انتقد مفوض الأمم المتحدة السامي لشؤون اللاجئين للفقراء handlingBy المالية جورج راسيل نشرت 14 مارس 2012 FoxNews.com حصريا: مكتب مفوض الأمم المتحدة السامي لشؤون اللاجئين، أو المفوضية، قبل عامين كان يجلس على مخزون من 437 مليون $ نقدا غير المنفق، حتى مع وكالة التدقيق الأمم المتحدة حذرت من أن التعامل مع قذرة من الأموال للخطر […]
Tag / UNHCR
Antonio Guteres was found Grossly Deficient in Managing UNHCR
Independant Board of Auditors Found UNHCR under Antonio Guteres Grossly Deficient Imperiling Future Contribtions from Member States
UN Independent Board of Auditors found Antonio Guteres Grossly Deficient in Managing UNHCR
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees blasted for poor financial handlingBy George Russell
Published March 14, 2012
FoxNews.com
EXCLUSIVE: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, two years ago was sitting on a stockpile of $437 million in unspent cash, even as a U.N. auditing agency warned that its sloppy handling of funds imperiled future contributions from U.N. member nations
The report, issued last year but only introduced for member-state review in the U.N. General Assembly, cites UNHCR for sloppy bookkeeping, poor financial oversight, managerial disarray, and a lack of tools to judge how well it was doing its job of helping tens of millions of the world’s displaced people.
The U.N.’s independent Board of Auditors used remarkably straight-forward language to lambaste the refugee agency, whose largest donor, the United States, contributed $712 million to UNHCR in 2010, according to the State Department. The auditors noted that the relief agency, which is financed largely by voluntary contributions, spent about $1.9 billion in 2010; its budget two years earlier was about $1.1 billion.
The auditors pointed out that there were “strong indicators of significant shortcomings in financial management” at the agency, headed since 2005 by Antonio Guterres, a former Socialist prime minister of Portugal. “This is a major risk for UNHCR,” the auditors warned, “given the increasing pressures on donors to justify why they provide public funds to international aid organizations.”
Moreover, the inspectors did not seem optimistic that the situation would change soon, even though UNHCR’s management now says that it is working hard on a wide variety of fronts to change the disturbing situation.
The Board of Auditors report, written last year but only recently published, amounted to the first major external assessment of UNHCR’s behavior after its spending began to balloon dramatically in 2008 in line with a new strategy known as the Global Needs Assessment, a novel way to encourage donors to come up with more cash.
Rather than looking at its donor pledges and then determining its budget, UNHCR is now using the Global Needs Assessment to determine the amount that it feels it needs to spend, then building a budget to accommodate that perspective — though, in the end, it still must manage with the amount it takes in.
The new approach has given more of a social welfare tilt to UNHCR relief efforts, even though it is still thought of primarily as a front-line relief group that doles out emergency food and shelter to populations displaced across national borders by war, famine and drought.
Click here to see the Auditors Report.
The Obama administration has apparently found the Global Needs approach convincing. U.S. contributions to the relief agency increased by about 40 percent between 2008 and 2010, before tailing off only slightly last year.
For this year and next, when UNHCR hopes to spend about $3.3 billion a year under its Global Needs, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News, U.S. support “will depend on current crises to which UNHCR responds.”
For UNHCR’s external auditors, however, the issue is not so much the agency’s needs as its financial and management capabilities — and these it found dolefully lacking. Among other things, the auditors’ report notes:
–UNHCR could not balance its many checkbooks. No fewer than 99 of its bank and investment accounts, holding more than $375 million, ‘lacked up-to-date reconciliations, a key financial control.’ The auditors had warned about the same problem a year earlier, and not much was done about it. (The backlog had been cut to three active accounts before the auditors’ report was published.)
–the agency wasn’t even prepared for its own audit, reflecting “significant deficiencies in the systems in place to prepare its financial statements, and in the quality of the supervision and ownership of these processes, from the most senior executive level downward and across the entire organization.”
–UNHCR “remains unable to gather and analyses basic management information on its operations,” or “to get a full grip on the performance of its implementing partners or the delivery of major initiatives.” Translation: it doesn’t know what it is actually doing.
–UNHCR’s own share of what it takes in from donors is high. Despite roughly 22 percent of its $1.9 billion in actual spending for 2010 that went to “administrative overhead and staff benefits,” the report notes. At the time of the audit, UNHCR had 6,300 regular staff working in some 380 offices located in 125 countries.
— despite those overheads, roughly one-third of UNHCR’s spending ($667 million) went to “implementing partners,” meaning non-government organizations and others who carried out relief operations. Who they all were, and how well they functioned, was not at all clear. The process of selecting those partners, the auditors noted, “lacks rigor and transparency, increasing the risk of fraud, corruption, inefficiency and poor partner performance.”
–More than half of the implementing partners had worked for UNHCR for more than five years, and the auditors found “little evidence of any kind of competitive selection process,” cost comparison or matching of capabilities with requirements. The Board of Auditors said it was “particularly concerned at the lack of transparency in partner selection processes and the increased risk of fraud and corruption to which this exposes UNHCR.”
