Masks in the sea became more than jellyfish

Global Marine Conservation

Divers on the Greek island of Corfu found more used protective masks than jellyfish at sea.

It turns out that the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of garbage in the seas and oceans.

Disposable masks, which are supposed to protect against the virus, often end up in the water. According to environmental groups, almost 2 billion masks were found last year alone.There are many other organizations working on marine conservation and other environmental issues such as biodiversity and global warming. We list them here both as a public service and to spread the word.

A group of divers from the Organization for the Protection of the Ocean regularly clean the sea near Corfu. They find a lot of plastic, but also more and more waste from the COVID crisis.

Currently, about 130 billion disposable masks are used worldwide – per month. The big problem with these preservatives is that once released into the environment, they do not decompose for up to 450 years.

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”– Henry Beston (authjor of The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod).

There are many other organizations working on marine conservation and other environmental issues such as biodiversity and global warming, they are deeply committed to marine conservation and founded on the concept that, by sharing the wonders of the ocean and marine life, people will be inspired to protect it. We list part of them here both as a public service and to spread the word.

Blue Frontier Campaign: founded in 2003 by David Helvarg, author of Blue Frontier – Saving America’s Living Seas and 50 Ways to Save the Ocean. Blue Frontier works to support seaweed (marine grassroots) efforts at the local, regional and national level, with an emphasis on bottom up organizing to bring the voice of citizen-activists into national decision-making that will impact our public seas.

Conservation International: a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC and operating in more than 30 countries worldwide to apply innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth’s plant and animal biodiversity in major tropical wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems.

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition: “The NGOs listed in this document jointly call on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution declaring an immediate moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, and to simultaneously initiate a process under the auspices of the UN General Assembly to 1) assess deep sea biodiversity and ecosystems, including populations of fish species, and their vulnerability to deep sea fishing on the high seas; and 2) adopt and implement legally binding regimes to protect deep sea biodiversity from high seas bottom trawling and to conserve and manage bottom fisheries of the high seas consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982), UN Fish Stocks Agreement (FSA 1995), UN FAO Compliance Agreement (1993), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD 1992), and the UN FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (Code 1995).”

Environmental Defense: a non-profit organization based in New York bringing together experts in science, law and economics to tackle complex environmental issues that affect our oceans, our air, our natural resources, the livability of our man-made environment, and the species with whom we share our world.

European Network on Invasive Alien Species (NOBANIS): a network of common databases on alien and invasive species of the region. By establishing a common portal access to IAS-related data, information and knowledge in the region is facilitated.

Fauna and Flora International (FFI): aims to change the policy and behavior that contribute to biodiversity loss by engaging a wide range of governments and non-governmental organizations, and by raising the profile of biodiversity within the wider global development debate.

Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA): a coalition of volunteer scientists, divers, environmentalists and other individuals and organizations, committed to coral reef preservation. Focuses on coral reef restoration, marine diseases and other issues caused by global climate change, environmental stress, and pollution.

Greenpeace International: Greenpeace’s oceans campaign focusing on three major threats to the world’s oceans: overfishing, pirate fishing, whaling, and intensive shrimp aquaculture.

Institute for Ocean Conservation Science: to advance ocean conservation through science. They conduct world-class scientific research that increases knowledge about critical threats to oceans and their inhabitants, provides the foundation for smarter ocean policy, and establishes new frameworks for improved ocean conservation. The Institute’s research focuses on advancing ecosystem-based fisheries management, a strategy which recognizes that the oceans’ problems are interconnected and that species and habitats cannot be successfully managed in isolation; as well as on advancing knowledge about vulnerable and ecologically important marine animals that are understudied. They are dedicated to developing scientific approaches to sustainably manage forage fish, small schooling fish that are food for marine mammals and seabirds but are being depleted from our oceans.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The IPCC has been established by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is an informal partnership between Nations and organizations which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world. Although the Initiative is an informal group whose decisions are not binding on its members, its actions have been pivotal in continuing to highlight globally the importance of coral reefs and related ecosystems to environmental sustainability, food security and social and cultural wellbeing. The work of ICRI is regularly acknowledged in United Nations documents, highlighting the Initiative’s important cooperation, collaboration and advocacy role within the international arena.

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW): engages communities, government leaders, and like-minded organizations around the world to achieve lasting solutions to pressing animal welfare and conservation challenges-solutions that benefit both animals and people.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) – IMO’s Intervention Convention affirms the right of a coastal State to take measures on the high seas to prevent, mitigate or eliminate danger to its coastline from a maritime casualty. The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC), 1990 provides a global framework for international co-operation in combating major incidents or threats of marine pollution. A protocol to this convention (HNS Protocol) covers marine pollution by hazardous and noxious substances.

IUCN Global Marine Programme provides vital linkages for the Union and its members to all the IUCN activities that deal with marine issues, including projects and initiatives of the Regional offices and the 6 IUCN Commissions. Its co-ordination role is above and beyond the policy development and thematic guidance that it undertakes to provide to assist governments, communities and NGOs alike.

IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group: a global group of 146 scientific and policy experts on invasive species from 41 countries. ISSG provides advice on threats from invasives and control or eradication methods to IUCN members, conservation practitioners, and policy-makers. The group’s activities focus primarily on invasive species that cause biodiversity loss, with particular attention to those that threaten oceanic islands.

Nature Conservancy: Climate change isn’t a distant threat it is happening now. The past three years were hotter than any other time in recorded history. The Nature Conservancy is focused on innovative solutions that match the urgency of this crisis. We are protecting & restoring forests, improving working lands, helping communities build resilience & working to ensure a clean energy future. Together with supporters like you, we can halt the catastrophic march of climate change so that our communities can thrive & natural places that renew our spirits can endure.

Ocean Conservancy: serves to protect ocean ecosystems and conserve the global abundance and diversity of marine wildlife through science-based advocacy, research, and public education.

Oceana: a non-profit international advocacy organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the world’s oceans through policy advocacy, science, law, and public education.

Ocean Project: an initiative to raise awareness of the importance, value, and sensitivity of the oceans through a network of aquariums, zoos, and conservation organizations.

OceanCare: committed to marine wildlife protection since 1989. Through research and conservation projects, campaigns, environmental education, and involvement in a range of important international committees, OceanCare undertakes concrete steps to improve the situation for wildlife in the world’s oceans. In 2011, OceanCare was granted Special Consultative Status on marine issues with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Project Aware Foundation: PADI’s foundation established to help conserve underwater environments through a wide variety of activities including education, advocacy, and action.

Project Seahorse: an international and interdisciplinary marine conservation organization comprised of biologists, development specialists, and other professionals committed to conserving and managing seahorses, their relatives and habitats, through research, education, empowering communities, establishing marine-protected areas, managing subsistence fisheries, restructuring international trade, redressing habitat loss.

Polar Bears International: a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat through research, stewardship, and education. We provide scientific resources and information on polar bears and their habitat to institutions and the general public worldwide.

Reef Check: a volunteer, community-based monitoring mechanism operating in more than 60 countries designed to measure and maintain the health of coral reefs.

