Marcus Agius. (Photo: CBI)

Marcus Agius was called in 2006 to manage the rescue of Barclays Bank, a British firm on the verge of bankruptcy due to irresponsible financial bets. Six years later, on Monday 2 July, the City woke up to the news of the resignation of Agius to all his public and private offices due to “unacceptable behavior within the bank”… nothing less than the largest financial fraud ever attempted, a white-collar theft of billions of dollars that has duped governments around the world and ultimately impoverished millions of people who never heard of Agius, Barclays or the City of London and just happened to have borrowed money from a bank.

The international community needs to be ambitious and work to solve the urgent global crisis of today. A "business as usual" process to update the agreed goals that expire in 2015 is not enough. That was the main message to the United Nations of the final panel held July 6 in New York as part of the Development Cooperation Forum, the first high level international debate after the Rio+20 Summit. Juan Somavía, director general of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, were among the speakers.

Photo: Association for the Prevention of Torture

The Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), the Arab Human Rights Organization (Egypt) and the Libyan Human Rights League, among several organizations and activists, signed on Sunday an international Pact of Honour against torture in Tunis, reported TAP news agency.

Photo: Press TV

Amjad al-Shawwa of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO, focal point of Social Watch in the occupied territories) says the Israeli regime is responsible for the deteriorating sanitary conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip, Press TV reported.

“Children and poor families were left behind before the crisis, they have been severely affected by the multitude of global shocks since 2008, and that, although they were briefly supported during the first phase of the crisis (2008-09), they were again left behind in 2010 despite their significant needs and increasing vulnerability,” wrote Isabel Ortiz and Matthew Cummins in the first pages of “A recovery for all: Rethinking socio-economic policies for children and poor households”, a book recently edited by UNICEF.