–however badly the partners — or for that matter, UNHCR staffers — performed in the field, however, the Board of Auditors did not think highly of the agency’s ability to judge it. “Performance from its country network does not enable management to make effective judgments as to the cost-effectiveness of projects and activities or to hold local managers accountable for performance,” the report says.
If anything, the Board of Auditors report underplays the seriousness of UNHCR’s lack of field intelligence on its own operations, many of which stem from a multimillion-dollar fiasco involving installation of a new, systemwide software system, known as Focus. The software was supposed to integrate financial and human resources information, in order to propel UNHCR toward better “results-based management.”
According to another internal U.N. inspection report, which Fox News reported on last May, there have been “years of delays” in installing Focus, and the lack of information has affected hundreds of millions of dollars in UNHCR spending.
Asked how the U.S. viewed the Board of Auditors report, a State Department spokesman declared that “we follow the institutional and operational issues closely.” The spokesman also pointed to statements made by the U.S. at a meeting of UNHCR’s executive committee last October, where a U.S. diplomat declared that “several of the findings of the Board concern us,” without going into detail. At another “ex-com” session in Geneva, U.S. Ambassador David Robinson underlined that “the United States remains a committed partner with UNHCR and the beneficiaries it serves.”
How does UNHCR itself intend to deal with the management swamp outlined in the Board of Auditors report?
Not to worry, according to the agency’s management. In a report nearly as long as the auditors’ investigation, UNHCR last September outlined a lengthy list of “measures taken and proposed” to improve things. Some of them, however, seemed vague, or less than wholesale.
On the alarming bank account reconciliation process, for example, the agency reported that it had already done a great deal, and that “bank accounts held at Headquarters are fully reconciled and are routinely reconciled on a monthly basis.” But this excludes accounts in the field, where the auditors are particularly critical of oversight lapses.
In addressing what the auditors call “deficiencies in country office financial management and reporting capacity,” UNHCR says it will “review relevant audit and inspection reports, consult with Headquarters and Bureaux and continue to analyse data … to focus on those country offices in need of greater strengthening of financial management practices. Based on this review and analysis, UNHCR will develop workplans to address the identified gaps.” It hopes to have the process completed by the end of this year.
When it comes to adopting a “risk-management” approach to its partners in relief operations, as the auditors recommended, UNHCR says it first must adopt a “Differentiated Risk-Based Framework” and then apply it appropriately. The agency projects, somewhat murkily, that the “overall development application of the Framework will be completed by 2014.”
Click here to read the ‘Measures Taken’ report.
Asked by Fox News last week whether it was on track to meet the many promised deadlines in its “measures taken” report, UNHCR had not replied before this
Tالمفوضية السامية للأمم المتحدة لشؤون اللاجئين صريا: مكتب مفوض الأمم المتحدة السامي لشؤون اللاجئين، أو المفوضية، قبل عامين كان يجلس على مخزون من 437 مليون $ نقدا غير المنفق، حتى مع وكالة التدقيق الأمم المتحدة حذرت من أن التعامل مع قذرة من الأموال للخطر المساهمات في المستقبل من الأعضاء في الأمم المتحدة الدول
انتقد مفوض الأمم المتحدة السامي لشؤون اللاجئين للفقراء handlingBy المالية جورج راسيل
نشرت 14 مارس 2012
FoxNews.com
حصريا: مكتب مفوض الأمم المتحدة السامي لشؤون اللاجئين، أو المفوضية، قبل عامين كان يجلس على مخزون من 437 مليون $ نقدا غير المنفق، حتى مع وكالة التدقيق الأمم المتحدة حذرت من أن التعامل مع قذرة من الأموال للخطر المساهمات في المستقبل من الأعضاء في الأمم المتحدة الدول
وقال التقرير الصادر في العام الماضي ولكن قدم فقط للمراجعة دولة عضو في الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة، ويستشهد المفوضية للمحاسبة قذرة، والرقابة المالية الضعيفة، حالة من الفوضى الإدارية، وعدم وجود أدوات للحكم على مدى انها تقوم بعملها لمساعدة عشرات الملايين من النازحين في العالم.
مجلس إدارة مستقل مراجعي الحسابات للأمم المتحدة تستخدم اللغة بشكل ملحوظ على التوالي إلى الأمام إلى لوم لشؤون اللاجئين، الذي أكبر الجهات المانحة، والولايات المتحدة، ساهم 712،000،000 $ للمفوضية في عام 2010، وفقا لوزارة الخارجية. لاحظ مراجعو الحسابات أن وكالة الغوث، والتي يتم تمويلها إلى حد كبير من التبرعات، قضى نحو 1.9 مليار $ في عام 2010؛ وكانت ميزانيتها قبل عامين حول 1100000000 $.
وأشارت مدققي الحسابات إلى أن هناك “مؤشرات قوية من قصور كبير في الإدارة المالية” في وكالة، برئاسة منذ عام 2005 من قبل أنطونيو غوتيريس، رئيس الوزراء الاشتراكي السابق للبرتغال. “هذا هو الخطر الرئيسي للمفوضية”، وحذرت من مدققي الحسابات، “نظرا للضغوط متزايدة على الجهات المانحة لتبرير لماذا أنها توفر الأموال العامة لمنظمات الإغاثة الدولية.”
