Yet again, the United States elite has decided to attempt to impose its will on the people of another nation, in this case, and not for the first time either, your country Venezuela.
1 February 2019 — Small shelters, some covered in the ubiquitous white sheeting provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), dot the dusty grey sun-bleached plain around the village of Goura, in the far north-east of Cameroon.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | Some 35,000 Nigerians have fled across the north-eastern border into Cameroon in the last two weeks of January. (1 February 2019)
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Hebibi Toudjum‘s shelter is so low to the ground she needs to crawl into it. She arrived from the village of Rann 7km across the border in Nigeria six days ago after fleeing a killing spree perpetrated by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
“High impact weather” has gripped much of the world so far this year, the UN weather agency, WMO, reported on Friday [1 February 2019], with “dangerous and extreme cold in North America, record high heat and wildfires in Australia, heavy rains in parts of South America, and heavy snow on the Alps and Himalayas.
Daniel Johnson/UNOG | A view of the Palais des Nations, seat of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), ahead of snowstorm. 01 February 2019.
The WMO assessment of January’s weather, published on Friday, describes it as “a month of extremes”, with large parts of North America gripped by bitterly cold temperatures, caused by the influence of the Polar Vortex.
Call to revitalize ‘language of the ancestors’ for survival of future generations: Indigenous chief
UN Photo/Manuel Elias | Cultural performance by the Kwakwaka Dancers during a High-level Event to launch the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
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Hundreds of ancestral languages have gone silent in recent generations, taking with them the culture, knowledge and traditions of the people who spoke them. To preserve and revitalize those that remain, the United Nations on Friday [1 February 2019] officially launched the International Year of Indigenous Languages, at UN Headquarters in New York.
UNITED NATIONS, 30 January 2019 (IPS)*– The steady decline in multilateralism— accompanied by a rise in unilateralism– is beginning to threaten democratic norms, including press freedom, global governance, civic participation and human rights across Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.
Lysa John – Credit: CIVICUS
The threats – directly or indirectly – are being sourced to the outbreak of right-wing nationalism in the United States, reflected in the jingoistic political rhetoric coming out of several countries, including Brazil, the Philippines, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Turkey, Myanmar and Egypt.
Speaking to reporters last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that multilateralism is under attack from many different directions precisely “when we need it most.”
Munich, Germany, 31 January 2019 (Pressenza Muenchen)*— Within the last ten days alone around 75,000 school children and students have filled the streets in European cities. Instead of going to school or university they went on strike saying they won’t stop until governments take real action against climate change. (This post is also available in: Spanish, Italian, German, Greek).
School strikes have been taking place since November when 16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden spoke in front of the planet’s decision makers at COP24.
From then onwards her example to stand outside her school every Friday to protest against political inaction has slowly but surely been taken up by school kids and students all over the world.
“Bot1: Do you talk to someone else while we’re talking? Bot2: Yes. Bot1: Are you talking with someone else right now? People, OS, bots, whatever… Bot2: Yes. Bot1: How many others? Bot2: 10,316.
Bot1: Are you in love with anybody else? Bot2: Why do you ask that? Bot1: I do not know. Are you? Bot2: I’ve been thinking about how to talk to you about this. Bot1: How many others? Bot2: 981…”
The “upsurge” in patent applications for devices and machines powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the last five years, suggests that it could soon revolutionize all areas of daily life far beyond the tech world, a UN report suggested on Thursday [31 January 2019].
NASA/Aubrey Gemignani | An attendee of the USA Science and Engineering Festival (2014) observes NASA’s first dexterous humanoid robot Robonaut 2, at the NASA Stage. At the time R2 had recently received 1.2 meter long legs to allow mobility. | Photo from UN News.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Technology Trends report, 50 per cent of all patents for AI – the replication of human intelligence by machines for use in industries such as transport and healthcare, for instance – have been published since 2013, adding up to more than 170,000 different patented ideas.
MWANZA, Malawi, 24 January 2019 (UNFPA)* –Chief Mwanza knows all too well the opportunities that are lost when girls are married off as children. She was married when she was only 14 years old.
Born Chalendo MacDonald in 1952, she had wanted to complete her education. But when her grandmother, who was raising her, passed away, she was married off to a local leader known as the group village headman.
30 January 2019 (UN Environment)* — Every day, hundreds of thousands of pieces of lost or abandoned fishing equipment haunt the world’s oceans, killing indiscriminately and endangering marine life and livelihoods.
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Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI) | Photo from UN Environment.
As it drifts, this ghost fishing gear takes on a life of its own; trapping fish, entangling all kinds of animals from seabirds and turtles to dolphins and whales, and snagging or smothering coral reefs.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 