Archive for July 24th, 2021

24/07/2021

The List Is Here: Find Out How Global Defense Companies Performed in FY20

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mike Gruss | Defense News – TRANSCEND Media Service*

The coronavirus pandemic is not yet over — despite our most optimistic thinking — and this year’s Defense News Top 100 list offers hints of how the broader international defense market has coped.

The answer appears to be that national security firms have fared well. Very well.

(Martin Barraud/Getty Images)

Consider that six of the 10 largest U.S. defense companies had revenues jump by 6 percent or more — a total of about $11 billion — from fiscal 2019. And all seven Chinese firms on the list grew during the last year as well.

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24/07/2021

Satellite Mega-Constellations’ Mega-Threats

Human Wrongs Watch

By Miguel Coma*

The rise of space junk and the fall of reason

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Astronauts in the International Space Station regularly have to avoid catastrophic collisions with space debris
Astronauts in the International Space Station regularly have to avoid catastrophic collisions with space debris | Image from Wall Street International.

23 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Above our heads, man-made satellites wage war against the stars.

On Earth, a handful of CEOs plan to put hundreds of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit—in addition to the 5,0001 satellites already launched.

Altogether, these satellites will outnumber the stars visible to the naked eye tenfold.

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24/07/2021

Latin America and the Caribbean in a Trap of High Inequality and Low Growth – Concentration of Power, Violence, and Inefficient Social Protection, Fueling Vicious Circle

The region is in a trap of high inequality and low growth. Concentration of power, violence, and inefficient social protection policies fuel this vicious circle and limit human development, according to new UNDP report

The report recommends that the solutions must lead to greater growth with environmental sustainability, and to greater inclusion and social mobility.Photo: UNDP Colombia

New York (UNDP)* – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gap between extreme wealth and extreme poverty and vulnerability that characterizes the region, was made more evident and deepened even further.

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24/07/2021

Vaccine Inequity Undermining Global Economic Recovery

New Global Dashboard on COVID-19 Vaccine Equity finds low-income countries would add $38 billion to their GDP forecast for 2021 if they had the same vaccination rate as high-income countries. Global economic recovery at risk if vaccines are not equitably manufactured, scaled up and distributed.  

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Geneva/ New York City, (WHO)* —  COVID-19 vaccine inequity will have a lasting and profound impact on socio-economic recovery in low- and lower-middle income countries without urgent action to boost supply and assure equitable access for every country, including through dose sharing, according to new data released on 22 July 2021 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Oxford.
24/07/2021

Lebanon: Water Supply Systems on the Verge of Collapse –  Over 71% of People at Immediate Risk Losing Access to Water

Human Wrongs Watch

BEIRUT, 23 July 2021 (UNICEF)* More than four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water in Lebanon.

 
Mother Kanouz holding her one-year old daughter Fatima to wash her hands at Mhamara informal settlement, 5 July 2021
UNICEF/UN0482539/Mother Kanouz holding her one-year old daughter Fatima to wash her hands at Mhamara informal settlement, 5 July 2021

With the rapidly escalating economic crisis, shortages of funding, fuel and supplies such as chlorine and spare parts, UNICEF estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to six weeks.

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