New records for extreme lightning bursts, or ‘megaflashes’, during 2019, have been made official, more than doubling the size and duration of the previous record flashes, the UN’s weather agency, WMO, announced on Thursday [25 June 2020]. *
WMO/Boris Baran | A lightning storm as seen from Istria, Croatia.
Closing the windows and covering your pet’s ears probably wouldn’t have made much difference to anyone stuck in the middle of the flash that developed continuously over northern Argentina on 4 March 2019, lasting a whopping 16.73 seconds.
The internet and new digital tools are being manipulated as never before to infringe on people’s right to free assembly, the UN’s top rights official said on Thursday [25 June 2020], in a call for a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology during peaceful demonstrations.*
Unsplash/Ian Usher | A drone flies over Mount Tamalpais in the United States.
Amid global protests against systemic racism, corruption and economic woes exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also expressed concern about the use of non-lethal weapons against demonstrators.
(UN News)* — The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health emergency, but a multi-dimensional crisis for Afghanistan, dealing its people a painful blow just as Kabul and the Taliban prepare for peace talks in Qatar, the top UN official in the country says.
World Bank/Ghullam Abbas Farzami | Child farmers help to level fields in Balkh Province, Afghanistan.
Deborah Lyons, Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told the Security Council on Thursday [25 June 2020] that the novel coronavirus outbreak is casting “a huge shadow” over Afghan daily life.
UN Women/Ryan Brown | After surviving military enslavement in Guatemala, Maria Ba Caal received help through an emergency grant from the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
Although international law “unequivocally prohibits torture in all instances”, the UN chief pointed out that it nevertheless continues in many countries, “even those where it is criminalized”.
Artwork by a victim of torture supported by the UN Torture Fund (Atelier peinture de Claire Harel, Association Mana, France)
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26 June 2020 (United Nations)* — Torture seeks to annihilate the victim’s personality and denies the inherent dignity of the human being. Despite the absolute prohibition of torture under international law, torture persist in all regions of the world.
Concerns about protecting national security and borders are increasingly used to allow torture and other forms of cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment. Its pervasive consequences often go beyond the isolated act on an individual; and can be transmitted through generations and lead to cycles of violence.
This month, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a brand-new animation to explain the increasingly popular concept of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA).
25 June 2020 (UN Environment)* — Restoring and protecting nature is one of the greatest strategies for tackling climate change, but not just for the obvious reason that it sucks carbon out the air. Forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems act as buffers against extreme weather, protecting houses, crops, water supplies and vital infrastructure.
Heidegger’s philosophy has legitimised the far right’s regional environmentalism, populism and cultural racism.
Heidegger among other university rectors at a NSDAP election rally on 11 November 1933
23 June 2020 (openDemocracy)* — On 28 May 2020, Björn Höcke, the leader of Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland in the state of Thuringia published a glossy picture of himself on his Facebook profile.
On the photo, one can see him sitting on a park bench reading a magazine called Die Kehre (Magazine for the Protection of Nature) a new far-right magazine whose first issue was published in spring 2020.
24 June 2020 (FAO)* — They were just getting on their feet when the pandemic hit.
Hector Frias is a Panamanian farmer who heads an association of coffee producers in Los Santos Province, a region in the central part of the country. Unlike other regions in Panama famous for Geisha coffee , this part of the country is not known for coffee production.
24 June 2020 (Wall Street International)* — Once again, after so many other times, Brazil’s wealthy would rather run the risk of descending into dictatorship (if that’s not what they wanted to begin with) rather than have the lower classes express their aspiration to be included in the nation, which the wealthy have always conceived of as their own personal property.
Reading the transcript of Brazil’s April 22nd Council of Ministers meeting is a painful, frightening and shocking experience. The fact that this video was made public and transcribed is an eloquent sign that democracy is still alive.
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 23 2020 (IPS)* – Over the course of his presidency, US President Donald Trump’s racism has become more evident with more leaks of his private remarks, which he has been generally quick to deny, qualify and explain away.
Despite his thinly disguised contempt for women, ‘non-white’ ethnic minorities, and most foreigners, unsurprisingly, he is respectful of power and privilege, especially when they may help him. Trump’s version of ‘kiss up, kick down’.
“Least racist person in the world”
Unsurprisingly, Trump has claimed he is the least racist person in the world. Unsurprisingly too, his record suggests otherwise.
Trump has frequently created controversies with racially charged comments and actions, and was even sued for racial discrimination by the US Justice Department in the 1970s.
Trump won the 2016 presidential election with an ethno-populist agenda featuring racist elements.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 