Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>We reported a news of last september about the decision for Uzbekistan to open up its cotton fields to international monitors this autumn.</em></p> <p><strong>Giving in to sustained international pressure</strong>, Uzbekistan is opening up its cotton fields to international monitors this autumn.</p> <p><strong>The International Labor Organization (ILO)</strong> has confirmed to EurasiaNet.org that it is sending a mission to monitor the Uzbek cotton harvest, which starts in mid-September.</p> <p><strong>"The ILO will be involved in the monitoring</strong> of the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan with the aim of preventing the use of child labor," spokesman Hans von Rohland confirmed by email on September 12. Monitoring will start "in the next few days".</p>
<p><em>UN Secretary General message on the Internationa Day of the Victims of the Holocaust.</em></p> <p><strong>UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon</strong> has issued message on the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, the UN Office in Baku told APA. The message says:</p> <p><strong>“Every year on the anniversary of the liberation</strong> of the Auschwitz concentration camp, we commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. We recall the suffering of millions of innocent people, and highlight the perils of anti-Semitism and hatred of any kind.
<p><em>Egypt, Greece, Serbia and Georgia among winners</em></p> <p><strong>The second edition of the Egyptian</strong> and European Film Festival in Luxor has wrapped up, presenting to the local public 62 films from 19 countries. The festival opened on January 19 through January 25.</p> <p><strong>Award winners included Withereing</strong> (2013) by young Serbian filmmaker Milos Pusic; The enemy within (2013) by Yorgos Tsemberopoulos (Greece) and In bloom (2013) by Nana Ekvtimishvilli (Georgia).
<p><em>Blackfriars rail station secures half its power from 4,400 roof-mounted solar panel.</em></p> <p><strong>The installation of 4,400 solar panels</strong> has been completed on the roof of Blackfriars station, marking another milestone in the delivery of the £6.5 billion Thameslink Programme.</p> <p><strong>Described by Network Rail as the world’s largest solar bridge</strong>, Blackfriars’ new photovoltaic panels, which were installed by Solarcentury, will provide half of the station’s energy, cutting its carbon emissions by more than 500 tonnes a year.</p> <p><strong>Blackfriars has undergone</strong> a major renovation as part of the Thameslink Programme, with work now completed on new platforms, redeveloping the Underground station and creating a new south bank entrance.
<p><em>Despite their greater age, big, old trees remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said a study Wednesday that explores how well forests slow global warming.</em></p> <p><strong>Despite their greater age, big old trees</strong> do more than small young ones to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said a study that explores how well forests slow global warming.</p> <p><strong>The findings overturn the conventional view</strong> that old trees are relatively unproductive in absorbing heat-trapping greenhouse gases.</p> <p><strong>In more than 400 tree species studied</strong>, the bigger and older specimens grew fastest and trapped the most carbon, the scientists found.
<p><em>We propose a news story of few months ago because her gesture is always actual. Mexican authorities awarded Martha Ivette Rivera Alanis who kept a group of children calm by singing to them as shots were fired outside, after her video of the incident became an internet hit.</em></p> <p><strong>The footage, posted on YouTube</strong>, shows Martha Ivette Rivera Alanis leading the five- and six-year-olds in song as they lay on the floor at the Alfonso Reyes kindergarten, in northern Nuevo Leon state, while bullets ring out in the background.</p> <p><strong>Police said gunmen had shot</strong> dead five people at a taxi stand near the school during the incident on Friday (May 2013).</p> <p><strong>Nuevo Leon state governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz</strong> recognised the teacher's "valour, devotion and courage to confront a risky situation" and handed her a framed certificate. "It shows us the path to follow in difficult times that our state and our country are experiencing, and it's with examples like this that we have to keep advancing," the governor added.</p>
<p><em>The Beijing Municipal People's Congress voted to limit and gradually reduce the total discharge smog.</em></p> <p><strong>The municipal legislature of Beijing</strong> on Wednesday passed a regulation on air pollution control featuring emission controls and harsher penalties in the city's latest effort to battle severe smog.</p> <p><strong>The Beijing Municipal People's Congress</strong> voted in favor of the regulation, the first of its kind for the Chinese capital, replacing a guideline issued in 2000.</p> <p><strong>The regulation says Beijing</strong> will limit and gradually reduce the total discharge of major air pollutants by setting yearly quotas for district and county governments and individual polluters, cutting coal burning and limiting car emissions.</p>
<p><strong></strong><em>Vienna to improve quality of housing and comply with directive.</em></p> <p><strong>Austria has embarked upon an ambitious programme</strong> for improving the energy performance of buildings, which covers both rehabilitation and new construction projects.<br /> <br /><strong>Comprehensive promotional programmes</strong> at national and regional level are now being co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) under 150 million euros framework loan. The contract for an initial 50 million euros tranche has already been signed between the EIB and Bausparkasse der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG ("Erste BAU"), which will make the funds available to borrowers.</p>
<p><em>Sunday marked 100th annual World Day for Migrants and Refugees</em></p> <p><strong>Pope Francis met asylum seekers</strong>, homeless people and Catholic faithful at the Holy Heart Basilica in Rome on Sunday afternoon. The pontiff visited the basilica on the occasion of the Church's 100th annual World Day for Migrants and Refugees.</p> <p><strong>"Do not lose hope</strong> for a better world," he encouraged migrants.<em> </em>The pope also thanked those who helped and protected migrants. Volunteers and priests at the parish provide support for homeless people and migrants in the capital.
Dialogue & Interculture
New Humanity NGO presented the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW project — co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Program — to the Youth Section of UNESCO in Paris.
Peace & Human Rights
Amid the rubble of Syria, art becomes an act of resistance. Discover the story of Aeham Ahmad, the “The Pianist of Yarmouk”, who defied the horror of war with the invincible beauty of his musical notes.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
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