6 August 2020 (UN Environment)* — Cities are home to 55 per cent of the world’s population, all jammed together cheek-by-jowl. Little wonder, then, that cities are being hit hardest by COVID-19: an estimated 90 per cent of all reported cases have occurred in urban areas.
But the same concentration of people also makes cities the places where the battle for a green recovery from COVID-19 – which is essential to reduce future pandemic risks and fight climate change – can be won.
Cities are breeding grounds for ideas and the places where many new techniques to reduce climate change, pollution, resource use and biodiversity loss are taking shape.
(Wall Street International)* — Throughout my career I have always thought that offensive security is awesome. That’s why I personally liked the term hacker, gray hat, black hat, etc. a lot because it highlights a lot of aspects in one single term. This is not necessarily an opinion everybody shares.
Being prepared and ready to engage in offensive security with the highest possible gurus, expertise, passion and dedication are the main things to achieve success in it, along with a breaker mentality to dig out the most hidden detail in a system.
Also, many people believe the principles for offensive thinking cannot be learned, you should have already certain abilities or talents such as:
The last empire to crash was the Soviet empire 30 years ago. At the time it was led by Mikhail Gorbachev, a man of peace and harmony, its population was not seriously divided or heavily armed, and the army stayed in their barracks.
As a result, there was very little physical violence when the empire collapsed, although in the ensuing years there was great economic suffering because of the devaluation of the ruble (by a factor of almost 10,000) and in subsequent years, there were armed conflicts with the Ukraine and Georgia.
In the end, the oligarchs (Russian mafia, etc.) and the secret police (Putin had been head of the KGB) consolidated their power.
4 August 2020 (UN News)* — All 187 countries that are members of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) have now ratified a convention to protect children from the worst forms of child labour, including slavery, prostitution and trafficking.
FAO/Franco Mattioli | In Nepal, a young girl transports agricultural goods along a 65 km mountain path. When children engage in work that is not appropriate for their age, this is child labour.
Formally known as Convention No. 182, the treaty, adopted two decades ago, achieved universal ratification on Tuesday [4 August 2020], making it the most rapidly ratified Convention in the UN agency’s 101-year history.
1 August 2020 (UN News)* — World Breastfeeding Week got underway on Saturday, with the UN urging communities everywhere to “support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”. Health agency (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a joint call for governments to protect and promote women’s access to skilled breastfeeding counselling – a critical component of breastfeeding support.
UNICEF/Jan Zammit | A mother and her new born baby at the National Health Center for Mother and Child, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (4 September 2015)
The UN has long advocated the benefits of breastfeeding, which delivers health, nutritional and emotional benefits to both children and mothers. It also helps foster a sustainable food system.
31 July 2020 (UNHCR)* – With COVID-19 increasing needs and vulnerabilities of refugees and internally displaced and stateless people, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned that the impacts of the pandemic are also heightening their risks to trafficking and exploitation. |Español| Français|عربي
1 August 2020 (UN News)* — Expressing “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts”, the emergency committee convened by the UN health agency’s chief, made it clear that there is not yet an end in sight to the public health crisis that has so far infected more than 17 million and killed over 650,000 people.
UN Women/Pathumporn Thongking | A healthcare worker checks the temperature of a patient at a hospital in Nonthaburi Province, Thailand.
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The committee convened by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), held its fourth meeting on 31 July.
Justice Department Should Heed Bipartisan Calls for Action
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30 July 2020 (Human Rights Watch)* — People of Asian descent in the United States have faced two pandemics in 2020: Covid-19 and its resulting racism and xenophobia.
The reporting center, STOP AAPI HATE, received more than 2,373 self-reported incidents of racism, hate speech, discrimination, and physical attacks against Asians and Asian Americans from March to July 2020.
(Greenpeace International)* — Since its beginning in the 1960s, the North Sea oil industry has earned billions of Euros profit and helped fill the coffers of a number of European governments. At the same time these oil and gas operations have contributed to the climate crisis, marine pollution, and endangered marine life.
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