19/12/2012
By RIA Novosti*, 19 December 2012 – The religiously unaffiliated people make up the third largest group around the world after Christians and Muslims. This group estimates roughly 16 % of the world’s population and is heavily concentrated in Asia and the Pacific.
Source: RIA Novosti
According to a report conducted by ‘The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’ the largest religious group is represented by Christians with 2.2 billion people (32% of the world’s population), second largest – Muslims with 1.6 billion people (23%), placing the religiously unaffiliated group in third place with 1.1 billion ( 16%) , followed by 1 billion Hindus (15%), nearly 500 million Buddhists (7%) and 14 million Jews (0.2%). The figures relate to 2010.
People who practice folk or traditional religions are estimated at 400 million (6%) , while approximately 58 million people (1%) belong to other religions, such as the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism.
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19/12/2012
On International Migrants Day on 18 December, United Nations independent experts have joined forces with regional counterparts to highlight the human rights of migrants, while expressing renewed concerns over the criminalization of irregular migration by some countries and calling for an end to the administrative detention of migrants.
Zimbabwean migrants at a temporary shelter in South Africa. Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN
“Crossing a border without the required documentation or overstaying a visa is not per se a crime, but rather at most, an administrative offence,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, François Crépeau, and the Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW), Abdelhamid El Jamri, in a joint statement with other human rights experts.
Adding their voices to the statement were the Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, Felipe Gonzalez, and the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights of the African Union, Maya Sahli Fadel.
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19/12/2012
“World Arabic Language Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate the language of 22 Member States of UNESCO, a language with more than 422 million speakers in the Arab world and used by more than 1.5 billion Muslims, ” said Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO on the occasion of the first World Arabic Language Day 18 December 2012.
Photo: UNESCO
“World Arabic Language Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate the language of 22 Member States of UNESCO, a language with more than 422 million speakers in the Arab world and used by more than 1.5 billion Muslims,” added Bokova, Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
“By celebrating the Arabic language, we are also acknowledging the tremendous contribution of its writers, scientists and artists to universal culture. These are the Arabic language authors who enabled the transmission of Greek knowledge to the Latin of medieval Europe, weaving indissoluble ties between cultures through time.”
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18/12/2012
World economic growth has weakened considerably during 2012 and is expected to remain subdued in the coming two years, says a new United Nations report, which calls for policy changes to spur growth and tackle the jobs crisis.
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An unemployed youth. Photo: ILO
The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013, the first chapter of which was published today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), states that the global economy is expected to grow at 2.4 per cent in 2013 and 3.2 per cent in 2014 – a significant downgrade from the UN’s forecast of half a year ago.
“This pace of growth will be far from sufficient to overcome the continued jobs crisis that many countries are still facing,” said a news release on the report. “With existing policies and growth trends, it may take at least another five years for Europe and the United States to make up for the job losses caused by the Great Recession of 2008-2009.”
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18/12/2012
By Xanthe Hall, IPPNW*, 17 December 2012 — In Helsinki at this time of year, the sun rises just after 9am and sets again at 3pm. Our Finnish hosts told us that we were lucky that the snow had come already, to lighten up the all-pervading darkness by reflecting what little light there is. Already, after only a short time, the snow was very deep, much of it shovelled up by bulldozers to form piles shoulder high by the side of the road.
Source: IPPNW
Snowy Helsinki should have been the setting for an historic conference to discuss the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. The date was set for today, December 17th, to begin perhaps one of the most important negotiations for peace and security in the Middle East. But the conference rooms remain empty, because the governments did not come.
Instead, about forty representatives of NGOs from around the world were in Helsinki from December 14 to 16 to talk about “The Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction – Civil Society Input – The Way Forward” at a conference organised by Finnish peace groups.
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17/12/2012
By Roberto Savio*
San Salvador, December 2012 – The victory of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the recent Japanese elections, with LDP leader Shinzō Abe coming back as Prime Minister after five years, will probably mean an escalation of tension with China. Both countries are embarking on a fresh burst of nationalism, but for different reasons.
