Israel destroying two-state solution hopes, Abbas warns UN

Abbas said the he would soon present the UN Security Council with a resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank

President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine addresses the 71st United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan, New York, US on 22 September (Reuters)

Thursday 22 September 2016

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Israel's ongoing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank was destroying any hope of a two-state solution.

"What the Israeli government is doing in pursuit of its expansionist settlement plans will destroy whatever possibility is left for the two-state solution along the 1967 borders," the Palestinian leader said at the 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York. 

He went on to urge countries to recognise Palestine as a state and said that he would soon present the UN Security Council with a resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which he hopes every country in the 15-member Security Council would support. Previous attempts at calling for reform through the UN have been opposed by the US and often the UK and France which all hold a veto vote. 

"Those who believe in the two-state solution should recognise both states, and not just one of them," Abbas said, while heavily criticising the UK for the 1917 Balfour Declaration that called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland on territory largely inhabited by Palestinians. 

"We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic, legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine," Abbas said. 

The world had to focus on making 2017, the centenary of the declaration, the year that Israeli occupation of the West Bank was finally ended, he added. 

An hour after the Palestinian president, who is facing growing unrest at home and was forced to cancel long overdue local elections that were slated to take place next month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage and denied that the conflict was "never" about the hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israeli settlers who now live in the Wast Bank in contravension of international law. 

"This remains the true core of the conflict: the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognise the Jewish state in any boundary," he said. 

"This conflict has never been about the settlements or about establishing a Palestinian state. It's always been about the existence of a Jewish state, a Jewish state in any boundary." 

Netanyahu said that Haifa, Jaffa and Tel Aviv, all cities in Israel, were "the real settlements they are after".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel addresses the 71st United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan (Reuters)

The issue of settlements in the West Bank was nonetheless "real," he conceded, saying that it "can and must be resolved in final negotiations, final-status negotiations."

Abbas' comments at the UN come a day after US President Barack Obama reportedly put aside his differences with Israeli Prime Minister, telling reporters that it was "important for America's national security to ensure we have a safe and secure Israel, one that can defend itself". 

However, he did stress that Washington continued to have "concerns around settlement activity". 

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition. 

Israeli and Palestinian leaders clash at UN general assembly

Netanyahu cites Palestinian rejectionism as main obstacle to peace while Abbas blames Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank

Benjamin Netanyahu accused the UN of having an ‘obsessive bias’ against Israel. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem-Thursday 22 September 2016

Israeli and Palestinian leaders have traded pointed barbs at the UN general assembly, in a rhetorical exchange that underlines the deep differences between the two sides – and the dim prospects for meaningful dialogue.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, invited the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to address the Israeli parliament and said he was willing to speak to the Palestinian legislative council in Ramallah. But Netanyahu insisted on Thursday that the central problem was Palestinian rejectionism, not Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

The two leaders’ speeches reflected their very different personal styles, with Netanyahu relying heavily on the theatrical and confrontational style he has brought to his recent general assembly addressesthat have seen him deploy props, and, last year, a period of silence. For his part, Abbas called on the UN to declare 2017 – the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories – the year to end the occupation.

Speaking an hour before Netanyahu, Abbas told the general assembly that Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank was destroying “whatever possibility is left for a two-state solution”.

The outgoing UN general secretary, Ban Ki-moon, and the US president, Barack Obama, cited Israeli settlement-building as a threat to a two-state solution in their own speeches to the assembly earlier this week.

Abbas used his speech to reiterate Palestine’s recognition of Israel in 1993 that he said remains ‘valid’. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Netanyahu aimed his fire at what he described as Palestinian incitement, while denying it existed in Israeli society, and used the opportunity to accuse UN members of “obsessive bias” against Israel.

“The UN began as moral force, and has become a moral farce,” Netanyahu declared, adding that while the UN denounces Israel, the US supports it. The Israeli prime minister saved his heaviest criticism for allegations levelled at the Palestinian Authority, claiming it had no interest in peace.

