Dr. Jan Oberg, co-founder and leader of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, wrote a really excellent article on the question of who sabotaged Nordstream 2.
In it, he points out that Russia had no motive for sabotaging Nordstream 2. If the Russians had wanted to stop the flow of natural gas through the pipeline, they could have simply turned it off at the Russian end. Here is the link to Dr. Oberg’s fine article.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres drew attention on Saturday, the International Day of Older Persons, to the “resilience of the more than one billion older women and men” in a rapidly changing world.
MADRID, Oct 3 2022 (IPS)* – While cities are seen as a symbol of glamour and comfort for a number of their residents, over one billion people continue to live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing. And their number is rising every single day.
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Most cities are not able to meet the triple objective of being economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable, according to the United Nations findings on the occasion of the World Habitat Day. Credit: Bigstock
Yes, life in urban centres represents plenty of offices, constructions, job opportunities, shops, bars, restaurants, transport systems, and health and education services. So much that 2 of 3 people are forecasted to be concentrated in urban areas by 2050.
Meghalaya, India, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)* – Some ten years ago, Sheemanto Chatri, a 39-year-old farmer hailing from India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya, was reeling with distress. The unseasonal rainfall had washed away all the crops he had cultivated after year-long labor in his far-off hamlet.
The villagers work in a forest they planted to save themselves from the ravages of climate change. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS
In 2013, this farmer had sowed a ginger crop on his half-acre land and was hoping for a profitable yield. However, providence had willed otherwise. In September that year, unseasonal rains wreaked havoc on Sheemanto’s village, destroying his crops beyond repair.
Every bean that ends up on Griffins Ochieng’s plate at Jaribu Primary School in northeastern Kenya can now be traced to a government warehouse where it was first stored.
Griffins Ochieng, aged 14, wants to be a soldier when he grows up. Photo: WFP/Martin Karimi
And that’s the idea – that nothing must go to waste in Kenya’s school meals. With the World Food Programme’s (WFP) support, meals are integrated into the government’s National Education Management Information System – an online tool that automates the management of all data and processes in the education sector.
29 September 2022 (FAO)*— Food. It is grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, distributed, traded, bought, prepared and then… thrown out.
Each year, approximately 14 percent of the food we produce is lost between when it is harvested and before it reaches the shops. A further 17 percent of our food ends up being wasted by retailers and consumers.
(UN News)* — Hurricane Ian caused devastation across western Cuba and increased its strength and size as it made landfall mid-afternoon local time on Wednesday [28 September 2022], in the United States; meanwhile Typhoon Noru underwent an “explosive” intensification before it hit the Philippines, the UN Meteorological agency, WMO, has said.
Hurricane Ian is tracked south of Florida on Sept. 26, 2022, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA).
The two tropical cyclones came quick on the heels of Hurricane Fiona, which caused deadly flooding in the Caribbean and was the strongest storm on record to hit Canada. Typhoon Nanmadol, prompted the evacuation of nine million people in Japan.
MADRID, Sep 28 2022 (IPS)* – These are facts, not guesses: about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost… every single year, the equivalent of one ton per each of the one billion hungry people, many of them are those who produced the food.
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Controlling the loss and waste of food is a crucial factor in reaching the goal of eradicating hunger in the world. Credit: FAO
The findings have been reported by the World Bank, whose recent study: What a Waste 2.0 also informs that the number of wasted calories “could fill hunger gaps in the developing world.”
BAE among arms firms paying Ministry of Defence staff’s salaries while winning lucrative contracts.
Nine officials at the Ministry of Defence are paid by the UK’s biggest arms firm. |Russell Hart / Alamy Stock Photo.
27 September 2022 (openDemocracy)* — More than 50 paid employees of global arms companies are working inside the UK’s Ministry of Defence, openDemocracy can reveal, sparking questions about conflicts of interest and national security.
They include nine staffers on long-term secondment from the UK’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, some of whom have been embedded inside the department for years.
(UN News)* — In an era of “nuclear blackmail”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday [26 September 2022] urged countries to step back from the threat of potential global catastrophe and recommit to peace.
UN/Ingrid Kasper | The “Good Defeats Evil” sculpture, located at UN Headquarters in New York, depicts an allegorical St. George slaying a double-headed dragon – symbolic of a nuclear war vanquished by historic treaties between the Soviet Union and United States.
“Nuclear weapons are the most destructive power ever created. They offer no security — just carnage and chaos. Their elimination would be the greatest gift we could bestow on future generations,” he said.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 