DAYLESFORD, Australia, 11 November2019 – The date 11 November is well known and commemorated in many parts of the world because it marks the Armistice ending World War I – ‘the Great War’ – in 1918.
Robert J. Burrowes,
In the evocative words used by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., an atheist humanist, in his novel Breakfast of Champions, the day is remembered thus:
‘When I was a boy … all the people of all the nations which fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was at that minute in nineteen-hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another.
I have talked to old men who were on battlefields at that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.’
ODRAMACAKU, Uganda – Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for beauty salons in this small town in Uganda’s northern Arua District. For 16-year-old Irene Asibazuyo, it means that she will make a little more money.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 2019 (IPS)* – Every day 830 women die while giving life. At least 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage with 11,000 girls undergoing female genital mutilation.
Gender equality and women empowerment at the heart of ICPD25. Credit: Joyce Chimbi / IPS
The UN Deputy Secretary-General has called for gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights to be integrated at the heart of global efforts to achieve a sustainable future for all. *
UNEP/Georgina Jane Smith | UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed (right) meets local school children at the Food4Education innovative partnership in Nairobi, Kenya.
Amina Mohammed was speaking on Monday [11 November 2019] in Nairobi, where countries are meeting this week to mark 25 years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
His resignation came after senior army heads asked them to resign amid right-wing violence and coup attempt for weeks since the Oct. 20 elections.
Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to resign Sunday after two weeks of right-wing violence. | Photo: teleSUR
10 November 2019 (teleSUR)* — Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to resign Sunday after senior army and police chiefs called on him to do so following weeks of right-wing unrest and violence against his Oct. 20 elections victory, in what his government has called a coup by opposition forces in the country.
11 November 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — Somalia caught the world’s attention in 2011 when a famine killed over a quarter of a million people. The country has been struggling with extreme weather changes, violence and disease for nearly 30 years and is increasingly subject to severe climate shocks that are worsening a prolonged humanitarian crisis. Here are seven things you should know about the crisis in Somalia:
8 November 2019 (WHO)* — The impact of successive storms, cyclones and heavy rains has been severe in 2019, and in the wake of heavy flooding, WHO is upping disease surveillance actions and providing critical supplies to hard-hit populations across Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
8 November 2019 (UN Environment)* — When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in the late 15th century, he and his crew had spent months sleeping on a hard and dirty deck—most likely infested with vermin. It is no surprise that the islands seemed like paradise. Not only did the sailors finally feel the land beneath their feet again, but the indigenous people slept comfortably in nets between the trees, rather than on the hard floor.
Photo by Willian Justen de Vaconcellos/ Unsplash
It was a big difference from the sleepless months of hardship the sailors had just endured. On his trip back to Spain, Columbus took these indigenous nets with him, and before long sailors were relying on hammocks to stay comfortable on overnight voyages.
The autumn sun lights the classroom in Ternopil, Western Ukraine, where children laugh as Mr. Possum asks 11-year-old Sasha to deliver a package to his nephew in another country. Sasha hesitates, while her classmates give her advice: some suggest that she should help a stranger, others believe it’s risky.
Liza and Her Friends Travelling the World is a board game developed by IOM to help children and young people become aware of human trafficking. Photo: Studii Rozvytku
It’s all a game, but with a deeply serious subtext. “Liza and Her Friends Travelling the World” was developed by IOM, and Mr Possum is Sasha’s teacher.
COTONOU, Benin, Nov 8 2019 (IPS)* – Buses carrying cross-border traders and goods from Cotonou in Benin to Bamako in Mali have recently been using the Lomé route — travelling through the capital of Togo and then getting onto the Ouagadougou corridor on their way to the Malian capital.
Traders transporting goods in Mali. Thanks to the African Development Bank (AfDB), infrastructure linking African nations has made cross-border transportation of goods easier. Courtesy: Mary Newcombe/ CC by 2.0
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 