“This remains the true core of the conflict: the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognise the Jewish state in any boundary,” he said, in a direct contradiction of Abbas.

“This conflict has never been about the settlements or about establishing a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu told the UN.

Netanyahu added that Israeli cities Haifa, Jaffa and Tel Aviv were “the real settlements they are after”.

The issue of settlements in the West Bank was nonetheless “real”, he conceded, adding that it “can and must be resolved in final negotiations, final-status negotiations”.

Netanyahu’s comments came despite the fact that Abbas had reiterated his view of Palestinian recognition of Israel in his speech. Abbas said: “I say to him [Netanyahu] today that our 1993 recognition of the existence of the state of Israel, a recognition which remains valid to this moment, is not a gratuitous recognition.”

In his speech, Abbas also reiterated his demand from the British government that it apologise for the 1917 Balfour declaration that agreed to the establishment in principle of a Jewish state in Palestine. “This is the least Great Britain can do,” he said.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks last collapsed in 2014 and there are few hopes for a resumption anytime soon, in part because of Israel’s anger at Palestinian violence and Palestine’s criticism of settlements constructed on occupied land where it wishes to establish a state. 

On the issue of peace talks, Abbas said: “Our hand remains outstretched for making peace”, but questioned whether any Israeli leader was ready to make “a true peace ... that will abandon the mentality of hegemony, expansionism and colonisation”.

Abbas accused Israel of “continuing to evade” an international conference that France wants to hold before the end of the year, to focus on a framework and timeline for ending the occupation.

Gabon Is Recounting Its Votes, But the Ballots Were Already Burned

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

NEW YORK — Gabonese officials announced this week that the country’s Constitutional Court will recount votes from last month’s controversial presidential election, when incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba defeated opposition leader Jean Ping by just 5,594 votes.

Now they’re threatening to arrest Ping if he disagrees with the court’s results and protests in the capital of Libreville turn violent again.

In an exclusive interview Wednesday with Foreign Policy, Gabonese Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Moussa-Adamo said that Ping’s goal has been “to create chaos so that the international community will step in and rule the country.”

Were that to happen, he predicted, Ping would eventually try to organize new elections and take over the presidency. Moussa-Adamo’s comments, in New York, followed a Libreville press conference Wednesday where government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie told reporters that “if [Ping] crosses the line, he will be arrested.”

Gabon has garnered international attention in the past month as protesters have taken to the streets, claiming the August elections were rigged in favor of Bongo, whose family has ruled the oil-rich nation for decades. Bongo’s camp insists there was no rigging on its side, and has accused Ping of agitating his supporters in order to destabilize the country. It’s unclear how many people have been killed in the post-election violence, as the opposition claims upwards of 100 are dead and the government says the real count is a fraction of that. Around 1,000 people have been arrested.

Though Bongo’s government has agreed that the votes from at least some polling stations will be recounted, it’s refusing to allow African Union observers to observe the process. Moreover, Moussa-Adamo said, all of the ballots were immediately burned after the vote, so “it’s more of a review and a tabulation than a recount.”

He said the burned ballots should come as little surprise. “At every single voting station, the results are read out openly in front of everybody, then everything is tallied, there’s a tally sheet, and the actual ballots are burned in front of everybody,” Moussa-Adamo told FP. Additionally, he said, members of the opposition and ruling parties as well as the independent electoral commission sign the sheets before the ballots are burned.

An actual recount of individual votes would be impossible, he said, because “the only thing that remains are the tally sheets.”

Steve McDonald, a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Africa Program who has observed two elections in Gabon, told FP that he has “never heard of burning the election ballots so quickly; in fact, really, never at all until long after the countdown.” (A report released by the National Democratic Institute ahead of the election said that Gabonese officials planned to burn them immediately, but recommended they wait until the contestation period was over before doing so.)

Now, McDonald said, by refusing to allow independent observation of the recount, “one would get the suspicion that they are trying to rig it.”

But Moussa-Adamo compared allowing the African Union to observe the recount to allowing outsiders to observe Supreme Court procedures in the United States. He also said that it is “stupid and unfair” to compare the unrest in Gabon to other African nations where there have been contested votes or post-election violence over the past year.