Shinzō Abe | Credit: TTTNIS | Wikimedia Commons
Japan is suffering from an economic and political crisis. The economy is stagnating (albeit at a high level), and Abe will be heading the sixth government in five years.
His party had been in power almost with no interruption since the end of the Second World War, until he resigned abruptly in 2007 because of a serious stomach problem.
The Japanese tried for a change, and in 2009 put the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in power, which rapidly changed three Prime Ministers in just three years.
The DPJ has been a terrible administrator and its handling of the nuclear disaster and tsunami in 2011 has been completely incomprehensible.
During a visit to Japan earlier this year, refugees housed in a large camp in the north told me that they had not seen any official for 18 months.
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17/12/2012
By RT*, 16 December, 2012 – NATO missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border are a prelude to ‘World War’, warns Iran’s top general. Following the remarks, the country’s leader, President Ahmadinejad, reportedly cancels his visit to Turkey.
**Patriot system of the German Air Force | Photo credit: Darkone | Wikimedia Commons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dropped the upcoming visit to Turkey’s Anatolian province from his schedule, Hurriyet daily reported Sunday. There he was expected to attend a religious holiday and hold talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
An unexpected item has arisen on Ahmadinejad’s agenda, Today’s Zaman reported quoting an anonymous Turkish diplomat.
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17/12/2012
By Johannes Stern, WSWS*, 17 December 2012 – On Saturday [15 December], the first round of voting on Egypt’s draft constitution took place in ten of the country’s 27 governorates, including Egypt’s two largest cities, the capital Cairo and the coastal town of Alexandria. Egypt’s remaining 17 governorates will vote on December 22.
**Mohamed Mursi. Photo credit: Marzouk113 | Wikimedia Commons.
Coming after three weeks of mass protests against Egypt’s new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and the ruling Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the referendum was marked by low voter turnout, violence and allegations of fraud.
The conditions under which the referendum was carried out make a mockery of democracy. Over 300,000 military and police forces were reportedly deployed to secure the polling stations.
One week ago, Mursi issued a presidential decree ordering the Egyptian army to help the police protect “vital state institutions” and “maintain public order and safeguard election facilities” during the referendum.
The law essentially reintroduces emergency law and marks a first step towards the formal proclamation of military dictatorship in Egypt. It gave the military “all the powers of judicial officers,” allowing it to arrest and try civilians during the referendum.
A show of abstention was the working class’s verdict on the reactionary plans of the Egyptian bourgeoisie. Only 33 percent of 25 million eligible voters cast a vote, underlining the widening gulf separating the Egyptian political establishment and the working class.
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16/12/2012
ICAN* — From 4–5 March 2013, the government of Norway will host an international conference in Oslo on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. If just one of the world’s 19,000 nuclear weapons were detonated – either intentionally or by accident – it would kill thousands of people instantly, and emergency relief agencies could do little to ease the suffering of the wounded.
ICAN Norway
The continued existence and deployment of nuclear weapons is one of the most serious humanitarian problems of our time.
To demonstrate that a ban on nuclear weapons is both possible and urgent, we’re inviting people from all corners of the world to the ICAN Civil Society Forum in Olso from 2–3 March 2013, immediately before the government conference. We will have inspiring speeches, informative workshops, spirited discussions and, of course, a lot of fun.
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15/12/2012
By RT*, 15 December 2012 — Egyptians are voting on a disputed new constitution that has split the country in two and sparked deadly protests. Liberal opposition condemns the document as too Islamist, curtailing the rights of Egyptian minority groups.
**Tahrir Square on 27 November 2012 | Photo by Gigi Ibrahim from Cairo, Egypt | Wikimedia Commons
Polls opened at 8:00 pm local time (6:00 GMT) in Cairo, Alexandria and eight other regions in the first round of voting. Egypt’s remaining regions will get their chance to vote on December 22. The referendum has been split over two days as there are not enough members of the judiciary to monitor the process after some pledged to boycott the vote.
If the new constitution is rejected, another document will have to be drafted in a process that could take nine months.
Over half of Egypt’s 51 million registered voters are expected to make their way to the polls this Saturday.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 