Free Julian Assange!!
Free the founder and editor of Wikileaks Julian Assange. (more…)
Tag Archives: united nations
Questions for John Savage: How can the global Internet be governed?
Beyond managing domain names and associated IP addresses, the Internet does not have much governance. Technical experts from around the world met recently in Berlin to discuss options. John Savage, the An Wang Professor of Computer Science at Brown, presented a working paper on approaches to the Internet governance question. (more…)
World population to keep growing this century, hit 11 billion by 2100
Using modern statistical tools, a new study led by the University of Washington and the United Nations finds that world population is likely to keep growing throughout the 21st century. The number of people on Earth is likely to reach 11 billion by 2100, the study concludes, about 2 billion higher than widely cited previous estimates. (more…)
Sustainable, sharing communities explored in Karen Litfin’s book ‘Ecovillages’
Karen Litfin is a University of Washington associate professor of political science and author of the book “Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community.” She answered a few questions about the book, and her work, for UW Today.
Q: What is the main message of “Ecovillages”?
A: After teaching global environmental politics for two decades and watching planetary conditions deteriorate, I grew disenchanted with top-down solutions. I also grew tired of making my students anxious, depressed and guilt-ridden. If our ways of living are unraveling planetary life-support systems, then we must answer the question: How, then, shall we live? (more…)
Report shows lack of knowledge about World War One’s global impact
A widespread lack of understanding of the global scale and impact of the First World War has been revealed in a new report. Research by the British Council in the UK and six other countries shows that knowledge of the conflict – which began 100 years ago – is largely limited to the fighting on the Western Front.
University of Exeter historian, Dr Catriona Pennell, acted as historical consultant to the report ‘Remember the World as well as the War’. It explores people’s perceptions and knowledge about the First World War and highlights the truly global nature of the conflict and its lasting legacy. This links closely with Dr Pennell’s various research projects, including the ‘First World War in the Classroom’, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project that seeks to establish how the First World War is taught in English Literature and History classrooms in England, and will provide the data set that will inform the nature and content of the Institute of Education’s WW1 Centenary Battlefield Tours Project. (more…)
Microsoft introduces the 4Afrika Scholarship program
Part of the 4Afrika Initiative, the program will offer mentorship, training, university-level education and employment opportunities to aspiring African youth.
LAGOS, Nigeria — Aug. 12, 2013 — In recognition of International Youth Day, Microsoft Corp. Monday introduced the 4Afrika Scholarship program, as part of its 4Afrika Initiative, through which it will provide mentorship, leadership and technical training, certification, university-level education, and employment opportunities for promising African students. Mentorship will be provided by Microsoft employees from around the world, and employment opportunities will include internships and both part-time and full-time jobs within Microsoft, as well as with the company’s more than 10,000 partners across Africa.
Through the company’s 4Afrika Initiative and YouthSpark program, Microsoft has committed to helping millions of Africans get critical skills for entrepreneurship and employability. The 4Afrika Scholarship program is one way the company intends to meet that goal, by helping ensure that promising youth have access to the education, resources and skills they need to succeed, regardless of their financial situations. To help redress gender disparity in higher education in Africa, the company is actively encouraging young women to apply. (more…)
A constitutional right to health care
UCLA-led study shows that many countries have it, but not the U.S.
Uruguay has it. So does Latvia, and Senegal. In fact, more than half of the world’s countries have some degree of a guaranteed, specific right to public health and medical care for their citizens written into their national constitutions.
The United States is one of 86 countries whose constitutions do not guarantee their citizens any kind of health protection. That’s the finding of a new study from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health that examined the level and scope of constitutional protection of specific rights to public health and medical care, as well as the broad right to health. (more…)
Health in conflict: A public health student undertakes a challenging internship in Lebanon
“In Syria it is a fast death; here it is a slow death,” a woman lamented as she described her situation as a refugee in Lebanon escaping an escalating civil war in her homeland.
Each woman’s story was different, but they were all sad, grim. Another refugee had five children and a husband who is detained somewhere back home. “When a father is present you might be able to afford some of the children’s needs, but if he’s not, from whom do you seek help?” she asked. (more…)