“When you had a problem here between Bush and Gore, did an observer go to the Supreme Court and see how you do this?” he asked. “It’s not in the law. Are you asking the government of Gabon to break its own law?”

The results should be announced on Friday.

Photo credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images

The Real Cost of the War of Terror

The billions upon billions in military aid sent to the co-perpetrators of the war of terror, including the $38 billion that has been promised Israel over the next 10 years. The $1.5 trillion joke known as the F-35 fighter jet. The $6.5 trillion of “year-end adjustments” in the ongoing, never-ending saga of the Pentagon’s missing trillions. 

by James Corbett

TheInternationalForecaster.com

( September 22, 2016 , Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) We all know by now that the realterrorists (the politicians in the suits and ties and the banksters that pull their strings) are waging their war of terror on multiple fronts for multiple reasons.

Domestically, it rallies the population around the flag, keeping the flock in check. At the same time it justifies the build up of the police state control grid to catch the thought criminals who resist.

It also writes a blank check for the illegal wars of aggression abroad. Simply place your terrorist boogeyman in the square of the chessboard you’re looking to occupy and — hey presto! — you’ve got yourself an excuse to invade. (Even if you “accidentally” end up supporting them, right Uncle Sam?)

But of course the politicians, their string pullers and their fellow travelers benefit from the war of terror in a more straightforward sense. They get to use the terror scares that they themselves create to drum up billions upon billions in the name of fighting the boogeymen.

We’ve all heard of the $640 toilet seat and other ridiculous examples of Pentagon “overspending,” but these stories tend to trivialize the abuses by the military-defense contractors whose entire industry is built on providing overpriced solutions to made up problems. After all, the Pentagon itself just admitted it could cut $2 billion from its budget by shutting down some of the needless bases and defense facilities that have been built around the globe in the name of the American empire.

But $2 billion is chump change.

In the 15 years since 9/11, $1 trillion has been spent building up the police state in the American “homeland” itself.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department has been spending over $600 billion per year maintaining the American military in the post-9/11 era. $4 to $6 trillion of that was spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone, the most expensive wars in US history.

Combined defense spending, including Homeland Security, DoD, State Department, defense related debt interest and other defense costs, has reached the highest levels in modern history over the past decade.
From a Cold War era high in the 1980s of $3500 for every man, woman and child in the United States to a 1990s low of $2500, that figure has since breached $4000. Just look at the chart; it isn’t hard to see exactly when the trend reversed and the good times began to flow for the military-industrial contractors: It was 9/11, the birthday of the war of terror and the new era of homeland security.

There are other numbers we could throw in here:

The billions upon billions in military aid sent to the co-perpetrators of the war of terror, including the $38 billion that has been promised Israel over the next 10 years.

The $1.5 trillion joke known as the F-35 fighter jet.

The $6.5 trillion of “year-end adjustments” in the ongoing, never-ending saga of thePentagon’s missing trillions.

But we have to be careful not to fall into the psychopaths’ trap. The real costs of the war of terror cannot be measured in dollars and cents. They are not tallied in a ledger. They are not about money at all.

The real cost is paid in blood. The blood of a million dead Iraqis. The blood of the hundreds of thousands murdered men, women and children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The blood that is being shed right now in Syria, in Libya, in Yemen, and in all of the countries that have crossed through the crosshairs of the NATO, American and Israeli terrorists.

It’s measured in the devastation of towns and cities that once bustled with life. In the families torn apart by drone bombings. In the havoc of the hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes, leave their families and their homeland and their former life behind as everything they knew is torn to shreds.

It’s measured in the blood of the servicemen and women themselves. Lied to, propagandized and indoctrinated their entire lives, given a ticket out of grinding poverty by the military, shot up with experimental vaccines and shoved into the meat grinder for tour of duty after tour of duty. And then, upon returning home, left to rot in rundown hospitals and ignored by the glad-handing politicians and their military-industrial cronies as a suicide epidemic gradually thins their ranks.