وعلاوة على ذلك، فإن المفتشين لا يبدو متفائلا بأن الوضع سيتغير قريبا، على الرغم من أن إدارة المفوضية يقول الآن أنه يعمل جاهدا على طائفة واسعة من الجبهات لتغيير الوضع مثير للقلق.
وتقرير مجلس مراجعي الحسابات، وكتب في العام الماضي ولكنها نشرت في الآونة الأخيرة فقط، وصلت إلى أول تقييم خارجي كبير من سلوك المفوضية بعد أن بدأ إنفاقها على بالون بشكل كبير في عام 2008 تماشيا مع الاستراتيجية الجديدة المعروفة باسم الاحتياجات التقييم العالمي، وسيلة جديدة لتشجيع المانحين على الخروج مع المزيد من الاموال
لم يكن حتى إعداد –the كالة للمراجعة الخاصة بها، والتي تعكس “أوجه قصور مهمة في النظم المعمول بها لإعداد بياناتها المالية، وجودة الإشراف وملكية هذه العمليات، من المستوى التنفيذي كبار الهبوط و عبر المؤسسة بأكملها. ”
–UNHCR” لا تزال غير قادرة على جمع وتحليل المعلومات الإدارية الأساسية في عملياتها “، أو” للحصول على قبضة كاملة عن أداء شركائها المنفذين أو تنفيذ مبادرات كبرى. ” ترجمة: أنها لا تعرف ماذا تفعل في الواقع
حصة –UNHCR الخاصة ما في وسعها في من المانحين عالية. وعلى الرغم من ما يقرب من 22 في المئة من سكانها 1.9 مليار $ في الإنفاق الفعلي لعام 2010 التي ذهبت إلى “النفقات العامة والموظفين فوائد الإدارية”، ويشير التقرير. وفي الوقت للمراجعة، كان لدى المفوضية 6300 الموظفين العاديين الذين يعملون في نحو 380 مكتبا منتشرة في 125 دولة.
بدلا من النظر إلى تعهدات المانحين، وبعد ذلك تحديد ميزانيتها، تقوم المفوضية الآن باستخدام العالمية تقييم الاحتياجات لتحديد المبلغ الذي يشعر أنه يحتاج إلى قضاء، ثم بناء ميزانية لاستيعاب هذا المنظور – على الرغم من، في النهاية، فإنه لا يزال يجب أن إدارة مع المبلغ الذي يأخذ في.
وقد أعطى هذا النهج الجديد أكثر من الميل الرفاه الاجتماعي في جهود الإغاثة المفوضية، على الرغم من أنه لا يزال يفكر في المقام الأول كمجموعة الإغاثة الخط الأمامي أن الصدقات للخروج الغذائية الطارئة والمأوى للمشردين عبر الحدود الوطنية بسبب الحرب والمجاعة والجفاف .
انقر هنا لمشاهدة تقرير مراقبي الحسابات.
وقد وجدت إدارة أوباما على ما يبدو الاحتياجات العالمية تقترب مقنعة. مساهمات الولايات المتحدة لوكالة الغوث زيادة بنحو 40 في المئة بين عامي 2008 و 2010، قبل المخلفات خارج قليلا فقط العام الماضي.
لمدققي الحسابات الخارجيين للمفوضية، إلا أن المسألة ليست كثيرا احتياجات الوكالة عن قدرات المالية وإدارتها – وهذه وجدت تفتقر dolefully. من بين أمور أخرى، يشير تقرير مراقبي الحسابات:
–UNHCR لا يمكن تحقيق التوازن بين العديد من دفاتر الشيكات لها. ما لا يقل عن 99 من الحسابات المصرفية والاستثمارية، وعقد أكثر من 375 مليون $، “تفتقر إلى ما يصل إلى تاريخ المصالحات، والرقابة المالية الرئيسية.” مراجعو الحسابات حذر من نفس المشكلة في العام السابق، ولم يتم عمل الكثير عن ذلك. (تم خفض تراكم لثلاثة الحسابات النشطة قبل نشر تقرير مراجعي الحسابات.)
– على الرغم من تلك النفقات العامة، ما يقرب من ذهب ثلث الإنفاق المفوضية (667 مليون $) ل”الشركاء المنفذين”، بمعنى المنظمات غير الحكومية وغيرها الذين نفذوا عمليات الإغاثة. الذين كانوا جميعا، وإلى أي مدى يمكن أن تعمل، لم يكن واضحا على الإطلاق. عملية اختيار هؤلاء الشركاء، لاحظ مراجعو الحسابات، “يفتقر إلى الدقة والشفافية، مما يزيد من مخاطر الاحتيال والفساد وعدم الكفاءة وسوء الأداء شريك”.
–More من نصف الشركاء المنفذين عملت لمفوضية الأمم المتحدة لأكثر من خمس سنوات ومدققي الحسابات وجدت “أدلة تذكر على أي نوع من عملية اختيار تنافسية” مقارنة التكاليف أو مطابقة القدرات مع المتطلبات. وقال مجلس مراجعي الحسابات انها تشعر “بقلق خاص إزاء عدم الشفافية في عمليات اختيار شريك وزيادة مخاطر الاحتيال والفساد الذي يعرض هذه المفوضية.”
