Western silence on Turkey is deafening, after Amnesty confirms mass torture and rape

By Elizabeth Mizon26 July 2016 (The Canary) – Amnesty International is reporting that it has “gathered credible evidence” that thousands of detainees, accused of being connected to the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey, are being tortured. Yet, politicians in the West have responded with a deafening silence. Why is this? Is the situation in […]

Poorer than their parents: Between 2005 and 2014, real incomes in advanced economies were flat or fell for 65 to 70 percent of households, more than 540 million people

By Richard Dobbs, Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, Jonathan Woetzel, Jacques Bughin, Eric Labaye, and Pranav Kashyap14 July 2016 (McKinsey) – Most people growing up in advanced economies since World War II have been able to assume they will be better off than their parents. For much of the time, that assumption has proved correct: except […]

Recent Iberian drought worst in at least three centuries

[cf. Rain in Spain is on the decline] 27 June 2016 (Sinc) – In the Mediterranean Basin, droughts are a recurring phenomenon that negatively impacts society, economic activities and natural systems. No one seems to doubt the fact that temperatures all over the world have risen in recent decades. However, this trend does not appear […]

Blood spills on shores of Danish Faroe Islands in the first pilot whale slaughter of 2016

[Every fucking year. –Des] 6 July 2016 (Sea Shepherd Global) – Today, at approximately 1200 local time, a pod of 30-50 pilot whales was slaughtered in the first grindadráp (grind) of the year, on the island of Viðoy in the Danish Faroe Islands archipelago. The ordeal began this morning when locals spotted a pod of […]

Brexit costs investors $2 trillion, the worst one-day drop ever – British pound sterling falls below Friday’s 31-year low amid uncertainty

By Javier E. David26 Jun 2016 (CNBC) – The U.K.’s referendum to leave the European Union was a costly decision in more ways than one. Worldwide markets hemorrhaged more than $2 trillion in paper wealth on Friday, according to data from S&P Global, the worst on record. For context, that figure eclipsed the whipsaw trading […]

Pianist Ludovico Einaudi performs amid Arctic sea ice to support legal protection for the Arctic ocean

  By Elvira Jiménez and Erlend Tellnes20 June 2016 (Greenpeace) – The beauty of the Arctic is overwhelming. The cold, the silence and extraordinary sounds as the ice creaks, rumbles and falls. The pristine environment, with life popping out to welcome you when you least expect it. A unique place that people across the world […]

‘Unprecedented’ 65 million people displaced by war and persecution in 2015 – ‘With anti-refugee rhetoric so loud, it is sometimes difficult to hear the voices of welcome. But these do exist, all around the world.’

20 June 2016 (UN) – The number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution last year exceeded 60 million for the first time in United Nations history, a tally greater than the population of the United Kingdom, or of Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined, says a new report released on […]

The coming train wreck for older workers

By Richard Eisenberg16 June 2016 (MarketWatch) – Uh-oh. American workers aged 50 or older think there’s nearly a 1 in 2 chance they’ll still be working at 70 but many employees who expect to work longer are exactly the ones who’ll likely be least able to do so. That’s the upshot of the new, frightening […]

Research suggests climate change contributed to Neanderthal extinction

By Emily Williams11 May 2016 (CU Denver) – A researcher at the University of Colorado Denver has found that Neanderthals in Europe showed signs of nutritional stress during periods of extreme cold, suggesting climate change may have contributed to their demise around 40,000 years ago. Jamie Hodgkins, a zooarchaeologist and assistant professor in the Department […]

Last stand for Europe’s remaining ancient forest as loggers prepare to move in – ‘An environmental coup is being staged here’

By Arthur Neslen18 May 2016 Białowieża, Poland (The Guardian) – Europe’s last primeval forest is facing what campaigners call its last stand as loggers prepare to start clear-cutting trees, following the dismissal of dozens of scientists and conservation experts opposed to the plan. Poland’s new far right government says logging is needed because more than […]

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