Syrian refugees overwhelm Lebanon, region
By ,
BAR ELIAS, Lebanon — Most of the 12,000 or so Syrians who sought sanctuary in this little Lebanese town seeped rather than swarmed across the border — a family here, another there — taking shelter where they could, in abandoned buildings or on plots of wasteland, until one day the community woke up and realized it had a crisis on its hands.
Likewise Lebanon, likewise Jordan, Turkey and, to a lesser degree, Iraq, all of them neighbors of the calamity unfolding in Syria, which is bleeding lives at the rate of more than 100 a day and refugees in excess of 100,000 a month.
The rate of departures has accelerated sharply in recent days, with nearly 50,000 Syrians fleeing the violence and reporting their presence to the United Nations in neighboring countries over the past week.
Europe 'has failed to learn from environmental disasters'
Report says thousands of lives could have been saved and damage to ecosystems avoided if early warnings heeded
Europe has failed to learn the lessons from many environmental and health disasters like Chernobyl, leaded petrol and DDT insecticides, and is now ignoring warnings about bee deaths, GM food and nanotechnology, according to an 800-page report by the European Environment Agency.
Thousands of lives could have been saved and extensive damage to ecosystems avoided if the "precautionary principle" had been applied on the basis of early warnings, say the authors of the 2013 Late Lessons from Early warnings report published on Wednesday.
They accuse industry of working to corrupt or undermine regulation by spinning and manipulating research and applying pressure on governments for financial benefit.
Monopoly of grain trade has forced millions into starvation, say charities
Campaign targets multinationals who control 90 per cent of produce
Hundreds of millions of people face starvation because five multinational companies control 90 per cent of the world’s grain trade, leading charities were protesting last night as they launched a campaign to reduce levels of hunger in developing countries.
They called for fresh action to crack down on tax avoidance by global corporations, claiming that the lives of 230 young children could be saved every day if firms paid their proper dues in the nations where they operated.
The new campaign challenges David Cameron to take the lead in championing measures to stop tax-dodging by companies, prevent farmers from being forced off their land and ensure western nations live up to their promises on aid.
ARAB WORLD
Algeria siege shows new actors in North Africa
The attack on a gas field in Algeria has shown how well organized terrorists in North Africa are. Further attacks could drastically transform the social order of the region in the long term.
The terrorists who seized the hostages at In Amenas gas field in eastern Algeria were well-prepared. They weren't just heavily armed; they also had a map of the gas field, and had watched the facility closely, with the help of supporters who worked there. At first, the authorities had wanted to negotiate with the terrorists, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said. But the terrorists' demands, especially the liberation of all their imprisoned companions, could not be met. So the authorities decided to carry out a raid despite the size of the facility, more than four hectares (10 acres). The gas field is ten hectares.
Philippines takes China maritime dispute to UN tribunal
January 23, 2013 - 3:11PM
Daniel Ten Kate and Joel Guinto
The Philippines has exhausted "almost all" political and diplomatic avenues in dispute with China over oil and fishing rights in the South China Sea.
The Philippines plans to challenge China's maritime claims before a United Nations-endorsed tribunal, a move that may raise tensions as the two nations vie for oil, gas and fish resources in contested waters.
"The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its maritime dispute with China," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters in Manila Tuesday. "To this day, a solution is elusive. We hope the arbitral proceedings shall bring this dispute to a durable solution."
The Philippines is challenging China's "nine-dash" map of the sea, first published in 1947, that extends hundreds of miles south from China's Hainan Island to the equatorial waters off the coast of Borneo. China claims "indisputable sovereignty" over more than 100 small islands, atolls and reefs that form the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
The Rio favela transformed into prime real estate
Wealthy buyers are snapping up plots of land in Vidigal after authorities pushed out drug gangs
Until recently, the most high-profile conflict in Rio de Janeiro's favelas has been between rival gangs fighting turf wars: now it is European investors tussling over a piece of prime real estate.
High on the steep slopes of Vidigal, the panorama across Atlantic beaches and distant islands is among the most spectacular in Rio, but tourists are unlikely to find it listed in most guidebooks.
The hillside shanty town was dominated by drug traffickers and widely considered off-limits among middle-class people.
But the favela is undergoing a transformation as the police have taken control of the streets and investors have pushed up the price of the land.
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