–however سيئة الشركاء – أو لتلك المسألة، العاملين المفوضية – – أجريت في هذا المجال، ومع ذلك، فإن مجلس مراجعي الحسابات لم يفكر بشدة قدرة الوكالة إلى الحكم عليها. “الأداء من شبكة بلاده لا تمكين الإدارة من إصدار الأحكام فعالة فيما يتعلق مردودية المشاريع والأنشطة أو لعقد المديرين المحليين للمساءلة عن الأداء”، كما يقول التقرير.
وفيما يتعلق بعملية المصالحة حساب مصرفي تنذر بالخطر، على سبيل المثال، وذكرت وكالة أنها قد فعلت الكثير، وأنه “الحسابات المصرفية التي عقدت في مقر والتوفيق تماما ويتم تسويتها بشكل روتيني على أساس شهري. واضاف” لكن هذا لا يشمل حسابات في هذا المجال، حيث المدققين حاسمة بشكل خاص من الهفوات الرقابة.
في معالجة ما تدعو المراجعين “أوجه القصور في الإدارة المالية قدرات المكاتب القطرية والتقارير”، ويقول المفوضية فإنه “مراجعة ذات الصلة التدقيق والتفتيش التقارير، والتشاور مع المقر الرئيسي والمكاتب وتستمر لتحليل البيانات … للتركيز على تلك المكاتب القطرية في تحتاج لمزيد من تعزيز ممارسات الإدارة المالية، وبناء على هذا الاستعراض والتحليل، ستقوم المفوضية وضع خطط عمل لمعالجة الثغرات التي تم تحديدها “. ويأمل أن تكون العملية تنتهي في نهاية هذا العام.
وعندما يتعلق الأمر باعتماد نهج “إدارة المخاطر” لشركائها في عمليات الإغاثة، كما أوصى مراجعو الحسابات، وتقول المفوضية إنها أولا يجب تبني “المتباينة المخاطر على أساس إطار “ومن ثم تطبيقه بشكل مناسب. مشاريع وكالة، murkily إلى حد ما، أن “تطبيق التنمية الشاملة في إطار سيكتمل بحلول عام 2014.”
كيف المفوضية نفسها تنوي التعامل مع المستنقع إدارة الواردة في تقرير مجلس مراجعي الحسابات؟
لا داعي للقلق، وفقا لإدارة الوكالة. في التقرير أن ما يقرب طالما التحقيق مدققي الحسابات وأوجز المفوضية في سبتمبر الماضي على قائمة طويلة من “التدابير المتخذة والمقترحة” لتحسين الأمور. بعض منهم، ومع ذلك، بدا غامضا، أو أقل من الجملة.
انقر هنا لقراءة “التدابير المتخذة” التقرير.
إذا كان أي شيء، وتقرير مجلس مراجعي الحسابات يتحفظ على خطورة عدم المفوضية من الاستخبارات الميدانية في عملياتها، وكثير منها تنبع من الفشل الذريع عدة ملايين من الدولارات التي تنطوي على تركيب نظام البرمجيات المنظومة الجديدة، والمعروفة باسم التركيز. وكان من المفترض البرنامج لدمج المعلومات الخاصة بالموارد المالية والبشرية، من أجل دفع المفوضية نحو أفضل “الإدارة القائمة على النتائج”.
وفقا لتقرير الأمم المتحدة داخلي آخر التفتيش، التي ذكرت شبكة فوكس نيوز في مايو الماضي، كانت هناك “سنوات من التأخير” في تركيب التركيز، وعدم توفر المعلومات قد تتأثر مئات الملايين من الدولارات في الإنفاق المفوضية.
وردا على سؤال كيف ينظر إلى الولايات المتحدة على تقرير مجلس مراجعي الحسابات، أعلن متحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية “اننا متابعة القضايا المؤسسية والتشغيلية عن كثب.” وأشار المتحدث أيضا إلى التصريحات التي أدلى بها الولايات المتحدة في اجتماع للجنة التنفيذية للمفوضية في أكتوبر الماضي، حيث أعلن دبلوماسي أميركي أن “العديد من النتائج التي توصل إليها المجلس تهمنا”، من دون الخوض في التفاصيل. في آخر الجلسة “كوم السابقين” في جنيف، أكد السفير الأميركي ديفيد روبنسون أن “تبقى الولايات المتحدة شريكا ملتزما مع المفوضية والمستفيدين التي تخدمها.”
وردا على سؤال لشبكة فوكس نيوز الاسبوع الماضي عما اذا كان على المسار الصحيح لتحقيق العديد وعد المواعيد النهائية في تقريرها “التدابير المتخذة”، لم تكن المفوضية قد وردت قبل هذا
لهذا العام والعام المقبل، عندما تأمل المفوضية أن تنفق حوالي 3.3 مليار $ سنويا تحت احتياجاتها العالمية، وقال متحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية فوكس نيوز، ودعم الولايات المتحدة “سيعتمد على الأزمات الحالية التي تستجيب المفوضية”.
World’s Biggest Losers – #Refugees or Europe?!
