You are here

Government

UN Calls for Support to Recovery Plan as Haiti Loses $2.7 Billion in Hurricane Matthew

           

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti causing widespread damage in the western cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie. Photo: UN/MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi

un.org

6 March 2017 – The United Nations office dedicated to disaster risk reduction today called for urgent support to improve disaster risk management in Haiti, following a damage assessment that shows the country lost $2.7 billion, or 32 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), as a result of Hurricane Matthew six months ago.

“Hurricane Matthew revealed disturbing truths about least developed countries which lack the capacity to respond adequately to climate change and the rising intensity and frequency of weather-related disasters,” said the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Robert Glasser in a press release.

His call came on the eve of the 5th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas, which opens in Montreal, Canada, tomorrow.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Trump Will Withdraw From Global Climate Pact, Transition Official Says

Demonstrators protest Donald Trump's climate change stance outside the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in New York, January 9. REUTERS.

Image: Demonstrators protest Donald Trump's climate change stance outside the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in New York, January 9. REUTERS.

newsweek.com - January 30th 2017 - Reuters

The United States will switch course on climate change and pull out of a global pact to cut emissions, said Myron Ebell, who headed U.S. President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team until his inauguration.

Ebell is the director of global warming and international environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a U.S. conservative think tank, and helped to guide the EPA's transition after Trump was elected in November until he was sworn in on Jan. 20.

Trump, a climate skeptic, campaigned on a pledge to boost the U.S. oil and gas drilling and coal mining industries by reducing regulation. 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

U.S. Government Scientists Go 'Rogue' in Defiance of Trump

           

Badlands National Park in South Dakota is pictured in this July 16, 2014 handout photo.
Badlands National Park/Handout via REUTERS

reuters.com - by Steve Gorman - January 26, 2017

Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial "rogue" Twitter feeds in defiance of what they see as attempts by President Donald Trump to muzzle federal climate change research and other science.

Seizing on Trump's favorite mode of discourse, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus have privately launched Twitter accounts - borrowing names and logos of their agencies - to protest restrictions they view as censorship and provide unfettered platforms for information the new administration has curtailed.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

A Message to President Donald J. Trump - EPA - Climate Change

An important message to President Donald J. Trump regarding his pending decision to remove the “Climate Change” page from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) website, as reported by Reuters on January 25, 2017  . . .

CLICK HERE - Reuters - Trump administration tells EPA to cut climate page from website: sources - (Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Dear Mr. President,

If you order the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the “Climate Change” page from its website in an effort to sideline scientific research on climate change, you will not succeed.  Thankfully, most of the important climate change research has already been archived within websites not under your control where scientists and interested citizens can easily access this important information (links to two such websites will be provided below).

As President, you should do your homework before making such crucial decisions, as the future of our children and grandchildren will depend on the decisions you make.  Please do not prioritize money and economic gain ahead of health and human security.

Respectfully yours,

Kathy Gilbeaux

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Amnesty accuses Myanmar military of 'crimes against humanity'

Amnesty estimates at least 27,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Image: Amnesty estimates at least 27,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. AFP/GETTY IMAGES

bbc.com - December 19th 2016

Rights group Amnesty International says the actions of Myanmar's military may constitute "crimes against humanity" after allegations of violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Its report accuses Burmese forces of murdering civilians, rape and torture.

Myanmar's military has denied accounts of atrocities and says it is conducting anti-terrorist raids in Rakhine.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(VIEW REPORT)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

The battle to stop Trump hijacking the climate agenda

irinnews.org - November 14th 2016 - Lou del Bello

After the shock win in the US presidential election of climate change denialist Donald Trump, what was expected to be an uneventful round of UN talks in Marrakesh has suddenly taken on far greater importance.

Behind closed doors, diplomats are scrambling to anticipate Trump’s next move. What was billed as a technical conference on the procedural issues of implementing the Paris Agreement – which came into force just this month – is now being cast as a desperate attempt to safeguard global action.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Economic woes create anti-establishment movements around the world

A protest march against the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Stuttgart, southern Germany this year. Photograph: Felix Kastle/AFP/Getty Images

Image:  A protest march against the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) party
in Stuttgart, southern Germany this year. Photograph: Felix Kastle/AFP/Getty Images

guardian.com - November 5th 2016 - Katie Allen

The US is not the only western nation to be undergoing political ructions over the faltering post-crisis recovery. New counter-establishment parties have emerged in several countries and, as in the UK, people have voted for dramatic change. Meanwhile, there’s a growing sense in developed economies that workers have yet to benefit from the recovery or rising globalisation.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Democrats demand Congress end its vacation to approve Zika funding

Senate minority leader Harry Reid, one of the senators who has demanded Republicans reconvene Congress for Zika funding. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Image: Senate minority leader Harry Reid, one of the senators who has demanded Republicans reconvene Congress for Zika funding. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

theguardian.com - July 31st 2016 - Joanna Walters

Senate Democrats have called for Congress to end its recess and immediately approve emergency funds for combating the Zika virus in America, after Florida reported its first cases of mosquito-borne infections on the mainland, and funding for mosquito nets for pregnant women started running low.

Near downtown Miami, teams of doctors were going door to door on Saturday to alert an estimated 30,000 residents, particularly pregnant women, of the risks of being bitten by local mosquitoes believed to be carrying the virus.

On Friday, Florida governor Rick Scott and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that four new cases of the disease in the Miami area were almost certainly contracted through local insect bites.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Turkey Coup

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

United Kingdom Votes to Leave EU in Historic Referendum

           

Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

Britain has voted to exit the European Union. It is a historic decision sure to reshape the nation’s place in the world.

Britain held a referendum on Thursday on whether to leave the European Union, a process often referred to as “Brexit.”

CLICK HERE - CNN - Brexit News Coverage

CLICK HERE - BBC - Business Live: Markets in turmoil

CLICK HERE - The Guardian - LIVE - EU Referendum

CLICK HERE - Reuters - LIVE - EU Referendum

CLICK HERE - The Telegraph - EU Referendum

CLICK HERE - The UK's EU referendum: All you need to know

CLICK HERE - EU referendum petition signed by more than 2.5m

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

Subscribe to Government
howdy folks