Reef Relief: dedicated to preserve and protect living coral reef ecosystems through local, regional, and global efforts focusing on science to educate the public and advocate policymakers to achieve conservation, protection, and restoration of coral reefs.

ReefBase: created to facilitate sustainable management of coral reefs and related coastal/marine environments, in order to benefit poor people in developing countries whose livelihoods depend on these natural resources.

The Safina Center: Led by ecologist and author Carl Safina, the Safina Center is comprised of Staff, Fellows and Creative Affiliates who together create a body of scientific and creative works that advance the conservation of wildlife and the environment, and give a voice to nature.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization whos mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas.

Turtle Island Restoration Network: fights to protect endangered sea turtles in ways that make cultural and economic sense to the communities that share the beaches and waters with these gentle creatures. With offices in California and Costa Rica, STRP has been leading the international fight to protect sea turtle populations worldwide.

Seal Conservation Society: a non-profit organization protecting and conserving pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walrus) worldwide by monitoring and minimizing threats to pinnipeds, providing comprehensive information on pinniped-related issues to individuals, groups and the media, and by working with other conservation groups, rescue and rehabilitation centers, research establishments, and governments.

Shifting Baselines: a “media project” — a partnership between ocean conservation and Hollywood to help bring attention to the severity of ocean decline.

Sierra Club: the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.5+ million members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world.

Society for Conservation Biology (SCB): an international professional organization dedicated to promoting the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. The Society’s membership comprises a wide range of people interested in the conservation and study of biological diversity: resource managers, educators, government and private conservation workers, and students.

The Species Survival Commission (SSC): “the world’s greatest source of information about species and their conservation needs”. The SSC is a network of some 8,000 volunteer members from almost every country of the world, all working to stop the loss of plants, animals, and their habitats. Members include researchers, government officials, wildlife veterinarians, zoo and botanical institute employees, marine biologists, protected area managers, and experts on plants, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates. SSC produces the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, provides technical and scientific advice to governments, international environmental treaties, and conservation organizations, publishes species Action Plans, and policy guidelines, and implements on-ground conservation projects.

Surfrider Foundation: a non-profit organization that works to protect our oceans, waves, and beaches through its chapters located along the East, West, Gulf, Puerto Rican, and Hawaiian coasts, and with its members in the USA and International Surfrider Foundation chapters and affiliates in Japan, Brazil, Australia, France and Spain.

TRAFFIC: wildlife trade monitoring network that works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN – The World Conservation Union.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – an international treaty to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. Recently, a number of nations have approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process.

Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS): an international non-profit working toward the conservation and welfare of all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) by reducing threats to cetaceans and their habitats and by raising awareness about the need to address the continuing threats to their welfare and survival.

WildAid: The illegal wildlife trade is a multi-billion dollar global industry largely driven by consumer demand in expanding economies. While most wildlife conservation groups focus on scientific studies and anti-poaching efforts, WildAid works to reduce global consumption of wildlife products and to increase local support for conservation efforts. We also work with governments and partners to protect fragile marine reserves from illegal fishing and shark finning, to enhance public and political will for anti-poaching efforts, and to reduce climate change impacts.

World Resources Institute: environmental think tank working to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. WRI provides objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development for.

World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA): WSPA works with more than 449 member organisations to raise the standards of animal welfare throughout the world. Our vision is a world in which the welfare of animals is understood and respected by everyone, and protected by effective legislation.

World Wildlife Fund: WWF’s Endangered Seas Program works in more than 40 countries to campaign, lobby, develop and advocate solutions, commission and publish impartial data, advise, and champion the conservation of the marine environment and sustainable livelihoods.

The pope asks the Vatican media who reads their news

Pope Francis called on Vatican media officials to justify their work by asking how many people read their news at all. Francis asked this during a visit to the Media and Public Relations Office, which costs the Holy See more than all its embassies around the world. The pope visited the Dicastero per la Comunicazione on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Vatican Radio and the 160th anniversary of the Vatican newspaper L’Oservatore Romano. Faced with a major pension shortfall and a projected Vatican deficit of 50m euros this year, Pope Francis has ordered a three to 10 percent pay cut for senior Vatican officials and suspended two-year seniority bonuses.

The Holy Father has vowed not to fire anyone to make up for the loss of the financial crisis as a result of the pandemic, which affected one of the Vatican’s main sources of income – ticket sales for Vatican museums. But in a sort of warning to Vatican communications staff, he began his unannounced remarks with the question: “There are many reasons for concern about radio, the newspaper, but one thing touches my heart: How many people listen to radio?” How many people read L’Osservatore Romano? ”The pope asks. He said that they work well, their offices are nice and organized, but there is a “danger” that the result of their work will not go where it should. He warned them not to fall victim to “deadly” functionality – when they do everything they need to do, but they really don’t achieve anything.

The question of the relationship between the costs and benefits of the Vatican’s media operations has been raised many times, as the communications service spends more on the Holy See’s annual budget than any other department. According to the latest figures, the Dicastero per la Comunicazione has a budget of € 43 million for 2021, which is about 20 percent of the Vatican’s total budget. The cost of the service is higher than the total cost of ten other Vatican departments. The Vatican has long justified these costs because communication operations are paramount to the Holy See’s core mission: to spread the Catholic faith throughout the world.

The head of this service, Paolo Rufini, said he understood the pope’s words as an invitation to a creative vision for the future, although he acknowledged the harsh media reality today. He recalled that Francis had told officials to “let reality slap them” and that the comment was a kind of call to wake up. Vatican Radio broadcasts 1,000 radio networks around the world in various languages. L’Oservatore Romano says 21,500 readers read it every day through the print and online versions, although that number rises to 40,000 when the different languages ​​distributed by the dioceses are taken into account.

Vatican News, the Holy See’s main Internet portal, has an average of 21 million page views per month, but it’s not clear how many readers it is.

Council of Europe wants to enforce harmful coercive psychiatric treaments – UN experts oppose

Independent UN human rights experts called on Friday for a European body of intergovernmental experts to stop legislation supporting coercive mental health measures.

Five UN experts issued a statement calling upon the Council of Europe’s Committee on Bioethics to withdraw a draft  Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention – a treaty protecting the human rights of people with regard to biology and medicine – that would codify a  mental health policy based on coercion and bring “stigmatization and fear to people with psychosocial disabilities”. “Overwhelming evidence from the European Disability Forum, Mental Health Europe and other organizations and growing consensus within the United Nations including at the World Health Organization (WHO), show that forced admission to medical institutions and coercive treatments in institutions will bring harmful effects such as pain, trauma, humiliation [and] shame”, the experts said. This is incompatible with contemporary human rights principles and standards.

Quell the draft

If adopted during a vote in early June, the draft Additional Protocol would continue to allow all the 47 State parties of the Council of Europe to use coercive measures against people with mental health conditions, including their forcible committment to psychiatric institutions.

The coercive approach to mental health is “doing harm to people with disabilities” and “we should not go backwards to authorize this outdated approach”, the experts said, adding that individutals with psychosocial disabilities “have the right to live in the community and to refuse medical treatment”.