From Diplomat Artist Buzz: Children & pregnant women were among those affected by indiscriminate use of teargas & plastic bullets from security forces when civilian camps were hit. — Read More — http://diplomatartist.com/worlds-biggest-losers-refugees-or-europe/
https://diplomaticallyincorrect.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/worlds-biggest-losers-refugees-or-europe/
Child Brides Photo Series Proves Girls Are Simply ‘Too Young To Wed’
Child Brides Photo Series Proves Girls Are Simply ‘Too Young To Wed’ Photographer Stephanie Sinclair’s images aim to raise funds for girls forced into a practice that affects more than 14.2 million girls every year. Eleanor GoldbergImpact editor, The Huffington Post Posted: 09/22/2015 12:52 PM EDT | Edited: 09/30/2015 10:43 AM EDT STEPHANIE SINCLAIR/TOO […] […]
Child Brides Photo Series Proves Girls Are Simply ‘Too Young To Wed’
Child Brides Photo Series Proves Girls Are Simply ‘Too Young To Wed’ Photographer Stephanie Sinclair’s images aim to raise funds for girls forced into a practice that affects more than 14.2 million girls every year. Eleanor GoldbergImpact editor, The Huffington Post Posted: 09/22/2015 12:52 PM EDT | Edited: 09/30/2015 10:43 AM EDT STEPHANIE SINCLAIR/TOO […]
Refugee Crisis and Challenges of Integration
This article addresses refugee integration. There is a lot of uncertainty and perhaps anxiety on whether host countries can integrate the refugees, the strategies to ensure successful integration and how the end result looks like. Questions on how the future of countries that have taken in huge numbers of refugees is going to be like are compounded by confusion of integration with assimilation.
https://zambakariadvisory.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/refugee-crisis-and-challenges-of-integration/
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Europeans voice concern about the economic oppression of Iranian Baha’is – Bahá’í World News Service
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AmisIrannews.bahai.org – BRUSSELS — Prominent Europeans, including members of parliament, are calling on Iran to end its economic repression of Baha’is. Among the most prominent of such expressions was one that came from t…
WORLDFifteen Baha’is Arrested by Rouhani’s Intelligence Ministry
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AmisIraniranhumanrights.org – In a fresh crackdown on Iran’s Baha’i community, one of the most persecuted religious minorities in Iran, 15 followers of the faith were simultaneously arrested in Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad on N…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT✿ Alexey CHERNIGIN ✿ NEW!
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Omar Pertusaticatherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ✿ Alexey CHERNIGIN ✿ NEW! ‘Vorrei sbattere le ali sul tuo petto e nel caldo respiro accontentare i sensi… Aspetterò la neve cadere giù insieme al fuoco delle tue mani e tesserò le tue umide labbr…
WORLDUNHCR warns of looming refugee crisis as women flee Central America and Mexico
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monako*mahaffeymarkgeoffreykirshner.com – Washington, D.C., 28 October 2015 (UNHCR) – Women in Central America and Mexico are fleeing their countries in rising numbers to escape a surge in deadly, unchecked gang violence, fueling a looming…
WORLDWill The Paris Attacks Affect Fundraising For Syrian Refugees?
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Jackie De Burcanpr.org – The terrorist attack in Paris has many victims — and some of them may be Syrian refugees. That’s the concern in the international aid community. Aid groups have been struggling to get the public to…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT✿ Victor BAUER ✿ NEW!
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alberto oscar morriscatherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ✿ Victor BAUER ✿ NEW! in cerca di nido tra spirali di fumo e distese di carne intrise d’aromi mentre… al settimo cielo è il mio volo…’ tratto da “Il volo” di ~ Catherine La Rose© ~ OTHER WORKS…
WORLDIslamic State ‘to target air traffic control and hospitals in new cyber war’
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Moody Brewyahoonewsdigest-gb.tumblr.com – Islamic State is plotting to kill Britons with deadly cyber-attacks, George Osborne will say later. The Chancellor will issue the stark warning about Islamist militants using deadly online attacks …
LEISURECatherine La Rose Poesia e Arte
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MarkGeoffreyKirshnermarkgeoffreykirshner.com – Kostabi has designed album covers for Guns ‘N’ Roses (Use Your Illusion) and The Ramones (Adios Amigos), Jimmey Scott (Holding Back The Years) and numerous products including a Swatch watch, limite…
WORLDIsrael to Sweden: Don’t Make the Paris Attacks About Palestine
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Milaforeignpolicy.com – Less than 24 hours after Islamic State militants killed 129 people and injured more than 300 in Paris, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom publicly stated that she believes the Israeli-Palest…
SCIENCEBlood brothers: Palestinians and Jews share genetic roots
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Elyse Fradkinmarkgeoffreykirshner.com – Confronted by the violence sweeping over Israel, it can be easy to overlook the things that Jews and Palestinians share: a deep attachment to the same sliver of contested land, a shared appetite fo…
WORLDUnited Nations: End Punitive Home Demolition Policy – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)imemc.org – I am distressed by reports of punitive demolitions carried out by Israeli security forces of five homes in the Jerusalem, Nablus, and Ramallah governorates in the last few days, said Riper, accor…
TECHNOLOGY#OpParis: Anonymous takes down 5,500 ISIS Twitter accounts
