27 February 2020 (Wall Street International)* — Every day, Internet users turn to sites like Reddit or 4chan to ask how they can access red rooms. There are even tons of stories of people telling their experiences and giving advice to future ‘spectators’. It’s believed that the red room term became popular after the Japanese animation where a pop-up ad kept showing on people’s screen with the question “Do you like the red room?”.
Recent factory fires in India show how the world’s biggest brands are still profiting from deadly working conditions.
The site of Rana Plaza, which collapsed in 2013, killing 1,134 people | Doreen Fiedler/DPA/PA Images
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27 February 2020 (openDemocracy)* — Brexit has brought much interest in how tariffs may mean the cost of clothes in the UK will rise. But the human cost of clothes we buy on the high street can still be measured in lives lost – an appalling reality rooted in a system that generates profit for some of the biggest fashion brands by undermining wages and working conditions for some of the world’s most exploited workers.
28 february 2020 (UN Environment)* — World Wildlife Day (3 March) is a chance to appreciate all that nature provides. This year’s theme, “Sustaining all life on Earth”, gives thanks to our natural world that allows wild animals, plants and humans to thrive in harmony.
Photo by Wikipedia
Among the most valuable elements of nature is the coral reef. Coral reefs are home to the largest variety of species in the ocean. You might think of them as underwater rainforests—full of living and nonliving components that, together, create one of the world’s most unique and important ecosystems.
But did you know that coral reefs are just as important for our lives on land as they are for the lives of species underwater?
28 February 2020 (RT)* — The biggest cosmic explosion in recorded history was detected about 390 million light years from Earth and it made a dent in surrounding space that could fit 15 Milky Way galaxies inside.
It is believed the eruption originated from a supermassive black hole in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster. The explosion was compared to the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980.
ROME, 27 February, 2020 (FAO)* —Tools are available to wrestle Fall Armyworm, a voracious invasive species that is ravaging crops in Africa, Asia and the Near East, and it is imperative to intensify coordination to curb the insect’s spread.
A Fall Armyworm on a maize plant in Sri Lanka.
“We will need to step up the alliance among key partners from all relevant sectors at the global level,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today while opening the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global action for Fall Armyworm Control.
(UN News)* — Justice is still absent for Palestinian demonstrators shot by Israeli soldiers during weekly protests in Gaza, the UN Human Rights Council heard on Wednesday [26 February 2020].
UNifeed Video | Demonstrators walking towards protest site by Gaza separation fence in 2018. (file photo)
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“Impunity continues to prevail,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report on accountability for alleged violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) since 2008, including during large-scale protests beginning in March 2018 along the Gaza-Israel fence.
26 February 2020 (UN News)* — The United Kingdom (UK) risks losing up to 14 per cent of its exports to the European Union (EU) in a so-called “no-deal” Brexit, according to a new study by the UN Conference on Trade, Investment and Development (UNCTAD).
Unsplash/Ali Yaqub | Skyline of the City of London, United Kingdom.
Brexit Beyond Tariffs: The role of non-tariff measures and the impact on developing countries maintains that without UK-EU agreements, or non-tariff measures (NTMs), in place, post-Brexit exports could fall by $32 billion.
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Potential losses under a “no-deal” Brexit from tariffs are estimated at between $11.4 billion and $16 billion of current exports – and the new study says NTMs would double those losses.
26 Feb, 2020 (RT)* — Fire crews have been scrambled to contain a massive blaze at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Carson, California. Flames lashed the sky, reaching at least 100 feet in the air.
There was reportedly an explosion at the refinery’s cooling tower before the fire broke out roughly 18 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Eyewitness footage from the scene shows the extent of the fire as it ripped through parts of the facility in the early morning hours of Wednesday.
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 2020 (IPS)* – Meeting the President of the Republic of Korea in September 2019, President Donald J Trump bragged that the “US economy is the envy of the world”. Trump reiterated such claims in his State of the Union address in early February, hailing his own policies with typical humility.
Trump touted US economic success at the Davos World Economic Forum in January as “nothing short of spectacular”, asserting “I’m proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
Facts hardly matter
To the contrary, US economic growth slowed after Trump started the ‘trade war’ with China, dropping from 3.5% in the second quarter of 2018 to 2.1% in the last quarter of 2019, much less than the 5.5% per annum peak in the second quarter of 2014 during the Obama presidency.
25 February 2020 (UN Environment)* — “We know that we cannot continue to use resources as if they were unlimited. We must think about the recycling of materials, the decreasing of our resources use, and we must concretely support the valorisation of materials,” said Willy Borsus, Vice-President of the Belgian Walloon Region.
Photo by Kim Eriksson/Flickr
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Worldwide material consumption has expanded rapidly, as has material footprint per capita. In 1990, some 8.1 tonnes of natural resources were used to satisfy a person’s need, while in 2017, almost 12.2 tonnes of resources were extracted per person.
Photo by Wikipedia
A Fall Armyworm on a maize plant in Sri Lanka.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 