| |
- UN says Asia needs flood warning systems
The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction on Saturday urged governments across Asia to invest in early warning systems to help prevent widespread damage and death from floods. In a statement, the UNISDR specifically mentioned the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand, all of which are suffering from floods, as well as the Philippines -- where at least 55 were reported dead after two typhoons in a week. GMANews.tv (Philippines) (10/2)       - China launches anti-polio campaign
A decade after China was declared free of polio, the country has launched a massive polio vaccination campaign targeting millions of children -- in homes, schools, kindergartens, bus stations and airports, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative -- after the recent discovery of 10 cases of the virus in the western province of Xinjiang. The virus has been shown to have entered China from neighboring Pakistan. BBC (9/30) - What could have been done to avoid East Africa famine?
 Aid agencies clearly had enough warning of the pending crisis arising from drought and famine across the Horn of Africa, but the response has been inadequate, according to David Peppiatt, head of humanitarian policy at the British Red Cross. A panel examining how the crisis could have been avoided pointed to a lack of significant media coverage until early July -- some nine months after the UN World Food Programme began sounding the alarm. The Guardian (London)/Poverty Matters blog (9/30) - Mobile schools help educate India's poorest
 Old buses are being converted into classrooms in Delhi, the capital of India, and driven to poor neighborhoods where children are offered two hours of classes daily. The program, which is supported by the UN Children's Fund, sometimes provides the only formal instruction for children who are not enrolled in government schools, and whose parents are uneducated. The Guardian (London)/IRIN.org (9/30) - Uighur women need protection
Threats to the traditions and customs of ethnic Uighurs living in a western province of China are flying under the radar, writes Marla Mossman, founder of the Peace Caravan project, which focuses on historic Silk Road communities. Mossman participated last week in the Social Good Summit co-hosted by the United Nations Foundation. The Huffington Post (10/2) - New sanctuary protects sharks
Commercial shark fishing and trade in shark products will be forbidden in the 750,000-square-mile ocean sanctuary created by the Marshall Islands archipelago. The sanctuary -- the largest in the world of its kind, about the size of Mexico -- increases the area of ocean where the slow-to-reproduce predators are protected to some 1.8 million square miles. BBC (10/2) - How Mashable became a force for Social Good
The website Mashable, which made a name for itself as one of the earliest news outlets to take social media seriously, partnered with the United Nations Foundation and the 92nd Street Y on the Social Good Summit that to organize the four-day Social Good Summit in New York City. UN Foundation Vice President of Communications and Public Relations Aaron Sherinian said, "Our mission is to help the United Nations tell its story. Power is shifting, and we want to help the UN break out of its walls and engage with the people who want to engage with them. And if someone is going to start a digital Davos, it is Mashable." The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (10/2) - E-commerce is passing by underdeveloped Africa
Most of Africa lacks the broadband infrastructure to tap into the growth potential of e-commerce, according to participants at the UN-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. A lack of investment in mobile networks, coupled with what were described as steep taxes and levies for firms that build submarine cables linking the continent to others, are inhibiting development, according to delegates, who rejected a proposal for a new UN body for Internet governance oversight. Reuters (9/30)  | - Syrian dissidents unite
The announcement by Syrian dissidents of the creation of a council intended to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has come as the peaceful uprising in the Syrian city of Homs has turned into a violent struggle in which armed protesters, calling themselves revolutionaries, are facing off with security services in what observers say is a semblance of civil war. The city, seen as an ethnic and religious microcosm of the country, could presage the future of the nation's months-old popular uprising. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (10/1) Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
|
 | Key Sites
| | |
This SmartBrief was created for eleccion@yahoogroups.com
| Advertise With Us | Amy DiElsi
Director for UN Foundation Communications
United Nations Foundation
1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
(D) 202-419-3230
(C) 202-492-3078
(F) 202-887-9021
www.unfoundation.org | | | | About UN WIRE | | UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation which is dedicated to supporting the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today. |
| | | | | | | Recent UN Wire Issues: - Friday, September 30, 2011
- Thursday, September 29, 2011
- Wednesday, September 28, 2011
- Tuesday, September 27, 2011
- Monday, September 26, 2011
| | | Lead Editor: Adam Mazmanian
Contributing Editor: Juliette Terzieff
Mailing Address:
SmartBrief, Inc.®, 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 | | | | | | © 1999-2011 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment