STORY: A Joint Coordination Center will liaise with the shipping industry and will publish detailed procedures for ships in the near future, said deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.
“The government of Turkey has generously provided a physical space for the Joint Coordination Center where operations are being established now,” said Haq.
“By tomorrow, all parties and the U.N. will have a presence in the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul. We expect that the first ships may move within a few days.”
Russia’s Black Sea fleet has blocked grain exports from Ukraine since Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion. Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.
‘You can definitely say that global warming contributes to these massive swarms’
STORY: The unscripted moment capped a fraught ceremony for thousands of residential school survivors who sat in somber silence as Francis said how "deeply sorry" he was for the Catholic church's role in Canada's abusive residential school system, calling their forced cultural assimilation a "deplorable evil" and "disastrous error."It was a long-awaited apology on First Nations soil.The pope spoke to about 2,000 people assembled around him in an open-air, circular auditorium while more watched on large screens from a distance. Many wept.For more than a century, the residential school system forcibly separated more than 150,000 indigenous children from their families and subjected many to starvation, beatings and sexual abuse in what Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission called "cultural genocide."After the pope spoke, Cree Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a feather headdress on the pontiff's head as the crowd cheered. Soon after, the indigenous woman, with fist raised, sang the anthem in Cree as the pope watched.
Seventeen U.S. Republican state attorneys general wrote a letter to the chief executive of Alphabet's Google urging the company to show "crisis pregnancy centers," which oppose the procedure, in search results for people looking for abortion services. The letter comes after Democratic lawmakers wrote to Google in June arguing its search engine was giving inaccurate results to people seeking abortions by sometimes sending them to the crisis pregnancy centers, which steer woman away from the procedures. The request was prompted by a study released by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.
STORY: At a press conference, residential school survivor Evelyn Korkmaz, said she had been waiting 50 years for this apology but wished she could share it with those who had passed away."Unfortunately a lot of my family members, friends, classmates and members of my community who went to residential school were not able to hear it because they had passed on through suicide, alcohol addiction… and other substance abuse or whatnot because they could not endure or live with the trauma that they endured in these residential schools," she said.Tony Alexis, Chief of Alexis Nakota Sinoux Nation, said the apology triggered an "opening of a wound"."This wound that has been opened again, we can't just leave it like that, we really have to take the steps to make sure that we heal and recover our people," said Alexis.Louis Bull Tribe Chief Desmond Bull used the moment to urge those who say "get over it" to survivors instead to "get with learning about our history, get with learning about our culture, our people, who we are," because "inter-generational trauma impacts every youth, every member and everyone who had a family who has a survivor of residential schools."After the pope spoke in Maskwacis, Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a feather headdress on the pontiff's head. Francis stood from his chair and wore it for a few moments before a clapping crowd.Elder and residential school survivor, Jon Crier, said the gesture was to honor a man as an "honorary chief and leader in a community," and "an honoring of the work that he has done."Offering his apology near the site of two former schools in Maskwacis, Alberta, Francis said forced cultural assimilation was a "disastrous error" and called for a "serious" investigation of the schools to help survivors and descendants heal.
STORY: Saying “I am deeply sorry," Pope Francis apologized Monday to Canada's native people – for the first time on their land – for the Church's role in residential schools where indigenous children were abused.Speaking near the site of two former schools in Alberta, the pope’s apologetic words were translated to English for Canada’s indigenous groups:"I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry…"Pope Francis – who was using a wheelchair and a cane because of a fractured knee – said he was making a week-long "pilgrimage of penance" to help heal the wrongs done to indigenous people by Roman Catholic priests and nuns who ran abusive residential schools between 1881 and 1996 where thousands of children were starved, beaten and sexually abused.He is the first pope in nearly 20 years to visit Canada.An emotional visit for many… Including for an indigenous woman who sang a rendering of Canada’s national anthem in Cree with tears streaming down her face.On Monday, the pontiff branded forced cultural assimilation as a "deplorable evil" and "disastrous error."He called for a "serious investigation" of the schools and apologized for Christian support of the overall "colonizing mentality" of the times."With shame and unambiguously, I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples.”Indigenous leaders greeted the Pope as a fellow chief… And after his speech, a traditional feather headdress was presented to him.Despite the day’s events – many boarding school survivors and leaders of indigenous communities say they want more than an apology for what Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission called "cultural genocide."Many are calling for justice, financial compensation and the return of artifacts from the Vatican.
STORY: Germany is scrambling to avert a fuel crisis this winter. But one rural district has become a role model for how the country might wean itself off dwindling imports of Russian gas… by producing all the energy that it consumes itself.Rhein-Hunsrueck uses a combination of solar, wind and biofuel to generate enough power to run its homes, public buildings and businesses.It even leaves enough to contribute to an electric car-sharing service and e-bikes.The area's energy transition has been a relatively rapid one, according to district climate protection manager, Frank-Michael Uhle.“Up until 1995, not a single kilowatt hour of energy used in our district was produced by us. Everything had to be imported. Then some courageous visionaries said wars are being fought about oil and gas and we need to do something about it. So they collected money for the first wind turbine which produced electricity for 200 households. Today, we have 279 wind turbines which generate electricity for 300,000 households."Rhein-Hunsrueck also has biofuel plants, and its towns and villages are dotted with solar panels – just over three years after it turned climate-neutral.It's well ahead of the curve, even in a country with a well developed renewables sector.At a national level, Germany is targeting carbon neutrality by 2045 and for renewables to contribute 80% of power generation by 2030.But Berlin is currently being forced to contemplate the unsettling prospect of gas rationing during the winter.Thomas Lorenz, manager of the western district's waste management facility, says biofuel from woodland waste generates the equivalent of one million liters of heating oil per year – and they could make even more.“We are currently using about half of the waste. If we wanted to process all of it we could easily operate three other heating plants. So in theory, we could operate six plants."The district's energy transition has also brought economic benefits.Its unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5% – below the national average of 5.3%. And data from the Rhineland-Palatinate region's Energy Agency shows local municipalities are debt-free and have financial reserves of $101 million USD.
Pope Francis called for "healing" Tuesday as he joined a pilgrimage to a sacred lake in Canada, one day after making a landmark apology for the abuse of Indigenous children at Catholic-run schools.
Yamagami allegedly killed former prime minister because of his links to religious group he hated
Bishop Lamor Miller-Whitehead of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries said the shocking incident left his congregation “traumatized.”
STORY: Speaking at a regular press briefing, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price called on countries to ban sales of military equipment to Myanmar and refrain from any action that would lend the junta any international credibility.Asked if the Biden administration was considering sanctions on Myanmar's gas industry, a sector that was spared in previous rounds of U.S. sanctions, Price said that in their discussions of further measures, all options were on the table.Sentenced to death in secretive trials in January and April, the four activists were accused of helping a civilian resistance movement that has fought the military since last year's coup and bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.The country's first executions in decades triggered an international outcry.No country has the potential to influence Myanmar's trajectory more so than China, Price said, while also calling on the regional ASEAN grouping of countries to maintain precedent of barring junta representatives from regional meetings.
The music legend joined Brandi Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival Sunday for a goosebump-inducing set that included "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides Now."
US actor Paul Sorvino, famous for his role in the gangster classic "Goodfellas" and the father of actress Mira Sorvino, has died at the age of 83, his family said Monday.
STORY: Soon after polls closed, an exit poll was published by Sigma Conseil indicating a "yes" vote of 92.3%.There was no minimum level of participation for the measure to pass and the electoral commission put preliminary turnout at only 27.5%.The new constitution gives the president power over both the government and judiciary while removing checks on his authority and weakening the parliament.Opposition parties boycotted the referendum, accusing President Saied of a coup and saying the new constitution he published less than a month ago augurs a slide back towards autocracy.President Kais Saied ousted the parliament last year and moved to rule by decree, saying the country needed saving from years of paralysis as he rewrote the democratic constitution introduced after Tunisia's 2011 'Arab spring' revolution.
