'Unseen' News and Views
Elephants, giraffes, rhinos and other magnificent mammals targeted in wildlife conservation areas of Central Africa are under threat of extinction, caught in the crosshairs of armed groups and highly-militarized poachers, the United Nations environment wing on 19 January 2018 warned.
In recent years poaching levels have soared and three rhinos are killed every day. Photo: UNEP GRID Arendal/Peter Prokosch
20 January 20/18 — WHEN I first met Yasser Arafat in besieged Beirut, in the summer of 1982, Abu Mazen was not present. But when I met him again in Tunis, a few months later, he asked me to meet Abu Mazen, too.
Uri Avnery
Abu Mazen, it transpired, was the Fatah leader in charge of Israeli matters.
MY FIRST impression of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) was that he was the exact opposite of Arafat. He looked like a schoolmaster.
Arafat was an outgoing type, who liked to embrace and kiss people and to establish close relations from the outset.
Abu Mazen was much more reserved and withdrawn. Yet I liked his personality.
Photo re-posted from
Reuters even twists it all to mean that the US is now more patient about Assad’s removal.
19 January, 2018 — Despite the soothing presence of Elton John and Cate Blanchett, love, peace and goodwill to all is unlikely to break out at the Davos World Economic Forum next week. Not when Donald Trump is in town.
**Photo: World Economic Forum headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. | Author: Alexey M.| Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
19 January 2018 – Following a two-day visit to conflict-ravaged South Sudan, where a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death, the head of the United Nations children’s agency has said only an end to hostilities can bring back hope and safety to the children and young people there.
In South Sudan, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore (left) and UNICEF Head of Nutrition Joseph Senesie (in blue) speak with patients at Al Sabbah Hospital, where UNICEF is implementing a nutrition programme, in Juba, the capital. Photo: UNICEF/Prinsloo
Concerned over the devastating impact of escalating violence in Syria, where dozens of people in eastern Ghouta have been killed in recent airstrikes, and schools and hospitals are being deliberately destroyed, senior United Nations officials have underscored the obligation on all parties to the conflict, and the international community, to protect civilians from atrocity crimes.
A street in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Syria. Photo: UNICEF/Amer Al Shami
“We cannot stand by silently in the face of indiscriminate violence and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” said Adama Dieng the UN Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, and Ivan Simonovic, the UN Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, in a statement issued on 19 January 2018.
Geneva, 19 January 2018 (IOM)* — IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is appealing for nearly USD 1.4 billion to address the needs of over 80 million people in 50 countries in 2018.
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A woman holds her child while in no man’s land between Bangladesh and Myanmar. She arrived along with thousands of other Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar. Photo: Muse Mohammed / UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017
**Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of State, at his confirmation hearing | 11 January 2017 | Office of the President-elect | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
A record 4.1 billion passengers took to the skies in 2017 onboard some 37 million scheduled flights globally, the United Nations civil aviation agency on 18 January 2018 reported, highlighting that the fastest growth was seen among low-cost carriers.
An airliner being serviced before takeoff at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Photo: UN News/Vibhu Mishra
15 January, 2018 (Greenpeace)* — This morning, people around the world are waking up to pictures of penguin sightings across the globe. The penguins have been spotted travelling on trains, arriving at international airports and at iconic landmarks. From Sydney to Buenos Aires and from London to Johannesburg, the question on everybody’s mind – what are they here for?
Arriving in Sydney, wasting no time in seeing the iconic Sydney Opera House after the flight.
The penguins are part of a new Greenpeace campaign calling for the creation of the largest protected area on earth: a 1.8 million square kilometre ocean sanctuary in the Antarctic.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 