'Unseen' News and Views
– Donald Trump, the vociferously unpredictable US president, has long chastised China for seeking “unfair” advantage over trade and tariffs, violating intellectual property rights and “manipulating” the country’s currency to its advantage.
Credit: SIPRI
14 January 2020 (UN Environment)* – Megafires, typically defined as covering more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares or 400 square kilometres), are accelerated by high temperatures and drought. By the close of 2019, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Russian Federation and the United States all experienced megafires on what many have called unprecedented scales.
The Australian 2019–2020 bushfire season is already on track to be one of the worst on record. The twin weather extremes of drought and heatwaves, driven by climate change, only increase the risk of recurring catastrophic fire seasons for Australia. Taking climate action is necessary if we don’t want this to become the new normal.
26 January 2020 (Wall Street International)* — I would like to announce the publication of a book1, which reviews the lives and thoughts of some of the women and men who have addressed the crucial problems of ecology and sustainability that we are currently facing. I have tried to let them speak to us in their own words.
A meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: UN / Jean-Marc Ferré
Aligning inclusive, quality education with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was centre-stage on Friday 24 January 2020[], as the President of the UN General Assembly held a high-level interactive meeting for the International Day of Education. (*).
“The education sector is wrestling with mammoth challenges worldwide”, said Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, in his message for the day.
25 January 2020 (UN News)* — Following confirmed cases of the Novel coronavirus in Europe, the United Nations health agency released a statement on the need for the international community to work together as one to combat the infectious disease.
The head of the UN health agency, WHO (World Health Organization), declared on Thursday [23 January 2020] that the respiratory disease Novel Coronavirus, is not yet an official Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but warned that is an emergency in China.*
However, after two days of deliberations, the WHO Emergency Committee, which advises the head of the agency, was divided on whether to declare a PHEIC.
24 January 2020 (RT)* — The World Health Organization (WHO) held off designating a new fast-spreading coronavirus as an international health threat, but did deem it a crisis within China, where the pathogen has infected some 830 people and killed 26.
FILE PHOTO: A worker in a protective suit is seen at the closed seafood market in Wuhan, China, the suspected origin point of a novel coronavirus gripping the country. © Reuters / Stringer. (Photo posted here from RT’s article).
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 