This is the true cost of the war of terror, and it is incalculable. And none of it, absolutely none of it, will come to an end until the public stops believing the false narrative of the war of terror and the lies that have brought it about.

Much like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny, the real terrorists can only survive if you believe in them.

[ Photograph by photographer Gen Vagula at Ämari Airbase, Estonia ]

US Elections Will It Lead To A Wall Erection?

By Mano Ratwatte –September 21, 2016

Mano Ratwatte

Why does the US Presidential election matter? It matters because USA remains the world’s only real super power; both economic power wise and militarily. It also matters because as of late both India and Sri Lanka have clearly signaled their orbit into the US sphere of influence. For Sri Lanka, it matters because if the USA gets the military toe-hold it desires in this Indian Ocean Island(with Indian acquiescence) it will clearly follow that ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups too would harm Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has a US$9 billion trade deficit with the world , ut maintains a large trade surplus with the United States. In 2012 Exports to the United States, Sri Lanka’s largest single-country market, were projected to be US$2.2 billion in 2012, or 20% of total exports (the EU and UK are 33% and 10%, respectively). The United States is also Sri Lanka’s largest single-country market for garments, taking in almost 40% of total garment exports (the EU and UK are 50% and 23%, respectively).Trump talks about tariffs and protectionist measures that are likely to impact Apparel exporting nations too. ISIS and Al Qaeda in Iraq all stemmed from the idiotic Bush-Blair invasion in 2003 and the global chaos unleashed by neo-conservatives. Same could be said about Libya under Obama and Hillary, and now where there was no ISIS, there is great chaos and ISIS in Libya! Does Sri Lanka need another round of terrorism; this time from a global movement, if US establishes bases in Sri Lanka?

This year’s election will be the country’s most racially and ethnically diverse ever. Nearly one-in-three eligible voters on Election Day (31%) will be Hispanic, black, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority, up from 29% in 2012.  True, the nation’s 156 million non-Hispanic white eligible voters in 2016 far outnumber the 70 million eligible voters that are racial or ethnic minorities, their growth lags that of minority groups. As a result, the non-Hispanic white share of the electorate has fallen from 71% in 2012 to 69%.

The following table shows the ethnic breakdown percentages by candidate.

Read More

Colombia rebels come out of the jungle to jump into politics — and to party

The FARC secretariat on the Opening ceremony of thFARC guerrilla fighters attending the opening ceremony of the 10th FARC conference in the llanos del Yari. (Joao Pina/For The Washington Post)e 10th FARC conference in the llanos del Yari, Colombia. (Joao Pina/For The Washington Post)--

David Preciado lost his left arm in combat six years ago. (Joao Pina/For The Washington Post)

By Nick Miroff September 22 at 5:00 AM

EL DIAMANTE, Colombia — Of all the strange sights at the “conference” held this week to mark the end of the FARC guerrillas’ half-century war, none was more surreal than the concert stage they fired up in the evenings. Set in the middle of a vast meadow, with a fog machine and a video screen the size of a tank, it was the brightest thing for miles around.

Big-name bands had been trucked in from the faraway capital, Bogota, and some of the rebels came out of the forest to dance in their fatigues and rubber boots. Others stared blankly, looking bewildered by all the light and noise.

“I went to watch for a bit, but it hurt my ears,” said David Preciado, 33, who had never been to a concert. He has been fighting in the jungle since age 14. “I guess I’m not used to it,” he said.

No one — not the guerrillas, and certainly not the Colombian public watching them — is used to any of this.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has reached a peace deal with the government that, if approved by voters Oct. 2, would bring an end to the longest armed insurgency in the Western Hemisphere.

To prepare, FARC leaders gathered 200 guerrilla “delegates” this week for a six-day conference whose stated purpose was to discuss the accords and smooth the rebels’ transition to electoral politics.

Clearly the rebel commanders also wanted to throw their troops a party, and the result was something like a Marxist-Leninist version of a USO show.