“We call upon all State delegations to object to the draft Additional Protocol in the upcoming meeting and we urge the Council of Europe to end legitimizing forced institutionalization and the use of coercion against persons with disabilities, including older persons with disabilities”, they underscored.

Be part of the future

The controversial draft treaty has also aroused opposition within Europe and from the international community.

Voices within the Council of Europe, such as the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights have all been vocal against the draft Protocol.

“When there are efforts worldwide to reform mental health policy, it comes to our surprise that the Council of Europe, a major regional human rights organization, is planning to adopt a treaty that would be a setback to reverse all positive developments in Europe and spread a chilling effect elsewhere in the world”, the experts said.

They stressed that the Council of Europe now has “a unique opportunity to shift away from old-fashioned coercive approaches” to mental health, towards concrete steps to promote supportive mental health services and realize human rights for all “without discrimination on the grounds of disability”.

“We urge the Council of Europe to be part of the future and not part of the past in mental health”, concluded the experts.

Click here for the names of the experts who endorsed in this statement.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. They are not UN staff nor paid for their work.

Hackers attack 70 times per minute

Hackers attack 70 times per minute: what happens when a computer is left unsecured on the internet

Every device connected to the internet has a unique IP address. Those IP addresses are public, and they allow computers to find and communicate with each other via the Internet Protocol. Normally, we want to allow legitimate parties to connect to our IP addresses, and keep out adversaries by using firewalls, authentication, and access control.

But what if we didn’t take any of those precautions? How long would it take for malicious hackers to find and attack your device? What methods would they use? What do they seek? And where do they come from?

Comparitech researchers sought to find the answers to these questions by setting up honeypots—dummy computers designed to lure in attackers so we can record their every step.

Researchers set up honeypot devices emulating a range of internet-accessible services and supporting a wide range of protocols including RDP, SSH, MySQL, VNC, and more. The honeypots were left unsecured so that no authentication was required to access and attack it. Using this method, Comparitech researchers sought to find out which types of attacks would occur, at what frequency, and where they come from.

In total, our researchers found 101,545 attacks in a 24-hour period, or 70 attacks per minute. To give you some idea of how much attacks have increased, a 2007 University of Maryland study recorded a mere 2,244 attacks per day, a fraction of what we recorded in 2021. Read more on the FULL STUDY– Comparitech Study

About Comparitech: A pro-consumer website providing information, tools, and comparisons to help consumers in the US, UK and further afield to research and compare tech services. Founded in 2015, it is now a remote team of 30 researchers, writers, developers, and editors covering a wide range of online services including VPNs, password managers, ID theft protection, antivirus, internet providers, network monitoring. Each month, over 1 million people visit Comparitech.com and trust them to help them make more savvy decisions. Collectively they have produced over 1,200 reviews and guides. They conduct a battery of tests on all products and services they review, such as the 200+ automated speed tests that they perform daily on a wide range of VPNs.

World Environment Day - what are your plans?

Happy World Environment Day….almost!

Do you have plans around the 5^th of June to recognize this incredibly important day?  How to participate in a celebration or day of action.  I’m sharing those details again along with two specific ways that you and your Cooperation Circle can make a world of difference, locally and/or globally in the weeks around World Environment Day, June 5^th.

This World Environment Day launches a new decade of environmental action at the United Nations: the Decade on Eco-systems Restoration.  Please do learn more about this on the website – there are videos, and images and tool-kits for restoring all sorts of eco-systems (forests, farmlands, cities, wetlands and oceans).  This year, Pakistan is hosting World Environment Day.  Let’s support our United Religions Initiative family there while taking action in the places where we live. Register your World Environment Day action HERE (https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/).

World Environment Day Idea ONE: Go Arctic Free! 

Honoring the arctic eco-system, we know, has become gravely important.  We need to let the ice by ice.  Industry and activity in the arctic threatens the health of our whole planet.  One of URI’s CCs, MAPS, is working to educate humans around the world about the need to protect this eco-system.  Let’s all make sure our countries understand that we want to keep the ice frozen.  Sign the petition and learn more HERE (https://parvati.org/sign-the-petition-arctic-free/).

World Environment Day Idea TWO: Plant trees with RESTOR! 

I’m very excited to share with you a new initiative called Restor.  I believe Restor has great potential to support us in our efforts to restore Earth.  Please check out the links and see what you think, and then, as you wish, please share the information with your CC and greater community so that everyone interested in natural ecosystems can get engaged. Here is a short blurb about the project:

Restor uses science and data to connect people, land and one other to enable global restoration at scale. The Restor platform is easy to use, and evolves as more participants add their local information.  Because of the technology used, Restor creates globally consistent information and ensures that users have autonomy and flexibility in what they share. Restor provides information and tools for all different kinds of practitioners, from individuals planting native species at home, to NGOs restoring forests, to farmers adopting sustainable agriculture practices.

In line with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Restor is being launched in the first week of June.  If every who cares used Restor when we planted trees, can you imagine what the pictures we will have of our healing planet?  You can sign up HERE (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdTkMi37gMIPJYpi6-NOQiUFw-zI8JGROedbFpziYfnyA2ehg/viewform?pli=1).

World Environment Day Idea THREE: Free Choice! 
Focus on restoring eco-systems everywhere! For Earth, Her eco-systems and in celebration of Creation’s incredible diversity, Happy World Environment Day!

The cycle of violence in Gaza will stop if the social and economic problems are resolved

“The man in the shadows” – the Bulgarian in the negotiations for negotiations between Israel and Hamas

The famous Arab hit from the recent past of the Egyptian Amr Diab “Tamaali Maak”, translated as “Always with you”, performed by the famous Israeli actor Tsahi Khalevi. The performance of this song is quite symbolic of the truce reached between Israel and Hamas.

A truce in which there is a Bulgarian trace – the Bulgarian Miroslav Zafirov, who works in the UN Office for the Middle East Peace Process and for years has been the UN liaison with Hamas and other Palestinian organizations, as well as with the Israeli state

I finished history in the Middle East and have been working in the Middle East for many years. Initially as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and for the last seven years as a UN employee, “Zafirov told bTV.

In order to achieve the difficult truce, he said, “the stubbornness of the mediators prevailed.”

We stepped on the unwillingness of both sides to negotiate. The terms and future of this truce are being discussed first and negotiations are under way between the various countries on the ground,” said Zafirov, who said he had spoken to Hamas every day for the past 72 hours with the UN special coordinator for the Middle East.

The purpose of these efforts is to talk to them stubbornly in these critical moments, to argue with them,” Zafirov explained. According to him, this was extremely important” in the last hours of escalation, to make it clear which lines are not must be passed”.

Hamas seemed to reach out and try to exert influence among the population of East Jerusalem and not a small part of the West Bank and a significant part of key points in Israel itself among the Arab population were the “red lines” that Israel strongly disapproved of. wants to negotiate.

Hamas, on the other hand, has made it a condition for Israeli security forces to stop their aggressive behavior toward Palestinians in East Jerusalem. These are the two things the two sides have been staring at and for which they still do not want to negotiate,” Zafirov revealed.

