World

Video: When You Don't Exist
Published Jun 18, 2013 - 3:52:45 PM
When you don't exist is Amnesty International's campaign for the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe and at its borders.

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Industrialisation of the Great Barrier Reef denounced by World Heritage Committee
Published Jun 18, 2013 - 7:51:32 AM
The Australian Marine Conservation Society and WWF-Australia said today that Australia's governments are putting the Great Barrier Reef at risk by failing to implement the World Heritage Committee recommendations around rapid industrialisation.

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UN chief renews call for entry into force of treaty banning nuclear tests
Published Jun 18, 2013 - 7:29:20 AM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today renewed his call for the earliest entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which prohibits all nuclear tests across the world.

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Governments Urged to Limit Weed Killer Found in Humans
Published Jun 17, 2013 - 8:10:32 AM
Friends of the Earth International today urged governments around the world to limit the use of the weed killer glyphosate, after laboratory test results released last week showed that people across 18 European countries have traces of the weed killer in their bodies.

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Progress is proof that hunger can be eliminated
Published Jun 17, 2013 - 7:56:42 AM
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva formally recognized 38 countries for reducing hunger by half well ahead of international targets for the year 2015.

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Delays for the dawn of UK's new nuclear age
Published Jun 17, 2013 - 7:53:17 AM
The British government's promise not to subsidise new nuclear power stations in the UK looks set to torpedo its own stated energy policy which is to build a range of new reactors to keep the lights on.

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Ban deplores deadly attacks targeting female students in Pakistan
Published Jun 17, 2013 - 7:52:41 AM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned a series of deadly attacks targeting a bus, a hospital facility and a historic house in Pakistan, which killed at least 20 civilians, many of whom were female students.

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Collective punishment in Gaza must end: Israel's blockade enters its 7th year - UN Special Rapporteur
Published Jun 15, 2013 - 11:21:00 AM
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Richard Falk, called today on Israel to end its blockade over the Gaza Strip, six years after it was tightened following the Hamas takeover in June 2007. The human suffering of the land, sea and air blockade imposed on the 1.75 million Palestinians living in one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas of the world has been devastating.

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Call for "no regret" climate adaptation strategies
Published Jun 14, 2013 - 9:04:17 AM
The absence of accurate climate prediction models should not dissuade countries from choosing the best ways to adapt to a changing climate, says a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

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EU Nuclear Stress Tests: Legally binding reviews every six years
Published Jun 14, 2013 - 7:56:04 AM
The safety of nuclear energy production is vital for all Europeans. Rigorous safety provisions help ensure that accidents like Fukushima will not happen in Europe. They also guarantee the most efficient response should a nuclear emergency nevertheless occur. With today's proposal, which amends the nuclear safety directive from 2009, the European Commission sets out EU-wide safety objectives to significantly reduce the risks and protect people and the environment. By introducing a system of regular European peer reviews, increasing transparency on nuclear safety matters and strengthening the powers of national regulators, the directive aims at continuous improvement of nuclear safety across the EU.

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Rallying cry: Dongria stand firm against Vedanta mine
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 9:33:02 AM
During a rally of defiance, India's Dongria Kondh have vowed to defend their Niyamgiri Hills against an open pit mine by British mining giant Vedanta Resources, and demanded the release of village leaders ahead of consultations about the mine.

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Weed Killer Found in Human Urine Across Europe
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 9:27:06 AM
People in 18 countries across Europe have been found to have traces of the weed killer glyphosate in their urine, show the results of tests commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe and released today.

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G8 implicated in land grabs risk - action needed at next week's summit
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 9:26:32 AM
Since 2000, companies in G8 countries have acquired land in developing countries more than the size of the whole of Ireland1. This is enough to feed 96 million people every year – almost the total population of the UK and Canada – international agency Oxfam reveals today.

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Survival condemns Steven Pinker's 'Brutal Savage' myth
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 9:12:55 AM
In articles published this week in US journal Truthout, and the UK-based OpenDemocracy, Survival International's Director Stephen Corry accuses Pinker – once named by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people – of 'claiming scientific support for what is mere opinion by falsely charging contemporary tribal peoples with more or less unremitting villainy.'

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Colombia bans wild animals in circuses
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 9:02:48 AM
The Colombian Congress today passed Bill 244,2012 to end the use of wild animals in both static and traveling circuses, after a six-year public campaign following the release of critical evidence of animal suffering collected by investigators from Animal Defenders International (ADI).

