MEXICO CITY, May 22 2020 (IPS)* – While it attempts to cushion the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the Latin American and Caribbean region also faces concerns about the future of the energy transition and state-owned oil companies. |En español
A master practitioner of the Hawaiian hula dance has told UN News that he is “nothing without my culture.”
ILO Photo/John Isaac | Michael Pili Pang (right) runs a hula dance school in Honolulu, Hawaii
25 May 2020 (UN News)* — Michael Pili Pang, who is based in Honolulu, the capital of the US state of Hawaii is what is known as a kuma hula, or master teacher of the traditional dance. His interest in hula began at the age of seven and he opened his hālau or dance school over thirty years ago. He teaches what he describes as “multi-generational” classes.
He spoke to UN News as part of a photography project by the International Labour Organization ahead of the UN-backed International Arts Education Week which begins on 25 May.
(Greenpeace International)* — We are facing a triple crisis globally: a public health crisis, an economic crisis and an ecological crisis, all which require just solutions. International debt payment cancellation is a solution we can use in our post-COVID recovery.
Climate Emergency Action at Laguna de Aculeo in Chile
Why we need to cancel debt payments
Unconditionally cancelling international debt payments is the fastest way to keep money in countries that need it the most and free up resources to tackle the urgent economic crises resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic and the climate crisis.
22 May 2020 (WHO)* — COVID 19 is disrupting life-saving immunization services around the world, putting millions of children – in rich and poor countries alike – at risk of diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio.
WHO/S. Volkov
This stark warning comes from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ahead of the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June, at which world leaders will come together to help maintain immunization programmes and mitigate the impact of the pandemic in lower-income countries.
24 May 2020 (Wall Street International)* — One of the most questioning and innovative results of the Illuminism – eighteenth century – was to place man (the individual) as the center of the world. This antithesis to the absolute – God – represented by its supposed signifiers – the Church, the royalty – opened new perspectives for the human, being later developed in a movement, an ideology, a social and legal legacy: the French Revolution. From then on, the motto “freedom, equality, fraternity” became the fundamental summary that guides the trajectory of the Western man.
Man is then equal to his fellow man, nothing differentiates them: neither appearance nor origin or social position, and this equality reflects itself in the laws and possibilities of life.
Thirty-four children were part of the group returning from Burkina Faso this May 1.
Photo: IOM/Monica Chiriac
Boubacar, 65, and his two sons, consider themselves to be excellent farmers, but Niger’s adverse weather and persistent droughts make it difficult to have a stable income from the land. In the off season, Nigeriens like Boubacar look for alternatives to make ends meet, and many choose to work in the goldmines in neighboring Burkina Faso.
“In my village, we don’t really know any profession other than agriculture,” says Boubacar.
About 1,300 people in the Choco have been forced to move due to clashes among armed groups.
Displaced indigenous community Embera Dobida in Catru, Alto Baudo, Choco. May 20, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/@RichiNasa
22 May 2020 (teleSUR)* — Colombia’s social organizations Thursday denounced a massive displacement in El Choco department, amidst a possible COVID outbreak.
“We warn of the forced displacement of 1,300 people in Catru, Choco, due to clashes between illegal armed groups. We demand that attacks against Indigenous communities cease and we urge the authorities to protect the population of the territory,” Colombia’s Peace Process Support Mission to of the Organization of American States (MAPP/OEA) tweeted.
We are being utterly transformed. And the world is being utterly transformed around us.
Robert J. Burrowes,
Ostensibly, this is to tackle a simple virus. In reality, it is to achieve an elite design at staggering cost to humanity and to life generally.
If you have not been carefully following what is taking place, let me highlight some recent developments and what we can do about them.
On 26 March 2020, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) granted Microsoft a world patent. Titled ‘1. WO2020060606 – Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data’, this patent gives Microsoft (that is, Bill Gates) extraordinary power over our lives.
22 May 2020 (WMO)* — An above-normal 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is expected because of a number of climate factors and warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures, according to forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service.
The outlook predicts a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance of a below-normal season. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30.
“Oil pollutes our rivers and causes climate change, and now it is bringing more diseases to our territory,” Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo said.
Waorani leaders before Thursday’s press conference, Shell, Pastaza, Ecuadorian Amazon. | Photo: Mitch Anderson / Amazon Frontlines
22 May 2020 (teleSUR)* — The Waorani indigenous community in Ecuador’s Amazon filed legal action against the state for failing to act and establish a concerted emergency response to fight the spread of the coronavirus within Indigenous communities, representatives of the first nation informed Thursday [21 May 2020] at a press conference.
