09/06/2015
By Johan Hammerstrøm*
Today’s [5 June 2015] vote in the Norwegian Parliament marks a truly historic event: It is the first time in history that all our politicians — left-leaning and right-leaning — have come together to take a stand against coal.
Greenpeace
The parliament unanimously voted for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund to classify most companies involved in coal mining and coal-fired utilities as unacceptable investment options.
Not only is this a unique achievement, it is a step in the right direction and a signal to leaders across the globe.
The Government Pension Fund is the world’s largest wealth fund not privately owned and the new measures means that according to Greenpeace Nordic’s and Urgewald’s initial estimate, 120 companies will be targeted for a divestment totaling 8 billion US dollars.
The decision means that the fund will not invest in any company that uses coal for more than 30% of its activity. This includes both coal mining and coal-fired power plants.
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09/06/2015
Compiled by Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh*
8 June 2015, TRANSCEND Media Service
**Image: The Dome of the Rock, the world’s first great work of Islamic architecture, constructed in 691.| Author: David Baum | Wikimedia Commons
– It has been 67 years since the occupation of 78% of Palestine in 1948 – It has been 48 years since the occupation of the other 22% of Palestine (WB and Gaza) that started 1967 – Today there are 12.5 million Palestinians 7.2 million of us are refugees/displaced people (six million from the ethnic cleansing of 1948-1950, 843,737 from 1967 Naksa, and 345,217 internal displacement within the green line, 57,669 internally displaced in 1967 areas. – UNRWA has 5.4 million registered refugees and has established and operates in 59 official refugee camps (17 unofficial camps).
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09/06/2015
KUALA LUMPUR, 8 June 2015 (IRIN) –
As Malaysian police finish exhuming mass graves in human trafficking camps along the Thai border, Southeast Asian nations are under pressure to end the brutal trade in human lives by tackling the roots of the crisis.
**Photo: MAPIM | Most of those boarding traffickers’ boats are Rohingya trying to escape discrimination and persecution in Myanmar
Richard Towle, who represents the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in Malaysia, says the current crisis provides a “unique opportunity” to kick-start diplomatic efforts not only to deal with the trafficking of migrants, but also the underlying problems that prompt many people to leave their homes in the first place. “Tackling the root causes has to be part of a suite of measures taken, otherwise we’re simply dealing with the symptoms and not the cause,” Towle told IRIN in an interview at the UNHCR compound in Kuala Lumpur.
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09/06/2015
8 June 2015 – The European Citizens’ Initiative “Stop TTIP” has reached a new record number of signatures a few days ahead of a critical vote on TTIP in the European Parliament. With 2 million signatories, this is the largest European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) since the introduction of the instrument in 2012. In order for an ECI to be successful, half this number would suffice.
Source: Stop TTIP
Moreover, Stop TTIP has collected the required minimum number of signatures in 14 EU Member States, double the amount needed to receive an official response from the European Commission and a hearing in the European Parliament.
The day after tomorrow, on 10 June 2015, the European Parliament will vote on a resolution concerning TTIP. Michael Efler, member of Stop TTIP’s Citizens’ Committee commented:
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09/06/2015
By Mariana Palavra*
For children living in a tent camp for families displaced by Nepal’s two recent earthquakes, a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space helps bring back a bit of joy, as they wait to get back to school.
© UNICEF Nepal/2015/Sokol | Ganga and Jamuna (front left and right) with their mother, father and 4-year-old brother, Anju, at what was their home.
CHARIKOT, Nepal, 3 June 2015 – Ganga Nepali, 9 years old, combs her long hair in the middle of a camp for displaced persons in Charikot, headquarters of Nepal’s Dolakha district. Although she looks shyly at the floor, she firmly declares that she is the eldest of three siblings.
“I have a special sister, but I am the older one,” she says. By ‘special’, she means twin.
“It is true – she was born a few seconds before me,” Jamuna, Ganga’s twin sister, says confiendently. “She is indeed my older sister, but I take care of all of them.”
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09/06/2015
Concerned by the spread of violent extremist groups and the “malicious and hateful ideologies” that fuel them, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 8 June 2015 outlined elements of an action plan he will present later this year to reinforce good governance, which he sees as terrorism’s true deterrent.
Source: UN
“Missiles may kill terrorists. But I am convinced that good governance is what will kill terrorism,” Ban said in his remarks to a meeting on terrorism held during the Summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations (G7) in Munich, Germany.*
“During the last 15 years, most counter-terrorism efforts have been reactive, focusing largely on military and security measures. This approach has often generated negative unintended consequences, further radicalizing disenfranchised communities,” he stated.
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09/06/2015
8 June 2015 – Crisis-torn Iraq, one of the world’s most severe emergencies, is on the verge of collapse because of a lack of funding could force the closure of more than half the relief operations in the country over the coming weeks, the top United Nations humanitarian official there has warned.
UNHCR is distributing essential items to help displaced families cope with the scorching summer heat in Iraq. Photo: UNHCR Iraq
This is according to Lisa Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, after the 2015 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan was launched late last week mid-way through the year in response to critical funding shortages as the conflict in Iraq escalates, with the number of people in need of life-saving assistance over the past year having increased by some 400 per cent.*
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09/06/2015
New York, 8 June 2015 – Some 20 million people in Yemen – close to 80 per cent of the population – urgently need humanitarian assistance, several United Nations agencies are warning, as the conflict, which escalated dramatically in March, continues to take its toll in what was already the poorest country in the region.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been delivering water to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Al-Dhalea governorate, Yemen, are suffering from a shortage. Photo: WHO Yemen
The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that more than 15 million Yemenis do not have access to basic healthcare, with 53 health facilities closed and malnutrition increasing, the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at the world body’s daily briefing in New York.*
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06/06/2015
By John Scales Avery*
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our ways of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophes.”
“I don’t know what will be used in the next world war, but the 4th will be fought with stones.”
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
**The 1927 Solvay Conference in Brussels, a gathering of the world’s top physicists. Einstein in the center. | Author: Benjamin Couprie, Institut International de Physique de Solvay | Date: 1027 | Wikimedia Commons
Besides being one of the greatest physicists of all time, Albert Einstein was a lifelong pacifist, and his thoughts on peace can speak eloquently to us today. We need his wisdom today, when the search for peace has become vital to our survival as a species.
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06/06/2015
By Roberto Savio*
Rome, 7 June 2015 – With little fanfare, the German IFO Institute for Economic Research recently published a report on population projections for Germany which states simply that the country’s population is shrinking fast.
Migrants have a duty to pay taxes… Many do not recognize the contributions all migrants – including women and men in irregular situations – make to the economy and to social security schemes where they live. Do you know that everyone – migrant or not – has a right to social security benefits? © OHCHR/ILO
The country has lost 1.5 million inhabitants since the last census in 2011 and it is estimated that it will have fallen from the 82.5 million in 2003 to 66 million in 2060, when Great Britain (if it still exists as such), will be the most populated country in Europe.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 