24 Oct 2024 – It’s been a long time but worth remembering, if you can, that when the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, the whole world watched in horror.
Edward J. Curtin
The events of that day were repeated on television over and over and over again, to the point where they became afterimages lodged in people’s minds.
As a result, although the buildings were not brought down by the impact of planes (no plane hit Building 7) but by explosives planted in the buildings (see this and this, among extensive evidence), most people thought otherwise, just as they thought that the subsequent linked anthrax attacks were directed by Osama bin Laden when they were eventually proven to have originated from a U.S. military lab (thus an inside job), and, as a result of a massive Bush administration/corporate media propaganda campaign, most Americans supported the invasion of Afghanistan, the subsequent invasion of Iraq, and decades of endless wars that continue to this day, bringing us to the edge of nuclear war with Iran and Russia.
(UN News)* — The UN and its global partners will grapple with the massive loss of animal and plant species and how to avoid further extinction at a major conference beginning 23 January [Report dated 22 January 2024].
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UNEP/NOOR/Kadir van Lohuize | An underwater sculpture at Molinere Bay, in the Marine Protected Area of Grenada.
Here’s a primer on what exactly biodiversity is and how the UN can help support efforts to enable nature to survive and thrive.
In simple terms, biodiversity refers to all types of life on Earth. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) describes it as “the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi”.
(UN News)* — Countries from around the world are meeting in the Colombian city of Cali, to discuss how best to protect biological diversity and develop a lasting blueprint that will allow humankind to live in harmony with nature.
CALI, Columbia, Nov 3 2024 (IPS)* –The curtains fell on the 16th Conference of the Parties of UN Biodiversity (COP16) on Sunday without any formal closing. In a voice message, David Ainsworth, the Communications Director of the UNCBD, confirmed that the COP was suspended due to a lack of quorum in the plenary and would be resumed sometime later.
An image of an indigenous woman at the Plenary in session at COP16 which took a historic decision on the indigenous peoples and local communities. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
Rome, 31 October 2024(FAO/WFP)*– Acute food insecurity is set to increase in both magnitude and severity across 22 countries and territories, according to a new United Nations report.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 1 2024 (IPS)* – The United Nations continues to be virtually paralyzed – and remains politically impotent amidst two raging conflicts—as Russia and Israel keep defying the world body.
Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
The killings of civilians and the destruction of cities, particularly by Israel, are devastating and continue despite repeated warnings from the UN, its humanitarian agencies, the International Criminal Court (ICC), UN human right experts and the Security Council.
Which prompts the question: has the UN outlived its usefulness –even as it commemorated its 79th anniversary on the annual UN Day on October 24?
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday [] once again urged the United States to end its economic, commercial, and financial embargo on Cuba, renewing a demand it has made annually since 1992.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider | UN General Assembly votes on the draft resolution on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba.
The resolution, titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” passed with 187 votes in favor, two against (Israel and the US), and one abstention (Moldova).
CALI, Columbia, Oct 31 2024 (IPS)* – José Aruna, a forest defender from Sud Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), remembers the night in September 2019 when a group of heavily armed men barged into his house in the middle of the night.
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General at COP16, sent a message that peace with nature was only possible if there was a political solution to conflicts. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
Aruna and his wife—6 months pregnant at the time—were in bed when he heard sounds of boots on the front yard and quickly knew something was about to happen.
He silently slipped out of the bed and hid behind a tree at the back of the house.
Care responsibilities are excluding and holding back millions of women worldwide from taking paid employment, and with climate and demographic changes on course to increase the demand for care, measures to support the care economy are urgently needed, according to a new ILO brief. Open the brief
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An estimated 708 million women worldwide are outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities, according to new ILO global estimates, released on Tuesday [], on the occasion of the International Day of Care and Support.
There are high hopes that artificial intelligence (AI) can help tackle some of the world’s biggest environmental emergencies. Among other things, the technology is already being used to map the destructive dredging of sand and chart emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Close-up of an electronic circuit board showing microchips and components. (Photo by TEK IMAGE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / ABO / Science Photo Library via AFP)
But when it comes to the environment, there is a negative side to the explosion of AI and its associated infrastructure, according to a growing body of research.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 