STORY: Authorities had earlier issued an emergency alert for multiple shootings in the city of Langley involving homeless people and asked residents to stay away from the area."We are actively investigating a series of shootings that has left two dead, one in critical condition and another with serious injuries," said Chief Superintendent Ghalib Bhayani of the regional Royal Canadian Mountain Police force."At this time we don’t know the motive behind this deadly incident, nor if there was any relationship between the deceased suspect and the victims."A Reuters witness saw two black SUVs, similar to those used by police emergency response teams, in a ditch near one of the shooting sites. One vehicle had bullet holes in the windshield.Police in Langley, a suburb of Vancouver, said they responded to "multiple reports of shots fired with several victims and several different scenes throughout the City of Langley, and one scene in the Township of Langley" and asked the public to remain out of several areas, including the parking lot of a casino and a bus stop.
STORY: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON NED PRICE SAYING:"With these horrific atrocities that the junta has carried out, there can be no business as usual with this regime."The execution of four democracy activists – “Jimmy” Kyaw Min Yu, Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw – by Myanmar’s military junta has received widespread international condemnation. The United States said Monday (July 25) that all options were on the table as it considered its response.The four men were sentenced to death in closed-door trials in January and April. They were accused of carrying out “terror acts” against the army that seized power in a coup last year which unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.Self-exiled journalist Aung Naing Soe says the international community needs to take action.“Many people are, how to say, frustrated with, frustrated on the action of the international community. It's just words, you know, it's like, oh we will do this, we worry, we did that, blah, blah, blah, you know. It's nothing in action, you know? If there's anything in action, such kind of executions would not happen."Amnesty International’s Chiara, Sangiorgio said the executions were an “enormous setback” and called for increased efforts to put accountability mechanisms in place."We have seen again and again, through the developments and the appalling human rights record of the military authorities in Myanmar since February 2021, that the more space they're left with, the more they tend to escalate. And the death penalty, with more than 100 death sentences being imposed by military tribunals in deeply unfair proceedings, is a clear example of what they're capable of and the fact that they're not going to stop there."Tom Andrews is the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.“I am afraid that even more floodgates are now opening and that there is even more to be of less, less restraint on the part of the junta to continue its attacks on the people of Myanmar and to try to instill fear, even more fear, in the population.”Andrews says that with 140 people on death row the executions – Myanmar's first in decades – indicates that the junta intends to carry out those sentences. A spokesperson for the junta last month defended the death penalty, saying it was justified and used in many countries.
The actor opened up about her experience making "Wakanda Forever" after losing "our king" Chadwick Boseman.
Religious minorities, especially Sikhs, have been a target in Afghanistan
China's biggest tech hub is rushing to stamp out a fresh Covid outbreak, ordering some of the country's biggest manufacturers to operate in a 'closed loop' to reduce infections, state media reported.
Over 14,000 heatwave-related hospitalisations have been witnessed in Japan
STORY: The Oja spring which provides a short respite from the sweltering heat is usually packed with Palestinian families on the weekends who come armed with floaties, quad-runners, and music.Residents of the area also bring their livestock to drink and cool off near the stream.However, residents expressed concern when a group of Israeli settler families, under the protection of the Israeli army, also visited the stream and played in the water, splitting it into two.The group pitched a tent in the area with Israeli flags seen flying over the spot of shade, while Israeli soldiers stood nearby.Al-Oja lies in the occupied West Bank, an area that was split into zones A, B and C during the Oslo peace accords agreed to in the 1990s and where Israeli settlements have been growing for years, raising Palestinian fears of displacement.Most countries regard settlements Israel has built on territory it captured in a 1967 Middle East war as illegal. Israel disputes this and has settled some 440,000 Israelis in the West Bank, citing biblical, historical and political ties to the area, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.