During the day, while the commanders and delegates met behind closed doors, hundreds of rank-and-file guerrillas who had been brought in to provide security and other assistance played soccer, cooked elaborate stews and patiently attended to the questions of the many Colombian and foreign journalists invited to the event. At night the beer flowed and booming music rattled the jungle.

[Here are the details of Colombia’s peace deal with the FARC ]

The conference was held five hours from the nearest town, in an areaof eastern Colombia known as the Savannas of Yari, a name thatonce conjured fear. It is where the FARC often kept kidnapping victims chained in the jungle, and where others vanished forever.

This week it became the setting for an impromptu rebel city, with generators pumping 24-hour electricity, restaurant tents offering Old Parr whisky and cold beer, and nightly concerts under a full moon. Vendors selling T-shirts, ice cream and hamburgers showed up, too. It felt like ahybrid of Burning Man and a communist summer camp, only with AK-47s instead of Frisbees.

A few family members also arrived to reunite with loved ones they haven’t seen in years. If the peace deal is approved, FARC troops will begin relocating to U.N.-monitored camps where they will start disarming, and their relatives are expected to be able to join them.

Preciado, who lost his left arm in combat six years ago, hasn’t seen his parents or siblings since 1997, when he joined the guerrillas. They have no idea if he is alive , he said. Preciado has sent friends to check on them without their knowledge.

He let out a heavy sigh when asked what it would be like to meet them again. “A sea of tears,” he said.

Fight moves to the ballot box

The latest polls show the Oct. 2 referendum is likely to pass by a wide margin. But it was difficult to tell how the guerrillas’ celebratory event might play on television to a Colombian public still conflicted about a deal that will allow FARC leaders to avoid prison time if they fully admit to war crimes and make amends.

There appears to be even more resentment, at least among poorer Colombians, that the deal will give demobilized fighters cash stipends to facilitate their transformation to civilian life. FARC commanders have insisted the organization has no money to contribute, despite the widespread perception that the rebels have socked away hundreds of millions of dollars fromdrug trafficking.

[Peace with FARC may be coming, so Colombia’s farmers are on a coca binge]

The infrastructure set up for this week’s event — heavy construction equipment, a gas station and especially the concert stage — probably cost the FARC hundreds of thousands of dollars.

FARC commanders were evasive all week about their plans,ducking most reporters’ questions. The peace accords commit the Colombian government to dedicating more money and attention to rural development, but the pact does not promise the kind of sweeping economic and political change that has long been at the core of FARC revolutionary doctrine. The group says it will fight for those ideals at the ballot box.

The FARC, or at least the still-unnamed party that will succeed it, will enter electoral politics at a time when the left is losing ground across Latin America. In speeches there was much praise for late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, but little indication the guerrillas view his “Bolivarian” socialist movement as a guidepost.

Pablo Catatumbo. whose real name is Jorge Torres, a member of the seven-man FARC leadership secretariat, said their movement would be devoted to “fighting corruption,” with a deep respect for opposing views and ideas.

“We will maintain the principles we’ve always been struggling for: a Colombia that is more inclusive, more fair and that respects democratic freedoms,” he told reporters.

It was here on the Savannas of Yari that the Colombian government held failed peace talks with the rebels from 1999 to 2002. The FARC was at the height of its power then, with as many as 20,000 fighters.

The government says the rebel force has withered to fewer than 7,000 combatants, but the true number remains a closely guarded FARC secret. For those accustomed to seeing photographs of smaller rebel units, it was impressive to see hundreds of battle-hardened, disciplined fighters in one place. Although diminished, they remain the last major guerrilla army in the Americas, and there is little doubt they would be able to keep fighting if Colombian voters end up rejecting the peace accords.

No one here seemed to be contemplating that scenario. But Colombian opposition leaders from the party of former president and FARC archenemy Álvaro Uribe arrived to campaign against the accords this week in San Vicente de Caguan, the town closest to the site of the conference.

The town’s mayor, Humberto Sánchez, was kidnapped by the rebels in 2006 and was held six months in the forest, until his family paid a ransom, he said.

