'Unseen' News and Views
12 February 2021 (UN News)* — Amidst some positive news from the World Health Organization (WHO) that both COVID-19 deaths and new cases have recently been on the wane, there are “three major threats” to the UN-led international equitable vaccine initiative, COVAX, that require urgent attention.
11 February 2021 (UNEP)* — A deadly flood in northern India, sparked by a cratering glacier, was not an isolated incident but the result of a rapidly warming planet, say experts. They warn the disaster, which has left over 140 feared dead, is a precursor of what is to come unless drastic measures are taken to slow climate change.
Photo: REUTERS/Anshree Fadnavis / 11 Feb 2021
The flood this week in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand was caused by a glacier breaking away and falling into the valley, sending a surge of water downstream that engulfed villages and workers at a hydroelectric plant.
Joint statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
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Photo from UNICEF.
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 10 February 2021 (UNICEF)* – “Of the 128 million vaccine doses administered so far, more than three quarters of those vaccinations are in just 10 countries that account for 60 per cent of global GDP. | Español
“As of today, almost 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, are yet to administer a single dose.
“This self-defeating strategy will cost lives and livelihoods, give the virus further opportunity to mutate and evade vaccines and will undermine a global economic recovery.
The exact cause of the disaster is yet to be ascertained. Early assessments indicate that the event involved a large avalanche of ice and rock.
The role of climate-related drivers, and climate change, was not immediately clear. This was not the first such avalanche from these slopes, as experts have identified a similar (but smaller) event from late-2016.
– The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has called for unimpeded access to all parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, to locate an estimated 20,000 unaccounted for refugees and assess damage to its Hitsaats Camp which was looted and set alight in early January.
In Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says that for three months Ethiopia’s Tigray Region has been completely blocked off from the world. The reports that have trickled out speak to extensive violence, extensive conflict and extensive impact on civilians, the humanitarian agency says. (File photo) Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS
(New York) – Myanmar police should immediately end the use of excessive and lethal force against people protesting the February 1, 2021, military coup, Human Rights Watch said today [9 February 2021]. On February 9, police shot a young woman in the back of her head and wounded a man in his chest at a protest in the capital, Naypyidaw, a doctor reported.
(UN News)* — Without the resilience of the economies of East Asia and the Pacific, there would have been no global trade recovery at the end of last year, UN analysts said on Wednesday [10 February 2021].
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“The recovery process has been uneven, with many countries lagging”, said UNCTAD economist Alessandro Nicita.
According to a new report from the agency, exports from East Asia grew about 12 per cent in the last quarter of 2020, while imports increased by around five per cent.
Montenegro and Greece at the focal point of untapped oil and gas resources
9 February 2021 (Wall Street International)* — The global economy, international geopolitics as well as intra-national security have hinged upon oil production capacity and petrol markets so thoroughly that this inseparability of oil economics and geopolitics makes them in fact two sides of a coin.
10 February 2021 (FAO)* — We see them at the grocery store, the farmer’s market and as side orders served with our favourite dish. In many countries, they are part of the cultural heritage and are consumed on a regular or even daily basis. In other parts of the world, they hardly garner a mention except when served in a soup on a cold winter’s day.
However, these tiny, multi-coloured seeds have been one of nature’s nutritious foods since time began. Here is why:
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 