01 May 2015 (RT)* – The Russian and Chinese Navies are to hold a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in mid-May, a first in that part of the world. A total of nine warships from the two countries are to participate, Beijing said.
**Map of the Mediterranean Sea with subdivisions, straits, islands and countries | Author: O H 237 | Wikiemdia Commons
“The aim is to deepen both countries’ friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies’ ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on Thursday in a monthly news briefing.
“What needs saying is that these exercises are not aimed at any third party and have nothing to do with the regional situation,” he added, saying that the Chinese Navy would contribute its warships currently on an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.
New York, 01 May 2015 – Pressenza* – The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention budget includes a mandate from Congress that at least 34,000 immigrants remain detained on a daily basis, a quota that has steadily grown each year, even as the undocumented immigrant population in the United States has leveled off.
In 2009, in the midst of a multi-year decline in the undocumented immigrant population, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), then Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security,
Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan, 30 April 2015 (UNHCR)– Syrian residents at Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp were given a taste of things to come on Thursday, as they bought clothes, sweets and falafel and queued for haircuts at a temporary marketplace opened to mark the camp’s first anniversary.
Dozens of aspiring Syrian business owners showcased their wares and services at the bustling souk, and expressed the hope that the week-long market would soon become a permanent feature of camp life.
Kathmandu, 29 April 2015 (IRIN) – The Qatar Airways plane from Doha to Kathmandu was full, carrying aid workers and rescue specialists from around the world. But the bulk of the passengers on Tuesday’s flight were Nepalese migrants, temporarily returning home to do what they could for their families after the devastating 25 April earthquake.
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**Photo: Brendan Brady/IRIN | India is the largest recipient of Nepali migrant workers, seen here at the Nepalgani crossing point, but Gulf States are also a major destination
Most were coming from Gulf states – like Kemras Dasel, who has worked as a storekeeper for a company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the past seven years.
His family abandoned their home in Kathmandu after the walls cracked in the violence of Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake. Two of Dasel’s relatives are dead, one a six-year-old child. They are among more than 5,000 people reported dead so far.
A high-level meeting on environment and health in Europe on 30 April 2015 appealed urgently to all European countries to eliminate asbestos-related diseases, as a new United Nations report showed that one third of the 900 million people living in the region are potentially exposed to asbestos at work and in the environment.
A wide view of delegates at the high-level meeting on environment and health in Europe, held in Haifa, Israel. Photo: WHO Europe
“We cannot afford losing almost 15,000 lives a year in Europe, especially workers, from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos,” Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe was quoted as saying in a press release issued in Haifa, Israel, where more than 200 delegates met from 28-30 April to evaluate progress on environment and health in Europe.*
Education programmes in 15 industrialized countries fail to include child rights education in their schools, according to a new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, which also highlights that a fundamental step towards exercising those rights is to know and understand them.
Children in a classroom in China. Photo: UNICEF China/Guo Xiaoping
The top United Nations cultural official on 30 April 2015 said that artists across the globe have been drawn to the spontaneity and freedom of expression of jazz for over a century, as musicians and music lovers the world over celebrate International Jazz Day.
UN stamps commemorating International Jazz Day. Photo: UNPA
“In essence, jazz is a music of peace, and this has never been so important, to fight against new forms of hatred, racism and discrimination and to strengthen humanity as a single community, sharing a past and a destiny, said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a message to mark the International Dayon 30 April 2015.