Sánchez said local businesses were forced to make extortion payments to the guerrillas until a month ago, and he predicted many in town would vote against the accords. “A badly negotiated peace deal is worse than war,” Sánchez said.

Asked what they plan to do after giving up their weapons, a few rebel fighters at the conference said they wanted to go back to school or return to farm life. All said they were ready to do whatever their commanders asked of them.

“I’d really like to work in media,” said Adriana Gutierrez, 32, after meeting so many reporters this week. “This work seems really important right now.”

Gutierrez was getting ready for an interview with a BBC cameraman. She has been living in the jungle as a guerrilla soldier since age 17.

Welfare cuts led to deaths of 600 children from malnutrition, activist says

By Rina Chandran-Thu Sep 22, 2016

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Funding cuts for welfare schemes by India's government have contributed to child malnutrition in Palghar district in Maharashtra, where 600 children are said to have died of starvation this year, according to activists.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the government of Maharashtra on Wednesday, asking for a detailed report on the deaths within four weeks.

The NHRC's notice came as State Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde visited the affected villages in Palghar and pledged to implement a child welfare scheme.

"These children died because central government funding for welfare schemes was cut, and the state did not direct adequate funds for its scheme," said Vivek Pandit, founder of Shramjivi Sanghatana, which works with vulnerable people in Maharashtra.

"We are not even 100 km from Mumbai, the big financial hub, yet we have children dying of hunger," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It is such a shame."

GROWING PROBLEM

Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, malnutrition is rampant in India. Four out of 10 stunted children globally are Indian, more than in sub-Saharan Africa.

Almost half of children younger than five years - or about 54 million children - are stunted in India, a "manifestation of chronic under nutrition", according to the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF.

The residents of Palghar district are mostly poor indigenous people who are largely dependent on the government's welfare schemes, Pandit said. Medical and healthcare facilities are also inadequate and hard to access, he said.

The situation has been exacerbated by funding cuts for welfare schemes by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

In a marked break with India's socialist past, Modi slashed funding for a scheme that gives millions of poor children free food, pumping money instead into building more roads and ports, in his first full-year budget last year.

The deaths of so many children amount to rights violations, NHRC said in its note. State authorities must be conscious of the plight of residents, especially children, it said.

"We have to provide jobs, address poverty and make sure the children have adequate food," Pandit said.

"We have the means, but there is no sympathy for the plight of these people, so little gets done," he said.

(Reporting by Rina Chandran, Editing by Jo Griffin. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

Help the Environment by Starting at Home

Cut back on your carbon footprint while simultaneously reducing your monthly bills.

Oregon honeybee enjoying the environment.Photo: Bonnie King

Sep-20-2016

(SALEM, Ore.) - The world is in an interesting position nowadays. Due to advancements in technology and the level of connection made possible by the internet more and more people are aware of the impact of the human race on the planet.

Though there are those that want to pretend as if this is not a problem, most sensible people can easily see that action must be taken in order to keep the planet thriving for the survival of the human species. It might feel as if the problems are too large for you to be able to do anything about but that is actually not the case. Starting with manageable tasks around the home can prove advantageous in regards to making a difference.

It is often the small steps that wind up being the most useful when looking at the bigger picture. To help you out, here are a few tips that you can use in order to reduce your carbon footprint and keep the world lush.

Your Garden

What better place to begin focusing on your environmental impact than in the garden? It might appear as if planting seeds and tending to the spoils of the earth is helpful to the planet by itself but that is not always true. There are many harmful practices involved with gardening that can have an adverse effect.

When you are able to focus on the way that you go about your gardening and spot any problem areas that you have you will find it easier to make the best choices possible while outdoors. Start exploring tips on what you can do differently and you are going to start making the correct adjustments to how you garden. A great way to find helpful tips is by listening to experts in the industry. Jai Shroff has made a name for himself for his revolutionary agricultural approaches. 

Over the years Shroff has been a big player in vocalizing and solving problems that are involved with the practice of agriculture.

