Archive for 2019

18/06/2019

Modernization of World Nuclear Forces Continues Despite Overall Decrease in Number of Warheads – SIPRI

Modernization of world nuclear forces continues despite overall decrease in number of warheads: New SIPRI Yearbook out now

​​​​The modernization of nuclear forces continues

SIPRI Governing Board Chair Ambassador Jan Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, says: ‘A key finding is that despite an overall decrease in the number of nuclear warheads in 2018, all nuclear weapon-possessing states continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals.’

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18/06/2019

Peace Journalism: The Sower, the Seed, the Harvest

Human Wrongs Watch

By René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service

There is the New Testament symbol of the Sower and the Seed.  The Sower has only one type of seed, which stands for the truth or at least that aspect of the truth that is appropriate for the period. He throws some of the seeds on ill-prepared hard ground.  It is quickly covered over, some eaten by birds or stamped on by people passing. Some others are thrown on slightly prepared ground, but their roots do not go deep.  The seeds are dried by too much sun or drowned by too much rain.  Finally, some seeds are put into well-prepared ground, take root and in turn produce more seeds that can be used elsewhere.

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18/06/2019

Let’s Train Humans First … Before We Train Machines

Human Wrongs Watch

ST AUGUSTINE, Florida, Jun 17 2019 (IPS)* We humans are at the absurd stage in our technological evolution when we seem to have abandoned our common sense. Billions are spent by governments, corporations and investors in training computer-based algorithms (i.e. computer programs) in today’s mindless rush to create so-called “artificial” intelligence, widely advertised as AI.

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Sophia the Robot speaking to UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at UN Headquarters in 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

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18/06/2019

How to Prevent a Drought from Turning into Famine’ – ‘Simple Solutions’ and ‘Hi-Tech Tools’

Human Wrongs Watch

ROME (FAO)* Unlocking the potential of agricultural innovations, be it simple solutions or satellite-based technologies, will help prevent a drought from turning into famine and forced displacement and to reverse desertification, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on 17 June 2019 said.

Photo: ©FAO/Eduardo Soteras

Even simple solutions can have a great impact to build the resilience of vulnerable people, FAO Director-General said. A young woman collecting water from a cistern in the village of Douly, Senegal, which is part of the FAO’s initiative “1 Million Cisterns for the Sahel”.
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18/06/2019

Billions Lack ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ – World Health Organization-UN Children Fund

Human Wrongs Watch

17 June 2019 – Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely-managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion go without safe sanitation services and three billion lack basic handwashing facilities, according to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

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UNICEF/Sri Kolari | A mother and her two sons wash clothes in Maharashtra, India (June 2019).

“Mere access is not enough” said UNICEF’s Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). “If the water isn’t clean, isn’t safe to drink or is far away, and if toilet access is unsafe or limited, then we’re not delivering for the world’s children”.

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18/06/2019

9.7 Billion on Earth by 2050 – India Will Overtake China, Sub-Saharan Africa Population to Double

Human Wrongs Watch

By the year 2050, there will be some 9.7 billion people living on Earth, says a UN population report released on 17 June 2019. However, the overall growth rate will continue to fall, and more countries will have to adapt to the consequences of an ageing population.

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UNICEF/Sri Kolari | Portrait of Pardhi tribal community members, Maharashtra,
India. ( 7 June 2019)
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The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights”, estimates that the next 30 years will see the global population add an extra 2 billion people to today’s figure of 7.7 billion, and, by the end of the century, the planet will have to sustain around 11 billion.

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17/06/2019

Climate Crisis and the 2020 U.S. Elections

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Trump and His Party Must Be Defeated

There are so many things wrong with Donald Trump that one hardly knows where to begin. He is a racist, habitual liar, tax evader, cruel cager of infants, misogynist, narcissist, bully, violator of numerous laws, both national and international, a friend of rich oligarchs and enemy of the poor, to mention only a few of his faults. He has made the United States resemble Germany, Italy or Spain in the 1930’s, when fascism was on the rise.

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Pershing Square, Los Angeles, United States | Photo by Samantha Sophia @samanthabroxton | Unsplash

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17/06/2019

There’s No Continent, No Country Not Impacted by Land Degradation

Human Wrongs Watch

ANKARA, Jun 17 2019 (IPS) – The coming decades will be crucial in shaping and implementing a transformative land agenda, according to a scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).

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On all continents you have the issue of land degradation, and it requires governments, land users and all different communities in a country to be part of the solution. Credit: Albert Oppong-Ansah /IPS

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17/06/2019

The Implacable Desertification of Planet Earth

Human Wrongs Watch

By Baher Kamal*

Yet another under-reported human-made disaster: the relentless desertification of Planet Earth that may make uninhabitable some regions like the Middle East, endanger food security, aggravate climate crisis, and force more and more millions of people to flee.

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Unsplash/Photo by Brad Helmink@booradley1234

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16/06/2019

The Forgotten Migrants of Central America

Human Wrongs Watch

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UNITED NATIONS, Jun 12 2019 (IPS)* – Rural and indigenous populations in countries like Guatemala and Honduras are increasingly on the move – either migrating internally or to neighbouring countries.

Traditional indigenous attire of a Mayan woman from the Quiche region of Guatemala. UN Photo/John Olsson

But the focus on these populations has been limited, leaving them forgotten and marginalized as they continue to be disproportionately affected by climate change.

The disappearance of farmlands and unreliability of crops due to climate change have led families to experience increased food and economic insecurity—that have forced some of them to migrate.

“In general, we can say that the majority of rural migrants are poor people, but often not the poorest, because the latter cannot afford the significant costs of these journeys,” Ricardo Rapallo, Senior Food Security Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told IPS.

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