“If this agreement is violated, then we would enter a rather devastating war, which would go beyond what we remember from 2014,” the diplomat said.

This node is not untied. He’s been tied up for many years, and I’m a little afraid he’s getting a little unable to untie himself. And I’m not convinced that it may not happen in the coming months, but sooner or later it will happen again, ” Miroslav predicts.

There is a formula according to which both sides – I’m not talking about Hamas, but about the Palestinian political elite and Israel – are ready to sit at the table and negotiate within parameters that are already known to the mediators. There are some that will be renegotiated. We are constantly thinking about what to do next time and to tell you honestly even countries with much greater mediation skills, I think he was on the verge of saying that he could not cope.

All mediators should be congratulated,” the diplomat commented.

“I can’t say if being a Bulgarian helps me. Rather, it helps that a person is trying to stay normal. Let me tell you – it’s not always very easy. The tension is very high, especially in such moments, because Maybe it’s a lot of speculation, but maybe that’s what unites them – I think the Israelis, the Palestinians and the Bulgarians are extremely stubborn when we want to be stubborn. it helps a lot,” says Miroslav Zafirov.

He says he is not sure he understands the two sides in the conflict, although many people have made careers in recent years, claiming to understand Hamas and Israel.

“What is happening in Israel, in Palestine, in the Hamas organization itself is very difficult (to understand), especially if you are not from this neighborhood,” Miroslav commented.

Until the social and economic problems in Gaza are resolved, the cycle of violence will not stop, the diplomat predicted.

After the long marathon, our diplomat will not rest. He is due to meet with one of the delegations on Monday, followed by a round of ceasefire talks.

New social commitments after the Porto Summit Meeting

As part of the social commitment of the Social Summit in Porto, the partners have brought together around three headline targets for 2030, set out in the Commission’s Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights. The participants in the meeting marked the following goals: At least 78% of people between the ages of 20 and 64 must be employed; At least 60% of all adults should take part in training each year; The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million people, including at least 5 million children.

The summit marks a key moment for social rights in Europe, as the social partners and civil society call on EU Heads of State and Government to support the action plan and its headline targets, as well as to set ambitious national targets that can adequately contribute to achieving European goals.

The EU Social Summit aims to strengthen the commitment of Member States, the European institutions, the social partners and civil society to the implementation of the Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen has put the European Pillar of Social Rights at the heart of the Commission’s action to ensure a fair and inclusive recovery.

The social summit and the informal meeting of EU leaders in Porto are taking place on two consecutive days. The Social Summit will take place today, focusing on the best way to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa addressed the CoR’s plenary session last week, stressing the role of cities and regions as key partners in the success of Europe‘s fair, green and digital recovery.

EU leaders met in Porto on May 8th to agree on specific quantitative targets and deadlines for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights, which was announced in 2017 in Gothenburg.

As stated in the Plan presented by the European Commission in March, the new headline targets assume that by 2030 at least 78% of people between the ages of 20 and 64 must be employed, at least 60% each year. of all adults should participate in training, and the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million.

The European Social Fund + will be one of the main instruments for the socio-economic recovery of the European Union from the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund’s budget for the next programming period 2021-2027 will amount to 99.26 billion euros. The European Fund for the Most Deprived will be integrated into the ESF +. It will provide food and basic material assistance to the most vulnerable groups in society.

In their Strategic Agenda 2019-2024, EU leaders have underlined that the Pillar needs to be implemented, turning its principles into action at Union and Member State level with due regard for the respective competences. In its resolutions on a Strong Social Europe for Just Transitions and on the Child Guarantee, the European Parliament also strongly emphasised the need for a strong shared commitment to the materialisation of the Pillar rights and principles. In the debates developed by the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions the relevance of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan was stressed.

ESF + funds will support social innovation, the labor market and the most vulnerable in society. Support will be given to people who have lost their jobs or are counting on reduced incomes. The 2021-2027 Human Resources Development Program will receive nearly BGN 4 billion from the total ESF + budget. Special emphasis will be placed on measures aimed at young people who want to improve their skills or improve their education in order to find a better job.

The projects will stimulate lifelong learning, equal opportunities on the labor market and improve labor mobility. Over the next seven years, training will be provided to develop the skills needed for digital and green transitions.

UK police arrest eight for racist abuse targeted at Premier League football player

Eight men have been arrested and four others interviewed under caution as part of an investigation into racist abuse targeted at a Premier League football player, British Police announced on Friday.

The investigation was launched after the April 11 Premier League clash between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur during which one of the players from the London side was targeted with “a series of highly offensive and racist remarks on Twitter,” the Metropolitan police said in a statement.

“Through painstaking police work, the anonymous social media users were identified and tracked down,” it added.

The arrests and interviews were conducted throughout the UK with four men from Wales, two from Dorset, and others from Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Bristol.

Eleven of the twelve men are aged below 32. The remaining one is 63.

“With a busy summer of football approaching we are committed to driving out this type of racist behaviour — it has no place in football,” Detective Sergeant Matt Simpson for the Met’s public order crime team, said.

“This action makes it abundantly clear that police will not stand for racist thuggery, even if it is committed online. The posts, all of which were on Twitter, were vulgar and were utterly unacceptable. There is no safe haven for this type of abusive behaviour,” he added.

Police did not name the player in the statement, but after the match Tottenham Hotspur condemned the “abhorrent abuse” directed at its South Korean forward Son Heung-min.

“We shall now undertake a full review alongside the Premier League to determine the most effective action moving forward,” it also said.

Later in the month, British football players led a weekend-long social media boycott to protest racist abuse on the platforms.

Kick It Out, the anti-racism charity which spearheaded the last month’s social media blackout, said on Friday that police’s announcement of arrests “sends a powerful message that online abuse is unacceptable and those found guilty will face real-life consequences.”

“It’s also important that we remain focused on the welfare of those who play, watch and work in football, and receive abuse, and we will continue to offer our support to those who need it,” CEO Tony Burnett added.

WCC calls for end to violence affecting places of worship in Holy Land

After Patriarchs and Heads of Jerusalem Churches express concern for Al-Aqsa Mosque worshippers and Sheikh Jarrah families in a 9 May statement over the recent violence in East Jerusalem, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca in a 12 May Statement on Israel and Palestine expressed mounting concern and profound grief at the rising toll of people killed and injured in the escalating violence in Israel and Palestine.

“We appeal urgently to all parties to step back from the brink of even more deadly and destructive conflict,” Sauca said. “We lament every one of the precious lives already lost, Palestinians and Israelis, in Gaza, in Ashkelon, near Lod, and elsewhere.”

During the demonstrations, tens of thousands of Muslims made their way to Ramadan prayers and activities at the al-Aqsa complex. Israeli police, saying Palestinians were throwing stones, stormed the building and courtyard on Monday with stun grenades and rubber-tipped bullets. Over 200 Palestinians and several officers were injured. Today, armed police clashed again with Muslim visitors.

Sauca urged people to put down their arms, and work to address the injustices and mutual antagonisms that sustain the recurrent cycles of violence. The proper response, instead of violence, should be compassion and justice for the Palestinian people affected by this unfair and unjust situation.

