13/09/2014
Human Wrongs Watch
Although most residents of Sierra Leone’s capital have yet to witness Ebola firsthand, the outbreak has nevertheless affected virtually all aspects of daily life.
Posters advertising a new ebola themed comedy film in Freetown. Photograph by Jonah Lipton.
By Jonah Lipton, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 9 September 2014 (Think Africa Press)* — It’s midnight and I am driving around the East End of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, with a young taxi driver known as Human Right.
For the past year, I have regularly been accompanying Human Right on journeys picking up passengers as part of my doctoral research in anthropology.
The East End is usually buzzing at night, every junction packed with people drinking, eating street food, and hanging out. But today there are only a handful of passengers. “The streets are dry,” Human Right tells me.
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11/09/2014
A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published on 10 September 2014 found that demand for uranium, the raw material used to fuel nuclear power stations, will continue to rise, despite declining market prices since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan in March 2011 and lower electricity demand as a result of the global economic crisis.
Uranium ore is processed into a concentrate known as yellowcake and packed in special, tightly sealed steel drums similar in size to oil barrels. Photo: IAEA
The Red Book, as the report is known, is a recognized global reference on uranium jointly prepared by the IAEA and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (NEA/OECD).*
It found an increase in uranium supply, exploration and production. Some seven per cent more uranium resources have been identified since the last report was published in 2012, adding almost 10 years to the existing resource base.
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11/09/2014
United Nations officials on 10 September 2014 called for renewed commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests, noting that nearly 2,000 such tests have taken place since 1945.
Atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States on 18 April 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. Photo: US Government | UN
“Our collective aspiration for a world free of nuclear weapons must be reflected in a firm and formal commitment to ban nuclear tests,” Charles Thembani Ntwaagae, Vice-President of the General Assembly, said in a message delivered on behalf of President John Ashe.
“To test such weapons is to play with proverbial fire, takes us further down the treacherous path we seek to avoid and damages both human health and the environment,” he told the informal meeting convened by the Assembly to mark the observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
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11/09/2014
Human Wrongs Watch
The Earth’s protective ozone layer is on track to recover by the middle of the century, the United Nations on 10 September 2014 reported, urging unified action to tackle climate change and curb continued fluctuations to the composition of the atmosphere.
The Earth’s protective ozone layer is well on track to recovery in the next few decades. Photo: UNEP
That is according to the assessment of 300 scientists in the summary document of the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2014, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).*
“International action on the ozone layer is a major environmental success story,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a news release. “This should encourage us to display the same level of urgency and unity to tackle the even greater challenge of climate change.”
The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, thus helping to preserve life on the planet.
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10/09/2014
Human Wrongs Watch
By RT*, 9 September 2014 — Reddit, Netflix, Foursquare, Mozilla, Vimeo, and WordPress are backing the ‘Internet Slowdown’ protest against proposed US regulations that would segregate internet surfing speeds and kill “net neutrality.”
Image from battleforthenet.com | Reproduced from RT
The September 10 protest features a revolving icon – symbolizing slow connectivity – illustrating how losing net neutrality would harm websites and other online services.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) aims to introduce changes in existing rules allowing cable giants like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to operate a two-tiered internet, with “slow lanes” for most internet companies, and “fast lanes” for those willing to pay more.
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10/09/2014
By RT*, 10 September 2014 — The United States could provide offensively geared weapons to the Japanese military within five years, Tokyo officials say. The discussions between the two countries come as Japan’s rivalry with China intensifies and alliances shift among Pacific powers.
**”Jap…You’re Next! We’ll Finish the Job” – U.S. Army poster prepares the public for the invasion of Japan after ending war on Germany and Italy | Wikimedia Commons
The talks with the US cover what Japan regards as a “strike capability,” and are still preliminary. As such, they do not cover specific hardware at this stage, three Japanese officials involved in the process told Reuters.
US officials said there were no formal discussions between the two countries, but did not rule out the possibility that informal talks on the issue had taken place. One American official said Japan had approached the US informally last year about the matter.
Japan would need US backing for any shift in military doctrine because it would change the framework of the alliance, often described as America supplying the “sword” of forward-based troops and nuclear deterrence while Japan holds the defensive “shield.”
Washington did not have a position on upgrading Japan’s offensive capabilities, “in part because the Japanese have not developed a specific concept or come to us with a specific request.” said another US official.
“We’re not there yet – and they’re not there yet,” the official said. “We’re prepared to have that conversation when they’re ready.”
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10/09/2014
The United Nations weather agency on 9 September 2014 voiced concerns over the surge of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, which has reached a new record high in 2013, amid worrying sings that oceans and biosphere seem unable to soak up emissions as quickly as they used to.
By absorbing much of the added heat trapped by atmospheric greenhouse gases, the oceans are delaying some of the impacts of climate change. Photo: WMO/Olga Khoroshunova
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) latest annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide caused a 34 per cent increase in the global warming in the last 10 years.*
Ahead of a climate summit organized by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN Headquarters in New York set to take place on 23 September, the WMO urges the international community to take a concentrated action against accelerating and potentially devastating climate change.
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10/09/2014
Human Wrongs Watch
9 September 2014 – The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) hosted a special event on the rise of narcotics trafficking on maritime southern routes, particularly the Indian Ocean, advocating that drug traffickers caught in international waters be prosecuted.
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Opium poppy field in Afghanistan. Photo: UNODC
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Opening the event, “Success of the Piracy Prosecution Model: A Blueprint to End Impunity at Sea,” UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov explained that the inability to prosecute traffickers detected on the high seas remain a major challenge.*
“As we have seen, drug seizures alone have not deterred the criminals, who remain at large due to a lack of enforcement capacity. If we want to contain the problem of heroin trafficking through the Indian Ocean, we need to explore options for prosecuting drug traffickers,” he stressed in a press release on the event.
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09/09/2014
By Russia Today* (RT), 9 September 2014 — Germany does not want to see its money going into something that is going to be misused from its point of view, defense analyst Dr. Binoy Kampmark told RT.
**A global map of NATO partners around the world, with all the sovereign states that are under 20,000 km2 in area represented by a circle | Wikimedia Commons
The country is not going to comply with the NATO demand to increase military spending, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, said on Monday.
NATO member-states agreed to spend a minimum of 2 percent of their country`s GDP on defense. Germany’s military budget currently stands at 1.3 percent of GDP and there is no need to increase that figure, said von der Leyen.
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09/09/2014
Human Wrongs Watch
By Paul Craig Roberts*, 8 September 2014, TRANSCEND Media Service — The latest Washington lie, this one coming from NATO, is that Russia has invaded Ukraine with 1,000 troops and self-propelled artillery.
**Photo: Ukranian military roadblocks in Donetsk oblast | 8 May 2014 | Source: НОВОСТИ ПУЛЬС. 19:00 (+2 GMT) РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫЙ ВЫПУСК 8 МАЯ | Author: News UTR | Wikimedia Commons
How do we know that this is a lie? Is it because we have heard nothing but lies about Russia from NATO, from US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, from assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland, from Obama and his entire regime of pathological liars, and from the British, German, and French governments along with the BBC and the entirety of the Western media?
This, of course, is a good reason for knowing that the latest Western propaganda is a lie. Those who are pathological liars don’t suddenly start telling the truth.
But there are even better reasons for understanding that Russia has not invaded Ukraine with 1,000 troops.
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