A large issue many have addressed has to do with pesticides. Eliminating these chemicals from your practice can be helpful because they often wind up killing more insects than intended and the pesticides can also sometimes prove harmful to the plants.

Instead of reaching for chemicals try playing with the idea of introducing helpful insects like lacewings to your garden and the problem will begin to solve itself.

Your Cleaning Supplies

Next, you are going to want to head inside and begin considering some of the practices that you engage with when it comes to keeping your home tidy. Cleaning agents are useful because they allow you to get that deep clean that you are looking for. Unfortunately, as with pesticides, the chemicals that are found within some of these products can prove more harmful than most people would like.

It might feel upsetting to know that you should no longer use that extra-strength bottle of cleaner that you love so much but there are ways to both help the planet and get your home in the right shape. Natural cleaning agents can be a great area to explore. Many experts have stated that a combination of vinegar and baking soda can prove to be just as useful, if not more, than some of the cleaning products found on the market.

There are tons of amazing recipes that can be found across the internet in order to concoct an inexpensive and effective cleaning agent that is also good for the environment.

Consume Less

If you are looking for ways to help the environment and also take some stress off your budget you might want to consider your energy consumption. There are many problems that the world has to face right now and an overuse of energy is one of the largest.

If you find ways to consume less on a given day, by switching to the right energy-saving light bulbs and remembering to unplug your chargers and cords, then you will be amazed at how much of a difference you can make. You will be cutting back on your carbon footprint while simultaneously reducing your monthly bills and that can prove useful. In order for you to be able to do what is right by the planet, you need to start with small steps. These tips should serve as a jump-off point for you.

If you are not someone who gardens regularly then you probably do not need to worry about which chemicals you are using. However, it stands to reason that you are probably engaging in practices that are harmful to the environment and you do not even realize it.

Examine your own life and see if there are specific instances throughout your day that can be altered to help the world. Doing this will make you feel great by keeping you on top of your game in regards to the future of the planet.

Zuckerberg and Chan aim to tackle all disease by 2100

Priscilla Chan was trained as a paediatrician

By Leo Kelion-21 September 2016

Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged $3bn (£2.3bn) to fund medical research over the next decade.

At a press conference in San Francisco, they said their ultimate goal was to "cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century".

The funds will be distributed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which they created in December 2015.

Tech leaders are increasingly turning their attention to health.

Earlier in the week, Microsoft said it intended to "solve" cancer by using artificial intelligence tools.

Google's DeepMind unit is working with the NHS to find a way to use computers to more accurately diagnose diseases.

And IBM and MIT announced a tie-up earlier this week to develop AI-based systems that could help clinicians improve the care of elderly and disabled patients.

Even so, the Chan Zuckerberg plan is marked by its ambition.

Analysis by James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News

This is certainly an ambitious project, but is $3bn (£2.3bn) over the next decade enough to fulfil it?

One British charity - Cancer Research UK - is likely to spend more in that time on just one disease. Its research budget is currently $0.5bn (£404m) a year.

The Wellcome Trust - the world's biggest medical research charity - is investing significantly more: $6.5bn (£5bn) over the next five years.

And the US' medical research agency, the National Institutes of Health, spends a whopping $32.3bn (£25bn) every year.

There is no doubt that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative could make a real impact - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given real impetus to eliminating malaria.

And advances in technology are transforming and accelerating medical research - for example, cancer drugs designed by artificial intelligence are showing success in clinical trials.

But curing, preventing or managing all disease remains a lofty and distant goal.

Biohub projects

Mr Zuckerberg said that at present 50 times more money was spent on treating people who are sick than on curing the diseases that would stop them getting ill in the first place, and added that this needed to change.

VIDEO

He outlined three principles that will guide the couple's investments:

• to bring scientists and engineers together
• to build tools and technology that advance research
• to grow the movement to fund more science around the world

Ms Chan added that they had already committed $600m to creating a new research centre called the Biohub, which will bring together engineers, computer scientists, biologists, chemists and other innovators.

The Biohub will initially work on two projects.