The Israeli army and Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip have been exchanging missile strikes since May 10, following the outbreak of violence near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed since the escalation of conflict with Israel, while about 5,600 people have been injured, the Wafa News Agency stated on Sunday citing the Health Ministry of the coastal enclave. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, announced a new wave of massive rocket bombardments of Israeli cities and army bases in response to Israel’s strikes, the Gaza radicals said in a statement broadcast by the Sawt Al-Aqsa radio station on Monday.

The statement is in concert with the WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country, accompanies the local people and communities, offering protective presence and witnessing their daily struggles and hopes. EAPPI provides a continuous presence of 25-30 Ecumenical Accompaniers, who serve in the field for three months, accompanying local people and communities, offering a protective presence, and witnessing their daily struggles and hopes. EAPPI is guided by “principled impartiality”: it takes no side in the conflict nor discriminates against anyone, but it is not neutral in terms of human rights and respect for international humanitarian law. Almost 1800 hundred Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) have served through the programme, and many of them have stayed involved and interested in working toward a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

A Christian delegation visited the Sheikh Jarrah community on 14 May, standing in solidarity with 28 families who not only face the threat of eviction but are living their day-to-day lives under worsening oppression. Their community has become one with streets full of stones, cars with broken windows, and the smell of “skunk water” used by the police.

We can only solve it through religious peace.

A prominent Israeli orthodox rabbi Michael Melchior has charged that the deadly violence sweeping Israel and Gaza will not be resolved by military might: “We can only solve it through religious peace.” 

Sheikh Imad Falogi, a former Hamas official in Gaza and close colleague of Melchior, says Muslims have no problem with people of the Jewish religion but feel disrespected by Israeli police and throngs of ultranationalist Israelis who visit al-Aqsa and are seen not as engaging in holy activities but as trying to take over “and create problems with Muslims.” When there are political problems, Falolgi adds, “the politicians should come to the rabbis and imams.”

Other Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza have also been calling for nonviolence and mutual respect.

SPIEGEL involved Merkel and Borissov in a scheme to supply low-quality masks from Bulgaria

The German army has ordered protective clothing from Bulgaria for hundreds of thousands of euros, which is of poor quality, but about which Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to have personally spoken to then-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

This is what SPIEGEL magazine says in an investigation indicating how the company Venera Style from Haskovo received an offer for such products, although until then it only made clothing. At the beginning of the pandemic, however, Venus offered to deliver two-layer masks – 85% cotton, 15% elastane – to Germany in the spring of 2020.

The publication comes months after the start of a massive scandal over the supply of substandard masks, which accused Merkel’s allies of corruption and put her party – the Christian Democrats – at a disadvantage on the eve of the parliamentary elections.

This is presented as remarkable at a time when Bulgaria needs them as much as Germany and has even imposed an export ban.

“Then why is Bulgaria sending masks to Germany?” The publication asks. And second, this business enjoys the highest level of support, such as that of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karenbauer and others, such as the chair of the Armed Forces Procurement Service. Kramp-Karenbauer is even preparing his personal assistant to board a plane to take samples from Sofia.

The Bundeswehr makes quick purchases, although the goods are questionable, as is their quality. “Letters received from SPIEGEL mention political reasons several times.” Protective suits are also sent to the Bundeswehr’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons protection department.

“Commands from above”

Here SPIEGEL draws attention to the direction of commands “from above” – ​​”not Bulgarian suppliers send their goods to Germany to be inspected, and the personal assistant of the Minister must take samples along with a team ready to fly to Bulgaria.

The next day. “The office and the ministry did not even comment on how much the flight cost or why the issue was so” politically important “- people familiar with the case say such a thing has never happened before.

It turns out that at a time when the Ministry of Health is flooded with proposals for masks and in violation of the procedure under which the Bundeswehr usually places orders. In addition, the production from Bulgaria does not have any identification marks or quality certificates.

In addition, samples show that the products are of poor quality; the conclusion is even that the user of the masks is not protected. It is the same with suits that can only be washed at a temperature of 30 to 40 degrees, which is not enough to eliminate viruses, and therefore can only be used once. However, the procurement service was activated and the process was declared “highly political”. A request is made to conclude the largest possible contract with Bulgarian companies to meet the needs of the army.

This includes orders small for Germany but serious for the clothing company Venus, covered by three contracts for six days: 200,000 masks for 246,000 euros. Another 11,000 protective suits are ordered from other manufacturers, despite obvious doubts about the quality.

Subsequent delivery of samples of suits and visors in April is also of poor quality, without certificates; a license is issued for limited use, the visors – for single use.

“But why are Bulgarian contracts so important in Berlin? The office is silent; talks with international partners are confidential,” SPIEGEL wrote. The magazine asked if the federal government should not have at least checked which companies were involved, especially if they were from a country that is the latest in the EU in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.

Borissov and the companies in the scheme deny any allegations. In the Bundeswehr, however, protective suits are practically in stock, as are visors – some of these goods are not applicable for medical purposes, others may even be dangerous to consumers.

EU boost for culture | News | European Parliament

, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20210512STO04005/

Chinese persecutors of Falun Gong get sanctions by the U.S.

Falun Dafa reports that “U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has announced sanctions against a Chinese official who perpetrated human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province in China.“

“Today I am announcing the designation of Yu Hui… for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners for their spiritual beliefs,” said Secretary Blinken at a press briefing.

Yu and his immediate family are therefor now banned from traveling to the United States.

Mr. Erping Zhang, Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson stated that they “applaud the US Government and “Secretary Blinken” for issuing these sanctions on this official who “drove tremendous human suffering in Chengu against people who practice or support Falun Gong,”.

“This will surely send a potent message across China that the world is watching and there will be real-world consequences for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners,” Zhang added. “As the news spreads among the CCP’s security apparatus, it will very likely make some think twice about perpetrating further abuses.”

The sanctions were announced as the State Department transmitted its 2020 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom to the U.S. Congress. The report cites illegal arrests, detention, and forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.

Last year, the U.S. Government sanctioned Huang Yuanxiong, chief of China’s Xiamen Public Security Bureau Wucun police station in Fujian Province for his involvement in gross human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners.

Yu’s Chengdu City: A Hotbed of Suppression

Chengdu is known as having been particularly harsh in recent years in its crackdown against Falun Gong believers in the city.

Among those victimized in Chengdu during Yu’s tenure as a key official was Ms. Liu Guiying an engineer who was detained for over 20 months without trial and then sentenced illegally in 2018 to three years in prison for practicing Falun Gong and filing a complaint over previous torture and abuse. She subsequently suffered deliberate malnourishment and torture at Chengdu’s Women’s Prison.

Yu’s name was included in a database of 9,000 6-10 officials submitted by Falun Gong human rights workers to the State Department earlier this year.

Former Official of “China’s Gestapo”

Yu is the former director of the CCP’s notorious 6-10 office. Referred to by rights activists as the CCP’s “Gestapo for Falun Gong,” the 6-10 office was an extralegal police task force responsible for carrying out the mission of eliminating Falun Gong.

