Archive for January, 2019

20/01/2019

Women for Climate Action in 2019

18 January 2019 (UN Environment)*Heba Al-Farrah has a goal: to spread environmental awareness and climate action among women across the Middle East and North Africa.

Heba profile shot.JPG

Photo from UN Environment.

Since winning the Young Champions of the Earth prize in 2018 for West Asia, her vision has come a long way and she plans to take the action further.

“At the start of my journey, I faced some challenges regarding the set-up of my organization in Kuwait. But together with support from colleagues in the region, we are tackling these together, and look forward to stronger collaboration in 2019,” she said.

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20/01/2019

The Greenpeace Film Festival Is Back!

You get to choose which of the 15 documentary films on the Festival’s website will win the People’s Award (for the film which receives the most votes) and the Favourite Film Award (for the most-viewed film)..

The 2019 selection is a look at the environmental challenges we all must tackle. They highlight practical solutions and citizen initiatives underway worldwide.

Happening for 15 days only, the Festival is aimed at anyone who wants to learn about the environmental crises we’re facing.

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20/01/2019

Beyond the Brexit Pantomime

Human Wrongs Watch

Forget the political melodrama. What matters most are the deep weaknesses in our democracy that Brexit has exposed – and which extend across Europe.

Theresa May speaking before the vote on her Brexit deal in the House of Commons, London. Image: PA

Theresa May speaking before the vote on her Brexit deal in the House of Commons, London. Image: PA

17 January 2019 (openDemocracy)* — Ignore anyone who claims to know where Britain will be in a week’s time.

The New York Times has produced a flowchart for the constitutional mess the country now finds itself in. Unsurprisingly, it’s mindbendingly complex. No one really knows where we go after Theresa May’s crushing defeat in Parliament.

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20/01/2019

Another 170 Migrants Disappear in Shipwrecks, UN Reiterates Call for an End to Mediterranean Tragedy

Human Wrongs Watch

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, stated on Saturday [19 January 2019] that “no effort should be spared” in saving lives at sea, following reports of two new shipwrecks on the Mediterranean Sea, in which some 170 people either died or went missing. 

© UNHCR/Markel Redondo | Refugees from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa await assistance and a health-screening by the Spanish Red Cross in the port of Malaga, after disembarking from a Spanish rescue ship. 19 September 2018.

“The tragedy of the Mediterranean cannot be allowed to continue,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

20/01/2019

A Rejection of Populism: Global Public Opinion Comes Out Strongly in Favour of Openness and Collaboration

Geneva, Switzerland, 20 January 2019 (World Economic Forum)* A global opinion poll published today by the World Economic Forum finds that a clear majority of people in all regions of the world say they believe cooperation between nations is either extremely or very important. Deutsch I Français I 日本語 I 中文

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The big picture view: People are supportive of an interconnected world | Image from World Economic Forum.

It also finds that a large majority rejects the notion that national improvement is a zero-sum game, and that most people feel that immigrants are mostly good for their adopted country.

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19/01/2019

Thousands Returning to Nigeria’s Restive Borno State ‘At Risk’; UN ‘Gravely Concerned’

Human Wrongs Watch

18 January 2019 — Amid reports that Cameroon is forcing several thousand Nigerians to return to Borno state in the country’s crisis-gripped north-east, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) deplored the move, saying it has put lives “at risk”.

OCHA/Leni Kinzli | New arrivals in Teacher’s Village in Maiduguri, Nigeria, after the attack in Baga at the end of December 2018.

“We are gravely concerned for the safety and well-being of all these people”, UNHCR said in a statement. On 16 January, 267 Nigerian refugees, who had crossed into Cameroon in 2014, were forcibly returned.

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19/01/2019

‘Despite Years of Promises to Address the “Vulnerable Heart” of Libya–the South, Conditions around Its Water and Oil Resource Wealth Have Deteriorated at “an Alarming Rate”

Human Wrongs Watch

Despite years of promises to address the “vulnerable heart” of Libya – the country’s south – conditions around its water and oil resource wealth have continued to deteriorate at “an alarming rate”, the United Nations envoy for the country told the Security Council.

Iason Athanasiadis/UNSMIL | Clouds over the desert in southern Libya. Deserts form a large part of the country and human settlements are mostly found around oases.
19/01/2019

‘The Best-Selling Brand Today Is Fear’

Human Wrongs Watch

Warning against the dangers of widespread fear and mistrust in our planet, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, told journalists on Friday [18 January 2019] he wants to reaffirm the UN as a “platform for action to repair broken trust in a broken world.”

UN Photo/Manuel Elias | Press conference by the Secretary-General António Guterres (right) on 18 January 2019, with his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric (left).

“The best-selling brand in our world today is indeed fear,” stated Mr. Guterres. “It gets ratings. It wins votes. It generates clicks,” he added, during the press conference, held at UN headquarters in New York.

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18/01/2019

The Year 2019 – Between Timocracy and Plutocracy

Jacques Louis David, Coronation
Jacques Louis David, Coronation | Image from Wall Street International.

I. The year 2019 will be characterized by a shifting mix of two forms of leadership that Plato once called Timocracy and Plutocracy way back in 380BC.

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18/01/2019

CNN Brazil Will Have an Evangelical Pastor as CEO

An evangelical pastor will head the upcoming CNN Brasil and the channel will adhere to Bolsonaro’s policies.

Upcoming CNN Brasil

Upcoming CNN Brasil’s CEO will be an evangelical pastor. | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.

17 January 2019 (teleSUR)* — Edir Macedo, an evangelist pastor will be the CEO of CNN Brazil. The United States media giant Cable News Network (CNN) will open for the first time in the Latin American country during the first year of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.