more from Congress to continue waging his unpopular war of choice on Iran, Rep. Ilhan Omar was among those forcefully pushing back.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/congress-iran-war

Wall Street cops propose new slate of easier big bank rules
The proposals from the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation would lower bank capital requirements — that is, the financial cushion that regulators require banks to hold against potential losses — for the largest and most systemically important firms by nearly 5%. Bank capital requirements for the smallest banking organizations would fall by almost 8%.
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/19/fed-bank-wall-street-regulation
https://archive.ph/vAVLN

Georgia woman charged with murder after police say she took pills to induce abortion
If state prosecutors decide to move forward with the murder charge brought by local police against Alexia Moore, her case would be one of the first instances of a woman being charged for terminating a pregnancy in Georgia since it passed a 2019 law banning most abortions.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/19/georgia-murder-charges-abortion

Judge ends asylum claim of Minnesotan boy detained by ICE, report says
U.S. Immigration Judge John Burns issued the decision to end the asylum claims of Liam and his family. Attorney Danielle Molliver who represents the family, told the station the decision would be appealed, a process that can take months, if not years. The lawyer did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judge-ends-asylum-claim-minnesotan-boy-detained-by-ice-report-says-2026-03-19/

California community ties all-time March temperature record in the US
Triple-digit temperatures also came earlier than ever before in Phoenix when the Arizona capital hit 101 degrees Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record was set almost 40 years ago, on March 26, 1988, the only other time Phoenix temperatures have climbed into the hundreds during the month of March, according to the NWS.
https://apnews.com/article/record-heat-north-shore-phoenix-6f8d0d3d274e9de15d8eb8d269e424ba

Mayor Bass signs proclamation renaming LA's Cesar Chavez Day holiday as Farmworkers Day
On Wednesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said she will introduce a motion "to explore renaming" the county's Chavez holiday. She said the process will include labor and community organizations and will be "grounded in the same collective bargaining process that established the holiday." Solis did not offer a possible new name, but county Supervisor Janice Hahn suggested in a statement Wednesday morning that the county consider "Farmworker Day."
https://abc7.com/post/mayor-karen-bass-signs-proclamation-renaming-citys-cesar-chavez-day-holiday-farmworkers/18736167/

César Chavez’s name, once an honor, now carries a stain that officials want to scrub
Overnight, the name has become more of a stain. Some of the institutions and local governments overseeing sites bearing Chavez’s name have already started the process of erasing it. In Denver, city workers took down a bronze bust of Chavez in a park named after him. The city’s mayor said the park would be renamed.
https://apnews.com/article/cesar-chavez-monument-university-dolores-huerta-77ea3332e88c4ccc86d6942aa91ac865

Nineteen-year-old Mexican man dies in ICE custody, agency says
A 19-year-old man died at a federal detention center on Monday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the ‌youngest known person to die in federal immigration custody during the second Trump administration.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nineteen-year-old-mexican-man-dies-ice-custody-agency-says-2026-03-19/

States challenge "broadcast behemoth" mega-merger
They argue that "eliminating independent news operations will diminish diversity in news coverage," which is "critical to the ability of an informed citizenry to participate in local governmental and community activities." The lawsuit argues the merger violates the Clayton Antitrust Act, a primary antitrust guardrail. The merger, they say, would make it even more difficult for competitors to enter markets that are already highly consolidated.
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/19/tegna-nexstar-merger-states-sue
https://archive.ph/Gzkn8

OP/ED News Anon 3.0 20-03-26 01:12:31 No.2746910

Iraq-Iran war: the forging of the Islamic Republic
Seeing an opportunity, on 22 September 1980 Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The Iranian military had largely dissolved following the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Republic, less than a year old, was far from having consolidated its power. The Islamists faced the grueling task of rebuilding the Iranian bourgeois state, as power remained effectively in the streets. It was the entry of the workers, through the general strike of the autumn of 1978, that transformed middle-class bazaar and student protests into a real revolution. The workers formed neighbourhood and factory shuras (soviets), they demanded higher wages, and in some instances took over their factories. They fought so that the tyranny of the bosses – who were closely aligned with Pahlavi during the revolution – would never return. But the complete failure of the communists to present any clear alternative, against the backdrop of growing repression, allowed the revolution to be hijacked by the Islamists led by Ayatollah Khomeini. While the revolution itself had involved communists, including the Stalinist Tudeh Party, communist guerrillas such as Fadaiyan-e-Khalq, ‘Islamic-Marxists’ Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and secular nationalists such as the National Front, the Islamists did everything to isolate the communists and the left. Khomeini began to use the clergy to hijack many of the neighbourhood shuras, which were transformed into ‘Islamic Revolution Committees’ around local mosques. These later formed the foundations for the Islamist paramilitary organisations. At this point, Khomeini was bolstered by western imperialism, which preferred him to the communists. The US had even negotiated the neutrality of remnants of the Pahlavi army prior to the victory of the revolution.
https://marxist.com/iraq-iran-war-the-forging-of-the-islamic-republic.htm

Brazil’s Left After Lula
The geopolitical uncertainty has upped the ante of what was already set to be a deeply contentious race this October between Lula’s broad coalition of moderates and leftists and the far-right challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the forty-four-year-old son of the imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro. Much will be written about the campaign in the months ahead, but a critical story is already unfolding within the Left itself. Decisions made in 2026 — over who runs, which factions align, and how the progressive coalition balances pragmatism with principle — will shape not just this campaign but likely the early post-Lula era. Two high-stakes decisions this month in particular are worth examining: whether Finance Minister Fernando Haddad will once again risk a difficult race for governor of São Paulo, and whether the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) will enter into a formal federation with Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) or preserve its independence. At first glance, these questions seem merely tactical. In fact, we already know the answers: yes to the former; no to the latter. But these are actually weighty debates marking early skirmishes in the contest to define the Brazilian left after Lula. Four years ago, Haddad ran for governor of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest and wealthiest state. He lost but did better than any PT candidate ever had and, in the process, helped ensure a robust statewide campaign for Lula’s successful presidential bid. He then took on arguably the most important position in Lula’s cabinet.
https://jacobin.com/2026/03/brazil-lula-haddad-elections-left

Alexandra Kollonta: Communism and the Family
Will the family continue to exist under communism? Will the family remain in the same form? These questions are troubling many women of the working class and worrying their menfolk as well. Life is changing before our very eyes; old habits and customs are dying out, and the whole life of the proletarian family is developing in a way that is new and unfamiliar and, in the eyes of some, “bizarre”. No wonder that working women are beginning to think these questions over. Another fact that invites attention is that divorce has been made easier in Soviet Russia. The decree of the Council of People’s Commissars issued on 18 December 1917 means that divorce is, no longer a luxury that only the rich can afford; henceforth, a working woman will not have to petition for months or even for years to secure the right to live separately from a husband who beats her and makes her life a misery with his drunkenness and uncouth behaviour. Divorce by mutual agreement now takes no more than a week or two to obtain. Women who are unhappy in their married life welcome this easy divorce. But others, particularly those who are used to looking upon their husband as “breadwinners”, are frightened. They have not yet understood that a woman must accustom herself to seek and find support in the collective and in society, and not from the individual man.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1920/communism-family.htm

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