4 January 2019 (Wall Street International)* — A comparison of the two men’s views on God may throw some light on how the affirmation of the mystery of existence may lead to a declaration of its meaninglessness.
While Russell rejects all proofs for the existence of God, Voltaire rejects only the ontological argument. He maintains that we know God only by His effects, we cannot know Him by his nature, which is inscrutable to human reason; thus he urges men to adore God without wishing to ‘pierce the obscurity of His mysteries.’
While rejecting revealed religion, he claims that the rational man need only open his eyes to nature to perceive God for ‘all is art in the universe, and art announces an Artisan.’
The world “has failed” to sufficiently protect children caught up in conflict and millions more are at risk of harm, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed on 28 December 2018, adding that national leaders need to hold perpetrators of violence more accountable.*
10 December 2018 (Wall Street International)* – For the first time ever in our history, we pose the crucial problem of the relationship between life and humankind as a dichotomy that we have not been able to settle or, what is even worse, where they appear more and more distant from each other.
Is such a dichotomy just apparent, circumstantial? Or it is instead evident and substantial? Does it touch the very essence of existence, including our lives in this paradise – which is being manipulated and mistreated – that is called Earth? From what reference points or subjective perspectives are we going to face this issue?.
A military drawdown in Syria and Afghanistan is good for America’s enemies – and contractors.
Tony Blair and George W. Bush shake hands after their press conference in the East Room of the White House on 12 November 2004. | Public Domain | Wikipedia.
24 December 2018 (openDemocrcay)* — At the end of 2003 the United States-led war in Iraq was going badly wrong. It had started so well from the Pentagon’s perspective, as American troops entered Baghdad within weeks of launching the invasion in late March.
Years ago, the Colombian armed conflict left them with nothing. Today, displaced neighbours in Las Delicias are hosting more than 150 Venezuelans. | Español | Français | عربي
14 December 2018 (UNHCR)* – When Graciela Sánchez first arrived in Las Delicias looking for safety, she only carried her two children and a small bundle of clothes with her. The armed conflict in Caquetá, western Colombia, took everything she had.
Widespread and systematic sexual violence across South Sudan, just a few months after the country’s top two politicians signed a renewed commitment to peace, was at the top of the UN Commission on Human Rights in the country’s agenda on 14 December 2018, as members ended their first fact-finding mission.
OCHA/Jacob Zocherman | Mother and daughter in Unity State, South Sudan.
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The three-person team investigating rights violations in the world’s youngest country, which has been mired in bloody civil conflict since 2013, arrived on the ground shortly after more than 150 women and girls were reportedly sexually assaulted in the northern town of Bentiu.
11 December 2018 (UN)* – Almost one billion people live in mountain areas, and over half the human population depends on mountains for water, food and clean energy. Yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation, over exploitation and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences, both for mountain communities and the rest of the world.
Meme Lé and his herd, looking for water, Tibet. Photo from the #MountainsMatter Photo contest 2018 organized by Mountain Partnership at FAO. Photo: Helene Copin/FAO.
Mountains are early indicators of climate change and as global climate continues to warm, mountain people — some of the world’s hungriest and poorest — face even greater struggles to survive.
6 December 2018 (UN Environment)* — With global demand for water expected to increase by nearly one third by 2050, and around two billion people already lacking access to safe drinking water, it is easy to see why there is such a buzz around innovative technologies to produce water from the air.
It is estimated that the atmosphere contains around six times as much water as all the world’s rivers. However, until recently, atmospheric water generation was often deemed too costly, too energy-intensive and too inefficient.
2 December 2018 (OXFAM)* — One in three women will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. Whilst there is no single cause for such violence, some of the strongest and most consistent factors are harmful social norms that contribute to gender inequality.
Violence against women and girls is rooted in the widely accepted social norms that too often contribute to gender inequality, including male entitlement, domination and control over the bodies of women. Photo: William Vest-Lillesøe/Oxfam
28 November 2018 — As global temperatures continue to rise, climate action is lagging and the window of opportunity is closing. On Sunday [2 December 2018], the United Nations will kick off critical negotiations on how to address the problem collectively and urgently, during a two-week climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, known as “COP 24”.
IOM/Amanda Nero | A boy watches the shore from a boat near Sirajganj, a community affected by severe erosion that has left many displaced. Sirajganj, Bangladesh. October 2016
Thousands of world leaders, experts, activists, creative thinkers, and private sector and local community representatives will gather to work on a collective action plan to realize critical commitments made by all the countries of the world in Paris, three years ago.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 
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