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)rt.com – Tweeting from its #OpParis account, Anonymous stated: “We report that more than 5500 Twitter account (sic) of #ISIS are now #down! #OpParis #Anonymous #ExpectUS.” We report that more than 5500 Twit…
WORLDHealth Ministry: “89 Palestinians Killed, 10.000 Injured Since October 1” – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)imemc.org – In a press release, the Health Ministry stated that the soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday, Mohammad Monir Hasan Saleh, 24 years of age, from ‘Aroura village, northwest of the central West Bank c…
WORLDSoldiers Kidnap 10 Children, 2 Journalists And A Young Man, In Jerusalem – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)imemc.org – The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic), in occupied Jerusalem, has reported that the soldiers kidnapped the following children: 1. Islam Khamis Shweiki, 9. 2. Nabil Mazin al-Khatib…
WORLDUS Ambassador to Israel: “Settlement Product Labels Not Boycott” – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)imemc.org – Ambassador Shapiro was speaking Monday at the Israel Journalists Association conference in the southern city of Eilat. In remarks not part of his official speech, Shapiro was reported by the settle…
WORLDIslamic Movement Outlawed Throughout Pre-1948 Territories – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)imemc.org – The announcement stated, according to Al Ray, that any organization or individual belonging to the northern branch or found assisting the organization in any way will be considered as committing a …
LEISUREHealthy Salad Recipes : Roasted Butternut Squash Salad Recipe – Kitchen Cupboards
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Rick Binkleykitchen-cupboards.org – ►►►http://loseweightfast.eilii.com/secret-trick-to-lose-10-lbs-in-just-1-week.html Healthy Salad Recipes : Roasted Butternut Squash Salad Recipe Vegetarian Moussaka – A Delectable Way to Use Butter…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT✿ Ralf HEYNEN ~ RANONUS ✿ NEW!
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kume bryantcatherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ✿ Ralf HEYNEN ~ RANONUS ✿ NEW! ‘Sono in volo ora agile libellula a vagheggiare echi e minuettare brezza incline al gusto che liquido riflette…’ ~ Catherine La Rose© ~ OTHER WORKS AND BIOGRAPHY OF…
WORLDThe Secular Roots of a Religious Divide in Contemporary Iraq | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective
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John Kearinsmarkgeoffreykirshner.com – The Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, centered in the central and northern part of the country, is a place where leaders torture and kill people who do not follow a draconian interpretation of Sunni Is…
WORLDOur hearts bleed for the French nation: Maryam Rajavi
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arashmojahedin.org – Text of message by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the Iranian Resistance – November 14, 2015 On behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance for freedom and democracy, I strongly condemn th…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT✿ DASIL (David Silva) ✿
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Luis Pablo de Torrescatherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ‘DonaTi a me steso nudo su una tastiera di Mozart a minuettare mascherato il mio nome…’ Una farfalla svolazzante sul tuo petto ha percepito i battiti caldi ed eleganti fisarmonica del tuo tempo m…
ART & ENTERTAINMENTHandwritten Draft Of King James Bible Discovered: Reveals No ‘Divine Powers’
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MarkGeoffreyKirshnermarkgeoffreykirshner.com – The earliest known version of The King James Bible, perhaps one of the most influential and widely read books in history, has beendiscovered mislabeled inside an archive at the University of Cambri…
ART & ENTERTAINMENTIran Set to Unveil Collection of Western Art Largely Unseen Since 1979 Revolution
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MarkGeoffreyKirshnervanityfair.com – It’s a collection that includes artworks by Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Alberto Giacometti, Willem de Kooning, René Magritte, and many others. It has been valued a…
WORLDMovements at The Moving Planet Blog – Weep, Beloved Country: The Lynching of a Bystander by Uri Avnery
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MarkGeoffreyKirshnermarkgeoffreykirshner.com – Source: Movements at The Moving Planet Blog – Weep, Beloved Country: THE INCIDENT started as a routine attack, one of many we have become used to in recent weeks. Some call it “the Third Intifada”,…
WORLDMinister comments on “enemy infiltrators” and bombing in Beirut
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AmisIranen.radiozamaneh.com – Iran’s Intelligence Minister says his ministry has identified the targets of “enemy infiltrators” and is aware of “their priorities in attacking the regime”. ILNA reports that on Sunday November 15…
WORLDOui, je suis un pervers et un idolâtre – Les Sermons du Lundi
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AmisIranlessermonsdulundi.com – J’ai bien lu ton communiqué de presse victorieux. Comme on l’imagine, tu dois être heureux du succès de tes attaques menées vendredi soir à Paris. Massacrer des civils innocents qui ne demandaient …
WORLDWhere ISIS gets its money
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AmisIranmarketplace.org – France bombed ISIS targets in Syria on Sunday — in retaliation for Friday’s terror attacks in Paris — including a training camp and an ammunition depot, according to the French Defense Ministry. Th…
WORLDIran hardliners push back amid fears of change – BBC News
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AmisIranbbc.com – When police and judiciary officials turned up last week in north Tehran to shut down a newly opened restaurant billed as the city’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, few Iranians were surprised….
