Archive for August 26th, 2017

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26/08/2017

“No ‘Worse Place on Earth’ than Syria’s Raqqa”

Human Wrongs Watch

A senior United Nations aid official on 24 August 2017 urged the international community to do whatever is needed to allow citizens to flee from Raqqa, saying that right now, there is “no worse place on earth” than the de facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).

Displaced children and adults are seen after fleeing from ISIL-controlled areas in rural Raqqa, Syria, to Ain Issa, the main staging point for displaced families, some 50 Km north of Raqqa city. Photo: UNICEF/Soulaiman (file)

Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN Special Adviser Jan Egeland said the five neighbourhoods held by ISIL in Raqqa are heavily shelled from the surrounding and encircling forces, and under constant air raids by the Coalition.

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Posted in Climate Crisis | Leave a Comment »

26/08/2017

Energy Habits Are Changing in Latin America’s Cities

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mario Osava*

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Aug 24 2017 (IPS) – The Vaz de Souza’s were so keen on the solar water heater that they made it their mission and business, which prospered with the surge in innovation in their city, Belo Horizonte, recognised as the solar energy capital of Brazil.

Alejandro Casas’s electric taxi, which he drives in Montevideo, cost him 63,000 dollars, but he was given a five-year loan and he gets free recharges, as part of an initiative supported by the state-owned electric company and the government of the Uruguayan capital. Credit: Verónica Firme/IPS

Alejandro Casas’s electric taxi, which he drives in Montevideo, cost him 63,000 dollars, but he was given a five-year loan and he gets free recharges, as part of an initiative supported by the state-owned electric company and the government of the Uruguayan capital. Credit: Verónica Firme/IPS

In 1998 they founded the Maxtemper company, which has already installed over 40,000 solar water systems in homes, pools, companies and public facilities in the eastern state of Minas Gerais, mainly in Belo Horizonte, where similar suppliers have mushroomed.

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Posted in Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Mother Earth, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

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