Established by former CCP leader Jiang Zemin and announced in a speech to elite cadres a month before the campaign against Falun Gong was announced in 1999, the organization has long existed outside China’s legal framework. Jiang granted it wide-ranging powers to use “every means necessary” to wipe out Falun Gong.

In his book A China More Just, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng describes being shocked by the extent of the 6-10’s operations. “The immoral act that has shaken my soul most is the 6-10 Office and policeman’s regular practice of assaulting women’s genitals,” Gao wrote after his 2005 investigation. “Of those persecuted, almost every woman’s genitals and breasts and every man’s private parts have been sexually assaulted in a most vulgar fashion.”

In addition to torture and sexual abuse, 6-10 Office agents also administratively sentence  Falun Gong practitioners to labor camps and abducted adherents straight from their homes to brainwashing classes. As noted in a 2011 article on the 6-10 Office in the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief, “transformation” and coercive thought reform are a central aspect of the agency’s activities.

In addition to direct involvement in rights abuses, the 6-10 Office has possessed significant power to force the hands of other Party and government bodies.

“The 6-10 office is just like Hitler’s Gestapo,” says Guo Guoting, a Chinese human rights lawyer in exile. “They are powerful and they got enough financial support from the government so… they secretly control all the Falun Gong practitioners in their local areas.”

In Europe, 24 million of 15-34 young people are using psychoactive drugs

Popularized in the 1960’s by artists and mass media such as : “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (LSD) by the Beatles, “Cocaine” by J.J. Cale, “Purple Haze” (cannabis) by Jimmy Hendrix, etc., drugs use have extensively developed to become part of our culture since the middle of the last century with the psychedelic musics, the Beat Generation (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady, etc.), the psychologist Timothy Leary “pope of the LSD” and the counter-cultural hippie movement. Drugs invaded all the aspects of society, becoming a symbol of rebellion among the youth, a political, cultural and social dissent and a new style of life. On the last 2020 European Drug Report of EMCDDA mentioned that in Europe, 24 million young people are using psychoactive drugs, of which 18 million use cannabis.

The problem

The main drug used in Europe is the cannabis with marijuana and hashish as joint, bong (smoked), the bhang (a drink) and used in Space cakes. For the youth, cannabis is the entrance door to the world of drugs. If initially it was used as a “soft drug” or “recreative drug” with a 0,2% of THC (the liposoluble psychoactive substance), rapidly with genetic engineering technics it reached a 20-30 % THC range with a toxicity level interfering with many vital functions of the body and worse for children.

Despite the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of the UNODC classifying cannabis on Schedule IV, decades of lobbying and challenges by vested interests, with WHO Recommendations, acting to declassify cannabis and related cannabinoids, it was agreed on December 2, 2020, thanks to some wise government representatives, UNODC, INCB and experts to only re-reclassify cannabis in Schedule I, so, still under control and only accessible for scientific and medical purpose.

The last 2020 European Drug Report of EMCDDA mentioned that in Europe, 24 million of 15-34 young people are using psychoactive drugs (with 18 million of cannabis users) and it is estimated that at least 9,000 overdose deaths occurred, the mean age being 42 but starting at 15 years old.

This report also put the stress on the overall high social costs of drugs supported by the society, going far beyond the use of the drugs themselves:

• for the public health with healthcare and treatment: 135 000 people entered treatment related to cannabis use,
• for the public safety: traffic accidents, gangs, crimes, terrorism,
• for the lost in labor productivity, money laundering,
• for undermining states governance by corruption of officials,
• for the degradation of environment due to waste toxic chemicals, deforestation, soil degradation and water issues .

Moreover, the drug market in Europe is increasing. It represents a minimum of 30 billion Euros per year shared as: some 12 billion for cannabis (39% of the EU drug market ) coming from Morocco and EU; 9 billion for cocaine (31%) from Central and South America; 7,5 billion for heroin/opioids (25%) from Afghanistan; 1 billion for amphetamine and methamphetamine and 0,5 billion for MDMA (5%) from the EU, Middle East (captagon) and Africa.

In addition currently, some 730 new psychoactive substances (NPS) are found on the European retail market, gathering the synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic opioids and benzodiazepines.

And more, the drug market is linked with criminal activities such as human trafficking (sexual exploitation, forced labor, organ harvesting), child exploitation and migrant smuggling.

The solution

A lot has been discussed about the drug problem, Conventions were written and signed by governments, including on the drug protection of the most vulnerable: the children (CRC article 33, 1989).

What is missing is a basic Education on the drug subject: what they are and what they do. This should be set up as an early primary prevention education, before the youth are contacted by the dealers boasting of the illusory quality of their products in order to better trap the ignorant and by omitting to talk about the following disastrous use consequences. This education is first under the responsibility of the parents, then the surrounding civil society and above all implemented by the government, when not serving special interests.

Leonardo da Vinci said already in the 15th century: It is ignorance that blinds us and misleads us and Will Durant in the 20th century added: Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

To educate the youth and empower them against the harmful effects of drug use are the main priorities of the Foundation for a Drug Free Europe and its hundred associations and groups across twenty European countries, through the Drug Education Prevention Program The Truth About Drugs which are cooperating with more and more countries in the world to put an end to the production by putting and end to the demand. More information about the organization at: www.fdfe.eu

• UNODC: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• WHO: World Health Organization
• INCB: International Narcotics Control Board
• EMCDDA: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
• CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child

Rachel Zoll, much-admired AP religion writer, dead at 55

Rachel Zoll, who for 17 years as religion writer for The Associated Press endeared herself to colleagues, competitors and sources with her warm heart and world-class reporting skills, died Friday in Amherst, Massachusetts, after a three-year bout with brain cancer. She was 55.

Zoll covered religion in all its aspects, from the spiritual to the political, and her stories reached a global audience. But her influence was far greater than that. Other publications often followed her lead, and AP staffers around the world depended on her generosity and guidance.

“Rachel was one of the most universally beloved colleagues we had,” said AP’s managing editor, Brian Carovillano. “She was also one of the best reporters, on any beat. … She had a knack for finding the story or angle that no one else considered but is packed with insight and surprises.”

“Most importantly,” he added, “she was always the best kind of colleague, always available for help or consultation. … She always had time for everyone.”

Zoll was at the forefront of coverage of two papal transitions, the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and tensions within many denominations over race, same-sex marriage and the role of women.

She often broke news, as in 2014, when she was the first to report Pope Francis’ appointment of Blase Cupich to become the new archbishop of Chicago.

But she also told stories in depth: a 2016 election-year piece examining how conservative Christians felt under siege in a changing nation. A series about Christian missionaries from Africa launching initiatives in the United States. A feature about two churches in Georgia — one black, one white — trying to bridge build a connection by confronting racism.

Not all of her stories were so heavy. In 2005, she reported from Tullahoma, Tennessee, on a Bible study class called “Finding the Way Back to Mayberry” developed by two men who believed watching “The Andy Griffith Show” could lead to spiritual enlightenment.

“Mayberry may be fictitious, but its lessons are not,” preacher Pat Allison told Zoll.