The first is the Cell Atlas, a "map" that describes the different types of cells that control the body's major organs.

The second is the Infectious Disease Initiative, which will try to develop new tests and vaccines to tackle HIV, Ebola, Zika and other new diseases.

Mr Zuckerberg predicted that by 2100 the average life expectancy would be beyond 100 years.

But he cautioned that it would take years before the couple's fund led to the creation of new medical treatments and further time before they could be applied to patients.

Bill Gates said his hosts were making an "incredible commitment to research and development"

Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates - who has funded his own health research via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - appeared at the event to praise the announcement.

He described it as "very bold and ambitious" but added that "we desperately need this science".

Long-term goals

Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Chan announced in December 2015 that they planned to give away 99% of their shares in Facebook to fund good causes following the birth of their daughter.

The organisation's stated mission is to make long-term investments in work that advances human potential and promotes equality.

Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Chan set up their philanthropic company following the birth of their daughter Max

They had previously announced investments in education-related start-ups.

One expert said that dealing with all disease was "clearly ambitious" but added that deep-pocketed philanthropists were defined by the fact they could take such risks.

"The Chan Zuckerberg announcement is unusual in size but is in keeping with trends amongst today's biggest donors who want to achieve transformational change, prefer funding prevention over cure and tend to invest in causes and organisations with which they have prior connections," commented Dr Beth Breeze, director of the centre for philanthropy at the University of Kent.

"Most donations reflect the 'philanthropic autobiography' of the donor and this is no exception.

"Chan is an alumna of the University of California, San Francisco

.

"So, the couple will already know and trust the people who will spend the money.

"She is trained as a paediatrician and recently became a mother so is aligning her professional and personal experiences with her philanthropic priorities."

தமிழர் சிறுபான்மை இனம் அல்ல ஐ.நாவில் ஒலித்த குரல்

September 22, 2016

இலங்கையின் வரலாற்றை கூர்ந்து கவனித்தால் தமிழர் சமூகத்திற்கு என்ன நேர்ந்துள்ளது என்பது புரிய வரும் என பிரான்ஸ் மனித உரிமைகள் மையத்தின் இயக்குனர் ச.வி.கிருபாகரன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

ஐ.நா மனித உரிமைகள் சபையின் பக்க அறையில் இடம் பெற்று வரும் கூட்ட தொடரில் இலங்கை விடயம் தொடர்பில் விவாதிக்கப்பட்ட போது அவர் இதனை கூறியுள்ளார்.

பெரும்பாலானவர்கள் சமீபகாலமாக கூறிவருவது தமிழ் சமூகம் இலங்கையில் சிறுபான்மையினர் என்று. ஆனால் தமிழ் சமூகம் ஒருபோதும் சிறுபான்மையினர் அல்ல. மாறாக அவர்கள் ஒரு தேசத்தினர்.

அவர்களுக்கான தனியாக மொழி, மதம், கலாச்சாரம் மட்டுமின்றி அவர்களுக்கென ஒரு பிரதேசமும் இருக்கின்றன. கடந்த பல ஆண்டுகளாக சர்வதேச விசாரணைக்கு கோரிக்கை விடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நிலையில் இலங்கையில் தற்போது ஆட்சி மாற்றம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.

ஆட்சி மாற்றத்துடன் ஆட்சியாளர்களிடமும் மாற்றம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. இதனால் என்ன நேர்ந்தது என்றால் குறித்த தீர்மானத்தில் ஜனாதிபதிக்கும் பிரதமருக்கும் ஒருமித்த கருத்து ஏற்படவில்லை. அதுமட்டுமின்றி வெளிவிவகார அமைச்சுக்கு இது இரண்டிலும் இல்லாத புது கருத்தை முன்னெடுத்து செல்கிறார்.

இதேவேளை, சரித்திர ரீதியில் தமிழ் மக்களின் உரிமைகள் மீறப்படுவதாகவும், ஆட்சி மாற்றம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள போதிலும் தமிழர்கள் மீதான உரிமை மீறல் தொடர்வதாகவும் அவர் மேலும் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.