All articles – Tenth Wall Defense 4 Human Rights
markgeoffreykirshner.wordpress.com
Source: All articles – Tenth Wall Defense 4 Human Rights
✿ Fred Hatt ✿
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orchidea191
orchidea191
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ‘Non grido… non ti guardo neanche le onde trionfano i colori si tentano la mia pelle scivola trasparente leggera come walzer a primavera… Se vuoi sentirmi… ti basta solo sfiorarmi in sella a…
LEISURE
Baha’i Shops Sealed For Unknown Reasons
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AmisIran
AmisIran
amisiran.com – The iranian Baha’i community continues to be targeted of persecution and crackdown. Recently thier shops and business were sealed without any clear reasons. 17 shops belonging to Baha’i simultane…
WORLD
Authorities Launch New Crackdown on Baha’is
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AmisIran
AmisIran
en.iranwire.com – On the morning of Sunday, November 15, Iranian Intelligence Ministry agents carried out the arrest of 20 Baha’is in Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad. As part of a massive operation, they also closed dow…
LEISURE
✿ Guennadi ULIBIN ✿
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Gio
Gio
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – Guennadi Ulibin is an artist who is originally from Russia. He has a fine arts degree from the Saint Petersberg Academy of Fine Arts. When we immerse ourselves in the style and ways of the art worl…
TECHNOLOGY
After Paris attacks, the CIA Director is pushing for encryption backdoors. Here’s what he gets wrong.
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Nihar Kanti Mishra
Nihar Kanti Mishra
markgeoffreykirshner.com – With more than 120 people killed in Paris, US government officials are already touting the City of Light as the case against encryption. Source: After Paris attacks, the CIA Director is pushing for…
LEISURE
%252B(Croatian%252Bpainter%252C%252B1855-1922)%252B%252Bby%252BCatherine%252BLa%252BRose.jpg&w=300&h=190&tokenValidity=1447785670385&token=123108e36adf8f2dffe3cec2187cfbc78950813b)
✿ Vlaho BUKOVAC (1855-1922) ✿
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arteimas
arteimas
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ‘Comincia con te il paradisiaco pensiero Guardami… se finalmente mi guarderai un giorno Parlami Amami dipingimi ancora col sapore dell’infinito…’ ~ Catherine La Rose ~ tratto da “Mentre le ste…
WORLD
Is India conveniently ignoring the issue of women’s rights?
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Atul Sharma
Atul Sharma
ireport.cnn.com – It’s not a surprise that people all over the world express their anger at the way women in India are treated on a general basis, criticizing in particular state apathy in the face of rape as well a…
SPORTS
UNHCR urges refugee center in Greece
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Anne Bihr
Anne Bihr
markgeoffreykirshner.com – Das UN-Flüchtlingshilfswerk fordert, Flüchtlinge in Griechenland zentral zu registrieren und von dort zu verteilen. Deutschland könne nicht die Lösung eines europäischen Problems sein, sagte UNHCR-…
TECHNOLOGY
Facebook Messenger Is Experimenting With Disappearing Messages
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Claudette Melanson
Claudette Melanson
markgeoffreykirshner.com – Facebook Messenger is testing out self-destructing messages. Currently available for some users in France, the feature allows people to send messages that.. Source: Facebook Messenger Is Experiment…
WORLD
PRCS Denies Israeli Facebook Allegations – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)
Anita Hunt (lissnup)
imemc.org – According to a report published by PNN, PRCS states that the facts are as follows: “A PRCS team arrived at the scene and started providing First Aid to the wounded. A few minutes later, two Israel…
WORLD
Health Minister Backs Red Crescents Account of Wounded Settlers – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)
Anita Hunt (lissnup)
imemc.org – Speaking during a press conference, Awad denied Israeli allegations that the Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics didnt stop to provide medical treatment for the Israeli settler family who came un…
WORLD
Spain: City Council Announces Support for BDS, Warrant Issued for Netanyahu’s Arrest – International Middle East Media Center
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Anita Hunt (lissnup)
Anita Hunt (lissnup)
imemc.org – According to the Alternative Information Center (AIC), the BDS Galicia group reports that ruling electoral alliance in the City Hall, Compostela Aberta, and two of the groups in the opposition, the…
WORLD
The Islamic State wants you to hate refugees
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EMS
EMS
washingtonpost.com – Migrants wait to register at a refugee center in the southern Serbian town of Presevo on Monday. (Darko Vojinovic/AP) As the Syrian refugee crisis mutated from a regional problem to a global one, s…
WORLD
Scenes from Daily Life in the de Facto Capital of ISIS
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Wolfbaird
Wolfbaird
vanityfair.com – Editor’s note: In the year since Islamist factions took over Raqqa, Syria, very little unfiltered news has made it out of the area. In the meantime, ISIS has established its de facto capital in the…
WORLD
Iran on track to kill more than 1,000 this year, UN expert reports
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Raymond Gibbs
Raymond Gibbs
markgeoffreykirshner.com – Two Iranian poets jailed for their work and sentenced to 99 lashes apiece for shaking hands with members of the opposite sex are the latest targets in a crackdown that analysts say pits hard-liners…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
Arab woman launches new talk show with Oprah Winfrey as the first guest
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Rosie Zamudio
Rosie Zamudio
markgeoffreykirshner.com – second career as a talk show host on a new program which launches in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East on Saturday (Oct. 24). That person is Iraqi born who, Time magazine said, “gives women a…
SCIENCE
How TensorFlow, which Google just made free, teaches computers to think like humans
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WalleTecno
WalleTecno
markgeoffreykirshner.com – Google open-sourced TensorFlow, the engine it uses to train computers in artificial intelligence. Source: How TensorFlow, which Google just made free, teaches computers to think like humans TensorF…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
✿ Mary QIAN ✿ NEW!
