GENEVA, 15 August 2019 (UNICEF)* – “It is unconscionable that once again politics have been prioritized over saving the lives of children who are stranded on the Mediterranean Sea.
UNICEF/UN020020/Gilbertson VII Photo | FILE Photo: Gambian boys walk past a graveyard of ships used by Libyan Smugglers to transport migrants and refugees to Italy, at port next to a government Hot Spot – a reception center that doubles as a lodging station for unaccompanied minors in Pozzallo, Sicily, on May 17, 2016. In the past boats were captured and sent to these grave yards, but due to the high numbers, today they are burned at sea by the coast guard.
13 August 2019 (UNHCR)* — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on 13 August 2019 called on European governments to allow the immediate disembarkation of 507 people recently rescued on the Central Mediterranean who remain stranded at sea. |Español | Français | عربي
Many are reportedly survivors of appalling abuses in Libya and are from refugee-producing countries. They are in need of humanitarian assistance and some have already expressed an intention to seek international protection.
A number of commentators have linked the killing of 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso in the United States of America on Sat 3 Aug 2019 to the rising tide of White Supremacism.
White Supremacism is a belief that whites are superior to others and therefore have a right to dominate them.
There were elements of such thinking in a “manifesto” posted online allegedly written by the suspected killer, a a 21-year-old white from a Dallas suburb.
The suspect had justified his massacre as a response “to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and had made references to the Christchurch (New Zealand) shootings in March this year where a white gunman killed 51 mosque worshippers.
14 August 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — One year after the worst drought on record forced nearly half a million Afghans to leave their homes, many families remain in tents on the outskirts of Herat city. Unable to return home due to ongoing conflict, they struggle to survive as support is cut back.
Photo: NRC/Enayatullah Azad. These children are getting water from a poultry farm.
FAO urges Asian countries to maintain strict control measures.
Almost 5 million pigs in Asia have now died or been culled because of the spread of African swine fever (ASF), a contagious viral disease that affects pigs and that was first detected in Asia one year ago this month.
ROME, 9 August 2019 (FAO)* – Almost 5 million pigs in Asia have now died or been culled because of the spread of African swine fever (ASF), a contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs and that was first detected in Asia one year ago this month.
While not dangerous to humans, the disease causes up to 100% fatality in pigs, leading to severe economic losses to the pig sector.
14 August 2019 (UN Environment)* — Stories in the Caribbean tell of a time before satellites and computers. A time when dust, rain and wind were the early warning systems people relied on to predict major storms during the Atlantic hurricane season. Families would wake up and a hazy sun would predict a hurricane was on the horizon. Erratic rain, wind and the movements of animals would provide telltale signs that the old god Hurakán was on his way.
Photo by the United Nations and NASA [Posted here fromUN Environment].
Today, we have much more advanced systems that provide us with crucial information about developing storms several days to weeks in advance.
14 August 2019 (International Work Group for indigenous Affairs – IGWIA)* — When the Community Land Act was adopted in September 2016, it was perceived as a great step forward for securing indigenous communities’ land rights in Kenya. However, three years after its adoption there are still more questions than answers over its implementation.
The pastoralists mainly occupy the arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya and towards the border between Kenya and Tanzania in the south. This photo is taken at a community meeting in Laikipia.
IWGIA is supporting a pilot project in northern Kenya focusing on the implementation of the Act to increase awareness and develop guidelines for the process.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 14 2019 (IPS)* – When Yassir Arafat was denied a US visa to visit New York to address the United Nations back in 1988, the General Assembly defied the United States by temporarily moving the UN’s highest policy making body to Geneva– perhaps for the first time in UN history– providing a less-hostile political environment for the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
Global warming is rooted in an economic system that has a parasitoid relationship with the Earth upon which we live.
Image: Lausanne, CC by 2.0
13 August 2019 (openDemocracy)* — Global Warming which is caused by human activity is rooted in a social and economic system that has a parasitoid relationship to the Earth upon which we live.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 