Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Every child under 'immediate threat' from climate, poor diet: UN

AFP/File / PETER PARKSNo single country is protecting the next generation from the impacts of carbon emissions, the destruction of nature and high-calorie and processed foods, the report found
The world is failing to protect children from the health dangers posed by climate change and poor diet, a landmark UN report said Wednesday, warning that every child is under "immediate threat".
According to more than 40 of the world's pre-eminent child and adolescent health experts, not one country on Earth is adequately protecting the next generation from the impacts of carbon emissions, the destruction of nature and high-calorie and processed foods.
They said that excessive carbon emissions, produced overwhelmingly by wealthier nations, "threaten the future of all children" and will burden them with additional health dangers, from deadly heatwaves to the increased spread of tropical diseases.
The report, commissioned by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, also highlights the threat children face from harmful marketing of fat- and sugar-laden foods, alcohol and tobacco.
"The big message is that no single country is protecting children's health today and for their future," said Anthony Costello, professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London.
"When you look at the damage being done to children's lungs by air pollution, we've got a very limited time to sort this out," he told AFP.
"We have the solutions, what we don't have is the political leadership and will to make it happen."
The report, published in The Lancet medical journal, ranks the performance of 180 countries when it comes to child survival, education and nutrition rates.
Under these criteria, less-developed nations such as Central African Republic and Chad perform particularly poorly compared to rich countries such as Norway and the Netherlands.
However the rankings are largely reversed when the impacts of air pollution from per capita carbon emissions were assessed.
"The world's decision makers are failing today's children and youth: failing to protect their health, failing to protect their rights, and failing to protect their planet," said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
- 11-fold obesity surge -
Around 250 million under-fives in low- and middle-income countries risk being stunted due to malnutrition and other impacts of poverty, the authors said.
At the same time, the number of obese children worldwide has surged 11-fold since 1975 to stand at 124 million.
Children in some countries see as many as 30,000 adverts on television in a single year. And despite industry self-regulation, one study showed that children in Australia were exposed 51 million times to alcohol adverts in just one year of televised sport.
"Industry regulation has failed," said Costello.
"And the reality could be much worse still: we have few figures about the huge expansion of social media advertising and algorithms aimed at our children."
The authors called on governments to radically reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate goals and to tighten regulation of harmful marketing.
Current emissions pledges put Earth on course to warm more than 3C by 2100, which "would lead to devastating health consequences for children", from rising sea levels and heatwaves to disease and malnutrition.

On This Day: J. Robert Oppenheimer dies

On Feb. 18, 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," died in Princeton, N.J., at the age of 62.

On February 18, 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, died in Princeton, N.J., at the age of 62. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy

On February 18, 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," died in Princeton, N.J., at the age of 62. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy

“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. (quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first Nuclear explosion.)” “When we deny the EVIL within ourselves, we dehumanize ourselves, and we deprive ourselves not only of our own destiny but of any possibility of dealing with the EVIL of others.”
In 1954, the Church of Scientology was established in Los Angeles.
Jan 2, 2015 - Born 100 years ago, Jack Parsons seemed devoted to reconciling ... The Occult Rocket Scientist Who Conjured Spirits with L. Ron Hubbard ...
In 1979, snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first known time. It fell a second time in 2016.
Jan 9, 2018 - It's quite a time for weird weather, and it doesn't get much weirder than snow falling in one of the hottest places in the world. On Sunday, Ain Sefra, a desert town in Algeria known as the "Gateway to the Sahara," experienced a substantial amount of snow for reportedly the third ...
BUT 1979 WAS NOT THE FIRST RECORDING OF SNOW IN THE SAHARA ALEISTER CROWLEY REPORTED ON IT IN THE BYSTANDER MAGAZINE 1911  
Aleister Crowley in the Desert
An excerpt from
The Place of Enchantment
British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern

by Alex Owen
Jailed Wikileaks founder Assange's health improving - spokesman

By Andrew MacAskill and Sarah Young,Reuters•February 18, 2020


WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in LondonMore

LONDON (Reuters) - Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer being kept in solitary confinement and his health is improving, his spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters on Tuesday.

Assange, 48, is in Belmarsh high-security prison in London, fighting an extradition request from the United States where he faces 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

His supporters had expressed concern about the state of his health after he appeared confused during a court hearing in October, struggling to recall his age and name and saying he was unable to think properly.

Assange was moved from solitary confinement in the medical wing to a different part of the prison with 40 other inmates after his legal team and prisoners complained that his treatment was unfair, Hrafnsson said.

"I saw him about 10 days ago - he has improved thanks to the pressure from his legal team, the general public, and amazingly, actually from other inmates in Belmarsh Prison to get him out of isolation," Hrafnsson said ahead of an extradition hearing that starts next week.

