The distressing crime of elder abuse often occurs in quiet, private settings, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 15 June 2015 said on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, as he reminded people around the world of the importance of making “a vocal, public response” to support the rights of older persons to a life free of violence and abuse.
Photo: World Bank/Celine Ferre | Source: UN
“It is a disturbing and tragic fact in our world that members of the older generations are too often neglected and abused,” the UN chief said in amessage. “This painful reality generally goes ignored by mainstream society.”
“At the same time,” Ban said, “the ageing of the world’s population has added urgency to promoting and defending the rights of older persons, who are expected to make up more than 20 per cent of the global population by 2050.”
15 June 2015 (RT)*– Rome has warned of retaliatory measures unless the EU changes its asylum policies to make them more in “solidarity” with Italy, which continues to struggle with an enormous inflow of mostly North African migrants.
Asylum-seekers and economic migrants take to the seas, waiting out the dangerous journey in the boat’s cramped cargo space. Photo: UNHCR/A. D’Amato
“If the European Council chooses solidarity, then good. If it doesn’t, we have a Plan B ready but that would be a wound inflicted on Europe,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, without elaborating on the details.
Italy which has been bearing the brunt of North African refugees is calling on Brussels to amend the Dublin regulations, which assign most asylum seekers to their port of entry in the EU. The states have yet to reach a consensus on a migrant distribution plan, which seeks to relocate some 24,000 refugees across the 28-member countries.
15 June 2015 (Pressenza)– Changing the name of an unpopular brand is nothing new. Windscale, a UK nuclear power station, was the scene of a major fire in 1957 spreading radioactivity across the surrounding countryside in what is generally thought to have been the world’s worst nuclear accident before Three Mile Island in the US in 1979. Following a long campaign by those opposed to nuclear power its management decided in 1981 to change the plant’s name to Sellafield.
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(Image by Keven Law for Wikimedia Commons. Amur Leopard in the Colchester Zoo) | Source: Pressenza
In 2003 Philip Morris changed the company’s name to Altria Group, Inc. It was accused of trying to hide the link between cancer and tobacco, ironically exemplified by Marlboro Man.
On World Blood Donor Day -14 June 2015- the UN World Health Organization (WHO) called for increased regular blood donations from voluntary, unpaid donors in order to save millions of lives globally each year. Per example, nearly 800 women die every day from causes related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Access to safe blood supplies and blood transfusions are essential to save their lives
Medical technicians organize and process donated blood at Hanoi Blood Transfusion Center in Viet Nam. Photo: World Bank/Dominic Chavez | Source: UN
“The best way to guarantee a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products for transfusion is to have a good supply of regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in the agency’s press release on the Day, which is marked every year on 14 June.*
The theme of this year’s campaign is Thank You for Saving My Life, with the slogan, ‘Give freely, give often. Blood donation matters.’
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 