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Global Outcry Over Murdered Sea Turtle Activist Intensifies
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 8:08:47 AM
Conservation organizations and concerned individuals from around the world last week announced a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who murdered Jairo Mora Sandoval, a young sea turtle biologist. In the past week several additional pledges, including a reward established by Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Society, have brought the new reward amount to $56,000.

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Ernst & Young's annual Business risks facing mining and metals 2013-2014 report released
Published Jun 13, 2013 - 7:34:49 AM
Capital allocation and access to capital have rocketed to the top of the business risk list for mining and metals companies globally, up from number eight in 2012, in Ernst & Young's annual Business risks facing mining and metals 2013-2014 report released today.

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Ten million child labourers in domestic work
Published Jun 12, 2013 - 4:50:30 PM
An estimated 10.5 million children worldwide – most of them under age – are working as domestic workers in people's homes, in hazardous and sometimes slavery-like conditions, says the ILO.

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38 countries meet anti-hunger targets for 2015
Published Jun 12, 2013 - 7:26:17 AM
Thirty-eight countries have met internationally-established targets in the fight against hunger, chalking up successes ahead of a deadline set for 2015, FAO confirmed today.Thirty-eight countries have met internationally-established targets in the fight against hunger, chalking up successes ahead of a deadline set for 2015, FAO confirmed today.

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EU: Oil, gas, mineral and logging firms obliged to disclose payments to governments
Published Jun 12, 2013 - 7:13:59 AM
Large extractive companies dealing with oil, gas and minerals and loggers of primary forests will be obliged to disclose full details of their payments to national governments for every project that they operate, under new legislation approved by Parliament on Wednesday. The aim is to make companies dealing with strategic resources and governments more accountable.

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Sudan: New evidence of scorched earth tactics against civilians in Blue Nile
Published Jun 11, 2013 - 10:05:41 AM
New satellite imagery and eyewitness testimonies from rebel-held areas in Sudan's Blue Nile State show that Sudanese military forces have resorted to brutal scorched earth tactics to drive out the civilian population, Amnesty International said in a report published today.

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After release of report, UN climate change body reiterates now is 'crucial moment' to act
Published Jun 11, 2013 - 10:02:26 AM
With United Nations-backed climate talks underway in Germany, the UN climate change body today reiterated that international efforts to mitigate the phenomenon are insufficient to meet the goal of keeping global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

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Once in a century floods due every ten years
Published Jun 11, 2013 - 10:00:52 AM
Floods during the 21st century are expected to get worse. Really calamitous floods that, during the 20th century were considered once-in-a-century events could come round ever 10 years or so by the end of the 21st century, according to Japanese scientists.

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British Rabbis tell Netanyahu: don't evict Bedouins
Published Jun 11, 2013 - 7:47:44 AM
65 Rabbis from the Orthodox, Liberal, Reform and Masorti movements of Great Britain this week have joined together to sign a letter of protest to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ministers Yair Lapid (Finance), Tzipi Livni (Justice) and Meir Cohen (Welfare and Social Services), demanding that they stop the legislative process of the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev through the Israeli Parliament.

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Arctic governments stand by as deadly pollution spews from Russia's Nikel mine
Full story: Nunatsiag Online

Israel: Construction Starts in Settlements Reach 7 Year High
Published Jun 10, 2013 - 8:11:32 AM
According to recent Israel Central Bureau of Statistics data, construction starts in the West Bank skyrocketed during the first quarter of 2013. Despite the fabled 'settlement freeze' or 'restraint', construction continued uninterrupted. Between January 2013 and March 2013 construction of 865 new housing units began. This is three times as many construction starts compared to the same quarter last year (January-March 2012). If compared to the final quarter of last year (October-December 2012), this is an astonishing 355% increase.

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UN Environment Head Welcomes Signal to Combat Climate Change by World's Two Largest Economies
Published Jun 10, 2013 - 8:10:09 AM
A decision by China and the United States to cooperate on phasing down a group of synthetic chemicals in order to combat climate change was today welcomed by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

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On World Oceans Day, UN chief issues call to protect marine environment
Published Jun 10, 2013 - 4:16:28 AM
Marking World Oceans Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to do more to reverse degradation of the marine environment, which influences virtually all aspects of life on the planet.

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