Her work was honored repeatedly by the Religion News Association; it gave her a Special Recognition Award in September 2018, saluting her work over the years and her collegiality.

“She was one of the great personalities in the profession –- or really anywhere,” said RNA contest chairman Jeff Diamant at the awards banquet. “This makes it really hard to get mad at Rachel Zoll, even when she beats you on a story in your hometown.”

Frank Baker, who was Zoll’s editor when she joined the AP’s Providence office in 1996, nominated her for the AP’s most prestigious in-house honor -– a Gramling Award, which she won in 2018

“I’ve worked with countless outstanding journalists. None is better than Rachel,” wrote Baker, now AP’s news editor for California. “She never gets outworked. She never gets intimidated by a subject. And she never loses her sense of humor.”

Zoll, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, worked in her hometown at The Salem (Mass.) Evening News before joining the AP in Boston in 1995.

She moved on to Providence for a short stay before being appointed correspondent in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1998. She returned to Providence as correspondent the next year, and became a New York-based religion writer in May 2001.

Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times’ religion writer from 1997 to 2019, said Zoll was revered by her competitors on the beat.

“Rachel mastered the art of interrogating powerful religious leaders and holding them to account without being confrontational or disrespectful,” said Goodstein, now the Times’ deputy international editor.

“She would go to the microphone at a press conference, face a panel of Catholic bishops peering down from a dais, and ask the pivotal question that cut right to the heart of the matter,” Goodstein said via email. “Then amidst the hubbub in the press room, she would hammer out a clear, even-handed, compelling story on the religious controversy of the day.”

One of Zoll’s frequent sources was the Rev. James Martin, a Catholic priest who is editor-at-large of the Jesuit publication America. He recalled her laughter, staccato-like and frequent.

“Rachel was not only an amazing reporter, who was dogged in her pursuit of a story, but a wonderful person: warm, smart, funny,” Martin told the AP. “Sometimes when she called me for a story, we spent more time laughing than talking about the story.”

Zoll became ill in January 2018 as she was helping negotiate a major expansion of AP’s religion coverage via a grant from the Lilly Endowment. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with the incurable cancer glioblastoma.

Even after that diagnosis, her years of source-building and intricate preparation ensured that AP was first to receive the news of the death of renowned evangelist Billy Graham on Feb. 21, 2018.

Zoll was born in Salem, where her father, Samuel Zoll, served as city councilor and mayor before embarking on a judicial career that included 28 years as chief justice of the Massachusetts District Courts. He died in 2011.

She is survived by her mother, Marjorie Aronow Waldman; three older siblings and their spouses — Barry Zoll and his wife, Susan; Cheryl Zoll and Eric Sawyer, and Risa Zoll and Tim Williams; and five nieces.

Cheryl said her sister had other talents, beyond journalism — she was a gifted musician. Over the years, she played piano, French horn and trumpet.

She even joined an all-woman accordion orchestra — the Main Squeeze. In 2006, she recalled a performance at a New York venue when one band member took a sledgehammer to a squeezebox.

“There were times in the first year or so when I wanted to quit. I felt humiliated onstage,” she wrote. “But then I realized that no matter how many times we bombed, it was always great to step outside the dead-seriousness of adulthood and do something ridiculous like playing James Brown with 14 other accordionists while a friend smashed an instrument into pulp in front of a crowd.

“That night at Irving Plaza, I realized how lucky I am: I’m with the band.”

Iceland’s ring road: Europe’s most sustainable road trip

Depending on the time of year, Iceland can be cloaked in an ethereal palette of green or white, as it experiences the lightest of nights or the darkest of days. And either landscape makes for an idyllic backdrop to a road trip that puts sustainability front and centre.

The capital of Reykjavik embodies traditional Scandinavian design and is home to only 200,000 inhabitants (including legendary artist Björk for half of the year), yet innovation is the driving force behind the bright facades. These principles extend throughout Iceland’s countryside – the island nation is mostly powered by geothermal energy combined with other renewable sources that make it close to 100 per cent green.

Travellers seeking to explore the home of the elves – or huldufólk – take to the ring road. This highway that borders the island was carefully built around the residences of these spirits, in order not to disturb them. And tourists can create even less disturbance by renting a whisper-quiet electric car in the capital; it won’t run low on power as there are plenty of high-speed chargers available to use along the route.

Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant

(Arni Saeberg)

Opportunities to be a part of the rural environment abound on this classic Icelandic road trip, with wild camping allowed on uncultivated land (as long as it’s for one night only) and free campsites available for those looking to pitch up for longer. For those who prefer two wheels to four, the route is used by so many cyclists that drivers happily share the quiet roads. All journeys turn up something unexpected: multiple waterfalls carve their way through the basalt; lagoons hide among the jagged rock formations; pearlescent glaciers and tiny churches built miles from civilisation appear when you least expect them.

Recommended

The ring road also provides access to the famed geothermal blue lagoon and spa retreat – another example of sustainability, powered by the landscape. It’s built using durable, camouflaging materials to make the structure a continuation of the moss-covered volcanic rock that encircles it, plus has its own sustainable skincare line made from the silica, algae and minerals found here, as well as serving local, organic food in its restaurants.

Multiple waterfalls carve their way through the basalt; lagoons hide among the jagged rock formations

Locally sourced food is easy to come by in Iceland. Everything from tomatoes and cucumbers to bananas – cultivated in geothermal and solar-powered greenhouses outside Reykjavík – is grown here. The abundance of energy and water means that Friðheimar, one of the oldest greenhouses that’s a half-hour drive inland from the ring road, is able to supply 70 per cent of the country’s tomatoes. Dessert sauce, mixers, juice, chutney and pickles all come from their bumper crop. In the restaurant, tourists can enjoy the novelty of a cheesecake made from green tomato, cinnamon and lime followed by a coffee or beer infused with this surprisingly versatile ingredient.

As green as the road trip itself might be, what about the journey to get there? Carbon offsetting is often seen as an abstract, nebulous concept, but not here: Iceland leads the way on carbon capture by dissolving carbon dioxide in water and turning it into rock. It may sound like science fiction, but Carbfix is happy to bring tourists behind the curtain for a guided tour of this ground-breaking facility.

Road trippers can make a stop at the Blue Lagoon

(Blue Lagoon)

Silja Y Eyþórsdóttir from Carbfix offers an insight into Iceland’s sustainable approach, which started much earlier than other countries. “In the 1950s, Iceland decided to move away from fossil fuels for their district heating system and switched to geothermal heat, perceived as an expensive and bold move at the time. The transition came with a lot of investment in new infrastructure, and it wasn‘t easy, but it paid off in the end.”

It’s why they’ve just started building the Coda Terminal facility in west Iceland, where CO2 emissions from Northern Europe will be transported by boat to be turned to stone, providing storage for three million tonnes per year when it’s complete.

Perhaps the huldufólk are sharing their wisdom with their fellow islanders; not only is a trip around Iceland’s ring road beautiful, it could also provide a vision for the sustainable future of travel.