Australian-born Assange made global headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

WikiLeaks later angered the United States by publishing caches of leaked military documents and diplomatic cables.

Assange has consistently presented himself as a champion of free speech being persecuted for exposing abuses of power. But his critics paint him as a dangerous figure complicit in Russian efforts to undermine the West.

He fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning about allegations of sex crimes which have since been dropped. He spent seven years holed up in the embassy until Ecuador decided to stop giving him refuge and he was dragged out last May.

Earlier, a group of doctors representing 117 physicians and psychologists from 18 nations called in a letter for an end to what they described as "the psychological torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange".

His father, John Shipton, said Assange's long confinement indoors had damaged his health and feared that sending his son to the US would be akin to a "death sentence".

"His situation is dire, he has had nine years of ceaseless psychological torture where false accusations are constantly being made," he told reporters.


More than 100 physicians warn Julian Assange could die in prison
By Clyde Hughes UPI


Protesters rally to support WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at an event in Sydney, Australia, on May 3, 2019. File Photo by Bianca de Marchi/EPA-EFE

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- More than 100 physicians have signed onto an open letter that says WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange could die behind bars in Britain due to "psychological torture and medical neglect."

Assange is in a London prison awaiting a Feb. 24 hearing that could ultimately send him to the United States to face conspiracy charges.

The letter, which was posted by The Lancet medical journal, says Assange is denied medical care and has suffered mentally for years while in Britain. The Australian spent several years living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London until he was arrested and imprisoned last year.

"We condemn the torture of Assange," the letter states. "We condemn the denial of his fundamental right to appropriate health care. We condemn the climate of fear surrounding the provision of healthcare to him.

RELATED Sweden drops rape charges against Julian Assange

"We condemn the violations of his right to doctor-patient confidentiality. Politics cannot be allowed to interfere with the right to health and the practice of medicine."

Echoing the letter, Australian lawmakers Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to block Assange's extradition to the United States, where he faces charges related to breaches involving Defense Department computers.

Wilkie and Christensen argued that allowing extradition would set a precedent that puts journalists worldwide at risk of being harassed and jailed.

RELATED British judge denies delay at Assange extradition hearing

"If you are a journalist who does anything that offends any government in the world then you face the very real prospect of being extradited to that country," Wilkie said. "This is a political case and what is at stake is not just the life of Julian Assange. It is about the future of journalism."

In their letter, the physicians said Assange should receive medical treatment to address his mental state.

"Our appeals are simple: We are calling upon governments to end the torture of Assange and ensure his access to the best available healthcare before it is too late," they wrote.
EU adds 3 nations, British territory to 'tax haven' blacklist
By Sommer Brokaw UPI


Demonstrators gather in Panama City, Panama, on October 30, 2019, to oppose proposed against constitutional reforms. Panama was one of four governments added to an EU blacklist Tuesday. File Photo by Bienvenido Velasco/EPA-EFE

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The European Union added three more nations and one territory to its tax haven "blacklist" Tuesday, saying they have not made sufficient reforms to comply with EU standards.

Those added to the list were Palau, Panama, Seychelles and the Cayman Islands, an autonomous British territory in the Caribbean.

The EU weighs issues like tax transparency, fair taxation and real economic activity in determining whether a nation or territory should appear on the blacklist. In all cases, the governments are given a set period of time to come into compliance. The EU said Tuesday all four new governments failed to do so.

Palau, Panama, Seychelles and the Cayman Islands join eight other jurisdictions on the list, which was established in 2017 to prevent tax fraud and evasions. The EU also has a "gray list" of violators whose additions to the blacklist are pending.

The other eight on the list are American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Samoa, Oman, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and the U.S. Virgin Islands.


Blacklisted jurisdictions face damage to their reputations, higher scrutiny, and risk losing European Union funds.

Nearly a dozen nations and territories were also removed from the blacklist, now having qualified as compliant.

"We have examined 95 countries' tax systems and the majority of these now comply with our good governance standards," said European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni. "Our citizens expect the wealthiest individuals and corporations to pay their fair share in tax and any jurisdiction that enables them to avoid doing that must face the consequences."


