With more people dying each year and many spending their final days in institutions, researchers argue that wider access to palliative care could offer a more humane and cost-effective alternative, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
“THE rising of the people across Lebanon’s towns and cities over the past three days represents a very significant change in the character of Lebanese politics.” This was the assessment of Omar El Deeb, international secretary of the Lebanese Communist Party, interviewed at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Izmir at the weekend.
On Thursday tens of thousands of working people gathered in the towns and cities of Lebanon to protest against government proposals to increase the tax on fuel, to raise VAT on all goods from 11 to 13 per cent and, for the first time, to impose a tax on the use of WhatsApp, the main means of communication for the poor.
The taxes are being imposed to meet the conditions imposed by the IMF and consortiums of banks from the European Union and the Gulf states for a new $13 billion loan to the heavily indebted Lebanese government.
Women’s fight against violence and legal erosion is central to building a democratic and just Iraq, says Dr SALMA SAADAWI
We cannot refuse to abolish the unjustifiable two-child benefit cap that pushes children into poverty while finding billions of pounds for defence spending — the membership and the public expect better from Labour, writes JON TRICKETT MP
Following the resignation of Nepali Prime Minister KP Oli amid mass youth-driven protests, different narratives have circulated which simplify and misrepresent the complexities and reality on the ground in Nepal at the roots of this crisis, argue VIJAY PRASHAD and ATUL CHANDRA



