'Unseen' News and Views
Due to demographic pressures of growing elderly populations and the relative decline of workers paying taxes, governments are increasingly facing the need to adjust budgetary expenditures. Credit: K. S. Harikrishnan/IPS
COVID-19 Crisis: Extending Social Protection to Rural Populations Is Key to Recovery
In Africa, more than 80 percent of population lack access to social protection benefits of any kind. ©FAO/Olympia de Maismont
Rome, 24 February 2022 (FAO)* – The expansion of social protection for rural populations is a prerequisite for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 and must be at the core of the post-pandemic recovery policies, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 24 February 2022 at the Global Forum for a Human-Centred Recovery hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
As citizens we must prevent our politicians from pursuing this insane brinksmanship
26 February 2022 (Wall Street International)* —In many countries, and especially in the United States, we do not have “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”, which Abraham Lincoln called for in his famous Gettysburg Address.
Instead, we have government of the people, by corrupt politicians and for the enrichment of corporate oligarchs. In the United States, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party (with the exception of progressive Democrats) owe their allegiance, not to the people, not to the voters, but to large corporate donors.
(UN News)* — The impact of extreme weather on Madagascar is an example of the “runaway humanitarian needs” the world will face, unless it takes action to tackle the climate crisis, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday [25 February 2022].
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New report details exploitative practices employed by $55 billion formula industry, compromising child nutrition, violating international commitments.
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The report, How marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding, draws on interviews with parents, pregnant women and health workers in eight countries.
It uncovers systematic and unethical marketing strategies used by the formula milk industry – now worth a staggering US$55 billion – to influence parents’ infant feeding decisions.
– Nothing is wasted from sugarcane, one can conclude from the biomethane production process at the Cocal plant, a Brazilian company that produces sugar, ethanol, electricity and other by-products from sugarcane agro-industrial waste.
Biomethane, equivalent to natural gas, which is methane of fossil origin, is the result of a long chain starting with the planting of sugarcane, originally intended for the production of sugar and spirits.
The economic importance of the tea industry has grown during the pandemic but it must confront key challenges, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu tells the 24th Session of Intergovernmental Group on Tea
Tea is a labour intensive sector that provides jobs and income to many of the poorest rural communities in the world ©FAO/Roberto Faidutti
Rome, 23 February 2022 (FAO)* – The tea industry can play an important part in the transformation of global agrifood systems, but it must overcome significant challenges, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 23 February 2022.
Credit: UNAMA. UN Missions.org
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”
The article quotes the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.”
(UN News)* — UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged on Monday [21 February 2022] for greater protection for refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 