A senior adviser to Sen. Bernard Sanders is reminding voters that former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called Bermuda his part-time home and touted business opportunities in the “notorious tax haven.”
The simmering political beef between the Sanders and Bloomberg camps could reach a boiling point when the contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination square off for the first time on the debate stage Wednesday in Nevada.
David Sirota, a Sanders speechwriter and Twitter attack dog, added more fuel to the fire Tuesday by saying a press release posted on Mr. Bloomberg’s website indicates the billionaire is a “‘part-time Bermuda resident’ — and it quotes Bloomberg promoting business opportunities in Bermuda, which is a notorious tax haven.
Mr. Bloomberg’s double life has been documented, including in The New York Times, but so far has flown under the radar in the presidential primary race.
Mr. Sanders, meanwhile, has been a vocal advocate for ending corporate tax havens outside the United States


Mr. Sanders has said the federal tax system is anchored in “a rigged tax code that has essentially legalized tax-dodging for large corporations,” and he has backed legislation that would “would end the incentive for companies to stash profits in tax havens like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.”

'Parasite'-style half-basement homes to receive repairs
By Elizabeth Shim UPI


Households residing in half-basement homes in Seoul -- like this one depicted in the movie "Parasite" -- qualify for government-funded repairs, according to a local press report on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Neon/CJ Entertainment

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Academy Award-winning South Korean film Parasite may be having a trickle-down effect on real-life dwellers of half-basement homes in the country, following the film's portrayal of poverty, according to a local press report.

South Korean news service Money Today reported Tuesday the city of Seoul and the Korea Energy Foundation are to provide customized home renovations, including better heating and air-conditioning, for low-income households in the country's capital.

The renovations are designed to support 1,500 homes, or a fraction of the total number of households located in subterranean or near-subterranean dwellings. Seoul is home to about 228,000 half-basement homes, or about 60 percent of the total.


Director Bong Joon-ho's film depicts half-basement homes as smelly and gritty. The apartment's susceptibility to floods, pests and mold serve as a symbol of downward mobility for one of the families depicted in the movie.

RELATED Tourists flock to 'Parasite' locations in South Korea

Qualifying low-income families will receive about $3,000 in financial support for renovations, particularly for "indoor pollution caused by moisture and mold" that leads to "asthma, allergies and depression," according to Money Today.

Households that qualify are those with income below 60 percent of South Korea's baseline income.

For years, ordinary South Koreans have said they are struggling to make ends meet. South Korea is a rich country and an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member state. But it also has one of the most anemic social safety nets among developed economies, welfare groups have told UPI.

RELATED South Korea president congratulates 'Parasite' director Bong Joon-ho

Poverty among the elderly is a serious problem, and senior citizens can be seen picking up recyclable waste to make ends meet in Seoul.

The government may soon be banning the practice, however.

South Korea's ministry of environment said Tuesday the ban applies to 65 major apartment complexes in the metropolitan area of Seoul, a sign the policy could expand further, News 1 reported.

RELATED 'Parasite' wins Best Picture, Best Director at 2020 Oscars

The announcement comes after Chinese restrictions against exported recyclable wastepaper from South Korea were implemented in 2018, according to the report.

Kickstarter employees successfully vote to form union

By
Daniel Uria
 Image




Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Kickstarter employees successfully formed a union Tuesday, becoming one of the first groups of tech employees to unionize.
The Kickstarter employee union effort, Kickstarter United, announced it voted to form a union with the Office and Professional Employees International Union certified by the National Labor Relations Board."It's been a long journey, but now the real work is ahead of us!" Kickstarter United wrote. "And to all tech and creative workers looking to fight for your rights, this is only just the beginning."
After forming an initial organizing committee, the 85 engineers, directors, analysts, designers, coordinators, customer support specialists and other Kickstarter employees chose to partner with the New York-based OPEIU Local 153.
"We believe unionizing provides a path toward furthering all of our goals," KSRU representative Oriana Leckert said. "It was truly an honor to get to have deep conversations with so many of my colleagues around these issues. Utilizing our collective power to improve our workplace and our professional lives will increase Kickstarter's ability to have a radical, positive impact on society by allowing us all to advocate for workers' rights, which is a core pillar of the fight against inequality."
Last year, Kickstarter wrote that unionization was not "the right tool" to fix the company's issues and two employees who spearheaded organizational efforts were fired, although the company said it was unrelated to the union.
Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan issued a statement to Mashable saying he and company leadership "support and respect" the decision to unionize.
"We've worked hard over the last decade to build a different kind of company, one that measures its success by how well it achieves its mission: helping to bring creative projects to life," said Hasan. "Our mission has been common ground for everyone here during this process and it will continue to guide us as we enter this new phase together."


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So, what does this mean? 1) Our media blackout is now over (did you miss us?
💛
) 2) We’ll begin discussing our priorities and forming an inclusive and representative bargaining committee for everyone at Kickstarter so that we can... 3) Bargain our first contract! #1u
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We are so truly grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way, especially
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. It's been a long journey, but now the real work is ahead of us! And to all tech and creative workers looking to fight for your rights, this is only just the beginning!
✊


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