28 April 2020 (Wall Street International)* — Whenever there is confusion and panic as with the Coronavirus pandemic, there will be those trying to profit from it. Sadly, the division in many countries has only be emphasized by COVID-19, so it has been easier for fraudsters to exploit all the confusion out there. Hence, in these times of uncertainty, we connect constantly to our social networks, mainly to watch how this disease evolves and while looking for correct and accurate information, we can be dangerously exposed to fake news.
Stay cautious and do not let the bad guys control your mind with the powers of the Dark Web | Image fromWall Street International.
(UN News)* — A third of all nations lack laws to protect their citizen’s online data and privacy, despite an 11 per cent uptick in the global adoption of data protection and privacy legislation since 2015, the United Nations’ trade, investment and development body (UNCTAD) said on Wednesday [29 April 2020].
Unsplash/Markus Spiske | Code displayed on a computer monitor
Reporting the results of a fresh survey on the adoption of cyberlaws around the world, UNCTAD said that the vulnerability is even more stark among least developing countries, amounting to 43 per cent.
The share is highest in Europe at 96 per cent, followed by 69 per cent in the Americas, 57 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, and 50 per cent in Africa.
Now more than ever before, let’s band together and spread the ethics of Jazz Day’s global movement around the planet and use this as a golden opportunity for humankind to reconnect especially in the midst of all this isolation and uncertainty.”
World-famous jazz trumpeter and composer, Wynton Marsalis, and renowned jazz bassist, Christian McBride, perform at the inaugural International Jazz Day Concert at UN Headquarters. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz
29 April 2020 (UN News)* — With classrooms closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two UN agencies are urging governments to act now to shore up the futures of the 370 million children worldwide who depend on school meals.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) fear these young lives will suffer devastating nutritional and health consequences as a result of the crisis.
“For millions of children around the world, the meal they get at school is the only meal they get in a day. Without it, they go hungry, they risk falling sick, dropping out of school and losing their best chance of escaping poverty”, said David Beasley, the WFP Executive Director.
The latest ILO data on the labour market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the devastating effect on workers in the informal economy and on hundreds of millions of enterprises worldwide.
GENEVA, 29 April 2020 (ILO)* – The continued sharp decline in working hours globally due to the COVID-19 outbreak means that 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy – that is nearly half of the global workforce – stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed, warns the International Labour Organization.
Indicators such as the level of poverty, healthcare capacity, access to internet and social protection can portray how severe the effects of the COVID-19 crisis might be in each of 189 countries.
Community workers promote coronavirus prevention awareness and distribute hygiene packages among poor urban households in Bangladesh / Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaize.
New York (UNDP)* – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today [29 April 2020] released two new data dashboards that highlight the huge disparities in countries’ abilities to cope with and recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
29 April 2020 (IWGIA)* — As large parts of the world’s population are sitting at home in self- and authority-imposed isolation watching the development of the major public health crisis, governments in some countries are taking advantage of the situation and moving on with their repressive agendas cracking down on opposition groups , silencing human rights defenders and independent media, and subjecting entire ethnic groups to brutal military campaigns.
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2020 (IPS) – China and India, which went to war back in 1962 largely over a disputed Himalayan border– and continue a longstanding battle for military supremacy in Asia– have set a new record in arms spending.
Credit: SIPRI
For the first time, the world’s two most populous nations, accounting for a total of over 2.7 billion people, are now among the top three military spenders, ranking behind the United States.
In its latest report on global military expenditures, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says the five largest spenders in 2019, accounting for 62 per cent of expenditures, were the United States, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia, in descending order.
27 April 2020 (UN Environment)* — The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of our global systems when it comes to environmental, health and economic issues. As the crisis continues, there is an increasing recognition of how multiple economic, social and institutional drivers exacerbate environment risks, including global heating, resilience and human health.
Authoritarian-leaning countries in southeast Asia are using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to further repress human rights, which the Australian government cannot afford to ignore.
In Cambodia, a new state of emergency law will further entrench the rule of strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen, already one of the world’s longest-serving political leaders.
Stay cautious and do not let the bad guys control your mind with the powers of the Dark Web | Image from Wall Street International.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 