'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
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Interested in a juicy burger grown in the lab?Oliver Sjöström/Unsplash, CC BY
The European Union sparked controversy by extending heavy restrictions on genetically modified organisms by classifying them as gene-edited crops.
You probably heard less about a public meeting hosted by the FDA on “cultured meat” – meats that don’t come directly from animals, but instead from cell cultures.
If you’ve traveled in the tropics or subtropical regions, you surely have noticed the peculiar group of trees growing along the shores, estuaries, or rivers.
Those are called mangroves. Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow on low-oxygen soil and salty conditions. They thrive even when they are flooded twice daily by ocean tides.
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 24 August 2018 (UNFPA)* – 25 August marks the one-year anniversary of the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world. Over 720,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar in the past twelve months, joining some 213,000 already in Bangladesh to create the world’s most densely populated refugee settlement.
Juba (IOM)* – South Sudan is one of the most dangerous and challenging places in the world to be an aid worker. Thousands of South Sudanese risk their lives every day to provide lifesaving assistance in their own communities, with millions of people facing unprecedented levels of humanitarian need since the crisis broke out in December 2013.
Amura, midwife. IOM/Mclaughlin 2018.
In a country beset by conflict, one can wake up and find an emergency suddenly strike in their own village, driving individuals to provide assistance in extremely difficult and challenging conditions.
Statement from the Norwegian Refugee Council’s acting country director in Yemen, Suze van Meegen:
“We are appalled by conflict that appears entirely ungoverned by the laws of war and astounded at the silence of the many governments enabling it. We cannot comprehend any possible moral justification for killing civilians fleeing to safety as their towns become battlegrounds.
After more than three years of escalating conflict, Yemeni people continue to bear the brunt of ongoing hostilities and severe economic decline.
An alarming 22.2 million people in Yemen need some kind of humanitarian or protection assistance, an estimated 17.8 million are food insecure-8.4 million people are severely food insecure and at risk of starvation- 16 million lack access to safe water and sanitation, and 16.4 million lack access to adequate healthcare.
NEW YORK, 24 August 2018 (UNICEF)* – “I had hoped that the outrage that followed the Saada attack in Yemen two weeks ago would be a turning point in the conflict. Yesterday’s reported attacks in Ad-Durayhimi, killing 26 children, indicates that it was not.
Boy playing on piece of exploded artillery shell which landed near his home, in the village of Al Mahjar, a suburb of Sana’a, Yemen. Photo: UNICEF/Mohamed Hamoud
“I – once again – call for the warring parties, those who have influence over them, the UN Security Council and the international community to take action and end this conflict once and for all.
The UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, and the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, have condemned the deadly air strike in Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, that killed at least 26 children and four women on Thursday 24 August 2018.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 