After 8 years, India and European Union to resume free trade pact talks

After eight years, India and the European Union are set to resume negotiations for an ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement. An announcement on the formal resumption is expected to be made at a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top leadership of the 27-nation grouping on Saturday.

Official sources in the EU also said the free trade agreement package will include an investment protection pact as well as a framework on geographical indication.

Launched in June 2007, the FTA talks between India and the EU hit a roadblock in May 2013 when the two sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including tariff, data security status for the IT sector and market access.

India and the EU will agree to resume the negotiations at the virtual summit between Prime Minister Modi and top leadership of the bloc, sources said Thursday.

The two sides are also likely to announce a connectivity partnership at the summit that is aimed at boosting cooperation in sectors like railway, maritime and aviation as well as in the digital domain to bring people of the two sides closer to each other, sources said.

Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to visit Portugal for the India-EU summit but it was called off because of the coronavirus crisis. Both sides then decided to hold the deliberations virtually.

A strategically important grouping for India, the EU as a whole was country’s largest trading partner in 2018. India’s bilateral trade with the EU in 2018-19 stood at $15.6 billion with exports valued at $57.17 billion and imports worth $58.42 billion.

Madrid Popular Party doubles strenght and wins elections

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a complete unknown without much trajectory only two years ago, is consolidating her position as a political phenomenon. The Madrid president and PP candidate is the big winner of the elections in the Community of Madrid, where she has swept to the point of winning more seats than the three left-wing parties combined, which will allow her to govern comfortably and without needing Vox for every law. The right-wing bloc has clearly strengthened and won 78 seats (65 for the PP and 13 for Vox) compared to 58 for the left (24 for Más Madrid, 24 for the PSOE and 10 for Podemos). Just two years ago, the difference between the two blocs was four MPs. Madrid thus swings even further to the right, but thanks to the spectacular increase of the PP, because Vox is left with a result very similar to that of two years ago.

The hard blow to the left has an immediate consequence: Pablo Iglesias leaves all his positions in Podemos and will not stay in the regional Assembly: “I will not be a stopper for a new leadership. I don’t know what destiny is, walking I was what I was”, he said as a farewell quoting Silvio Rodríguez after pointing to Yolanda Díaz as his successor.

A historic turnout, 11 points higher than in 2019, has not only not lifted the left, but has sunk it much further, especially due to the collapse of the PSOE, which has just won the elections in Catalonia, but has hit a bump in Madrid with a fall of more than 10 points that lead it to have the worst result in its history, and to tie in seats with a formation with hardly any means such as Más Madrid, which at the last moment of the count achieved a historic first place on the left by just over 4,000 votes.

Díaz Ayuso has not achieved an absolute majority – she is just four seats short – but the abstention of Vox would be enough for her to be invested. It now remains to be seen whether or not this group will want to enter the Madrid government, although the results make that possibility unlikely.

The left has failed in its attempt to seek a turnaround by mobilising the southern vote. The key to this fiasco is the PSOE’s collapse, which in less than two years has lost a good part of its support, despite having the same candidate who in 2019 amply won the elections in the community, Ángel Gabilondo, although he was unable to govern because the right-wing bloc had more seats than the left-wing bloc.

Young people key to transforming world’s food systems

The online discussions, which centred around topics such as agriculture, education and climate change, will serve as direct input to a landmark UN Food Systems Summit, due to be held in September. 

More than a plateful 

Transforming food systems is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in a video message for the event. 

She highlighted how “food is much bigger than what is on your plate”, noting key connections with health, environment and culture.   

“This is a complex challenge, but only together will we transform our food systems to be more equitable, inclusive and sustainable and deliver the SDGs by 2030”, she said.  

Profit over purpose 

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, explained why food systems much change on a planet where half of all children do not have access to healthy diets, amid a “worrying increase” in overweight and obesity. 

“Too often, food systems put profit over purpose. This places the most nutritious foods often out of reach for many households”, she said. 

“Families are forced to turn to heavily marketed and unhealthy alternatives. These may be cheaper and more available. But they also lead to poor nutritional outcomes, threatening children’s development and growth and — in the worst cases — survival itself.” 

COVID-19 and rising hunger 

The UN Food Systems Summit is organized around five “Action Tracks” to foster initiatives on issues such as boosting “nature-positive” food production and shifting to sustainable consumption patterns. 

Janya Green from the United States is a youth co-chair on Action Track 1, which covers ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all.  She has been working on community food gardens since she was 12. 

“As you all know, hunger worldwide is a huge problem. The number of undernourished people continued to increase in 2019.  Even before taking COVID-19 into account, hunger was predicted to rise.  If we do not reverse these current trends, the SDG zero-hunger target will not be met,” she warned. 

Unsplash/Zoe Schaeffer

A woman tends to plants on a small-scale, sustainable farm in Pennsylvania, USA.

‘The future is youth’ 

The pandemic has exposed deep-rooted inequities, including in food systems, the UN Deputy Secretary-General observed. While young people are among those hit hard by the aftershocks, Ms. Mohammed said they have also been resilient, converting challenges into opportunities. 

Agnes Kalibata, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the Food Systems Summit, stressed that it would be impossible to hold the event without engaging with youth. 

Ms. Kalibata, who is from Rwanda, recalled that young people make up 77 per cent of the total population in Africa, and around 50 per cent of the global population. 

 “This is about the future”, she said.  “The future is youth. The future of our world is our youth.”

UN forum examines how to make science and technology work better for all

The Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) aims to identify gaps and promote partnerships in efforts to achieve a greener world by 2030. 

In remarks to the forum, the UN Secretary-General emphasized how the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of science, technology and innovation for human well-being and survival, as well as the need for greater global cooperation. 

His statement was delivered by Maria Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 

Pandemic sparks innovations 

Addressing the pandemic, the UN chief said not only was a vaccine developed in record time, but the crisis has also increased innovation in medicines and digital communications technologies.   

At the same time, scientific discovery and collaborations have accelerated and new ways of delivering services have proliferated.   

The Secretary-General said these advances hold promise for collective challenges beyond the pandemic, including in limiting climate disruption, reducing inequalities and “ending our war on nature”.  

© UNICEF/Chansereypich Seng

In March, representatives from UNICEF and WHO visited hospitals in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia to monitor the progress of COVID-19 vaccination through COVAX.

Billions still excluded 

However, he noted that billions of people worldwide still remain largely excluded from the benefits of the information and technology revolution, and the pandemic has only exacerbated existing technology divides. 

“It is essential that we work together — across borders, sectors and disciplines — to make science and technology work for everyone”, his statement said. 

“Multi-stakeholder cooperation will continue to be the key, helping us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, address climate change, end the biodiversity and pollution crises and rise to our other common challenges.” 

Technology for development 

The STI Forum, now in its sixth year, is part of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism, an online platform which supports countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by their 2030 deadline.   

Through the platform, UN entities, Member States, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community and other stakeholders share information, experiences, best practices and policy advice. 

Last June, the Secretary-General also launched a Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.  Its eight objectives include achieving universal connectivity by 2030 as roughly half the world’s population, or three billion people, most of them women, do not have access to the Internet.