Digital currencies have great potential, but ceding control to a cartel of tech companies is not the answer.
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Image: Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0
21 June 2019 (openDemocracy)* — Facebook sent shockwaves through the world of finance this week with its vision to create ‘Libra’ – “a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people”.
A Last Ditch Strategy to Fight for Human Survival.
It will occur by 2026 a projected 10 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures | Image from Wall Street International.
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23 June 2019 (Wall Street International)* – There is almost unanimous agreement among climate scientists and organizations – that is, 97% of over 10,000 climate scientists and the various scientific organizations engaged in climate science research – that human beings have caused a dramatic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide released into Earth’s atmosphere since the pre-industrial era and that this is driving the climate catastrophe that continues to unfold1.
On International Widow’s Day, marked on Sunday 22 June 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is asking everyone to reflect on the “economic hardship and increased vulnerability” of these bereaved women and ensure “they are not left out or left behind”.
UN Women/Ryan Brown | A 38-year-old widow who lost her husband in the Central African Republic war escaped to the Ngam refugee site in the Adamawa region of Cameroon with her five children; one of whom recently died.
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In the “absence of social and legal protection”, he said in his message, “widowed women’s lifetime earnings and savings are often too little to avoid poverty”.
20 June 2019 (WMO)* — Broadcast meteorologists and climate scientists are uniting on June 21 – the Summer/Winter Solstice – to encourage people around the world to #ShowYourStripes to build awareness of the extent of climate change.
GENEVA, 21 June 2019 (ILO)* – A new Convention and accompanying Recommendation to combat violence and harassment in the world of work have been adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC).
20 June 2019 (UNHCR)* – A group of 131 refugees were evacuated last night out of Libya to the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niger, run by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. | Español | Français | عربي
The evacuees were from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, and included 65 children under the age of eighteen. Some of the group were previously held in detention centres for more than a year.
The Nigerian Government, the Global Environment Facility and UN Environment have announced a $15-million initiative to kick off a circular electronics system in Nigeria.
Up to 100,000 people work in the informal electronic waste sector in Nigeria, processing half a million tonnes of discarded appliances every year.
Safe e-waste recycling has enormous economic potential, with 100 times more gold in a tonne of e-waste than in a tonne of gold ore.
Lagos, 19 June 2019 (UN Environment)* – An ambitious new project launched in Lagos today is aiming to reform the electronics sector and put an end to the toxic toll improper management of electronic waste is taking on Nigeria.
21 June 2019 (UNRWA)* — “Before 2006, there were always work opportunities in Gaza. Nowadays, whenever I look for work, I am refused. I have children to feed and a sick mother to care for.” Hussein al-Najjar is a 40-year-old Palestine refugee from Gaza and was working as a construction labourer before Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza. He is solely responsible for his family of nine, which includes his wife, six children and his ailing mother who requires constant care.
On World Refugee Day, personal reflections of a young Palestinian from the Gaza Strip
Mohammed Eid* is from Rafah Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip.
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CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, USA, Jun 20 2019 (IPS)* – I am a refugee, born to a refugee family. I was granted that status on the day I came into this world. I was not aware of what had happened before then. I did not fight any battle, I did not threaten anyone. I did not even choose my own race or ethnicity. I just came to this world to find myself a displaced person.
19 June 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — Ethiopia has the highest number of new displacements globally, as new figures reveal over 70 million people are on the move worldwide – the highest number ever recorded.
A Somali couple with their two-week-old baby await evacuation to Niger at the Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli. © UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem
Hussein al-Najjar is a Palestine refugee from Gaza and a beneficiary of the UNRWA Cash for Work Programme supported by the Czech Republic.©2019 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 