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Chechu
Chechu
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ✿ Mary QIAN ✿ NEW! OTHER WORKS AND BIOGRAPHY OF MARY QIAN IN: http://catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com/2012/10/mary-qian.html Invia tramite emailPostalo sul blogCondividi su TwitterCondividi …
WORLD
The Displaced: Chuol
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MarkGeoffreyKirshner
MarkGeoffreyKirshner
nytimes.com – Chuol was only 5 in 2011, the year South Sudan, after decades of war, became the world’s newest nation. He was living with his parents, grandparents and other relatives in a village near the city o…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
✿ Alexandra MANUKYAN ✿
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E J L AZAR
E J L AZAR
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – ‘Ti donerò l’immortalità e ti terro’ eterno in cattività nel mio sistema lunare clandestino in calice di cristallo che eleverò davanti ai miei occhi tra le gambe in un orgasmo celestiale di mare…..
WORLD
Iraq’s Hezbollah Battalions Planning to “Expel” US Occupation Forces from Anbar Province. Spokesman
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#Munny1017
#Munny1017
markgeoffreykirshner.com – Source: Iraq’s Hezbollah Battalions Planning to “Expel” US Occupation Forces from Anbar Province. Spokesman of Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Battalions) Jafar al-Hosseini underlined that hi…
WORLD
Exclusive: After Paris, Americans want U.S. to do more to attack Islamic State – poll
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kume bryant
kume bryant
reuters.com – WASHINGTON A majority of Americans want the United States to intensify its assault on the Islamic State following the Paris attacks, but most remain opposed to sending troops to Iraq or Syria, wher…
WORLD
UNHCR concerned at reports of sexual violence against refugee women and children
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#Munny1017
#Munny1017
markgeoffreykirshner.com – UN refugee agency receives ‘credible’ reports of violence and abuse against women and minors as they transit Europe, calls for action to ensure their protection. Source: UNHCR concerned at reports …
WORLD
The Streets of Paris are as Familiar to me as the Streets of Beirut · Global Voices
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AmisIran
AmisIran
globalvoices.org – I come from a privileged Francophone community in Lebanon. This has meant that I have always seen France as my second home. The streets of Paris are as familiar to me as the streets of Beirut. I wa…
WORLD
The Latest: US Senate condemns Paris attacks
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AmisIran
AmisIran
bigstory.ap.org – PARIS (AP) — The latest on the deadly attacks in Paris. (All times local): The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution condemning Friday’s attacks in Paris and pledging to stand in solidarity with Fran…
WORLD
Tensions in Iran After Nuclear Deal Grow in Hostility
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AmisIran
AmisIran
nytimes.com – Tensions between the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, and more conservative authorities over the country’s nuclear agreement and its future are turning increasingly bitter, punctuated by public e…
WORLD
Kenya Attack That Left 147 Dead Compared To Paris Attack News Coverage
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AmisIran
AmisIran
inquisitr.com – The way Kenya is currently trending on Twitter and Facebook shows that folks have plenty to say about the Kenya attacks in comparison to the news coverage that the Paris attacks have received. As r…
WORLD
After Paris attacks, refugees should not be turned into scapegoats
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Lilli Tnaib
Lilli Tnaib
unhcr.org – GENEVA, Nov 17 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has expressed its shock and horror at the attacks in Paris and the killing of so many innocent people, and cautioned against the scapegoating of refug…
WORLD
Here’s Why Assad and ISIS Hate France’s Stake in the Middle East
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Jomo
Jomo
defenseone.com – After Friday’s attacks in Paris, two sides that don’t usually agree on anything found common ground on one issue: Both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ISIS said the attacks were retaliation fo…
TECHNOLOGY
YouTube Music is here, and it’s a game changer
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SharonANDRenee
SharonANDRenee
theverge.com – YouTube, like Spotify, has a big built-in advantage when it comes to personalization and recommendation. Over the last decade, users have made hundreds of millions of playlists, an explicit act of …
WORLD
MFS – The Other News: Turkish website R4BIA.com – “R4BIA is the end of Zionists.”
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MFS – The Other News
MFS – The Other News
mfs-theothernews.com – A New Muslim Brotherhood Symbol: R4BIAHT: MiddleEastWritings.by DawnPerlmutter FrontPageMagazine.com. September 9, 2013 Turkish website R4BIA.com – “R4BIA is the end of Zionists.” There…
WORLD
India court sentences Uber driver to life in prison for rape
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AJW2
AJW2
markgeoffreykirshner.com – NEW DELHI: An Indian court sentenced an Uber driver to life in prison Tuesday for raping a passenger in his vehicle last December, in a case that has triggered widespread protests against sexual vi…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
✿ Jia LU ~ Temple Light ✿
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Doug Meldrum
Doug Meldrum
catherinelarosepoesiaearte.blogspot.com – Jia Lu was born in Beijing, China in 1954. She strongly feels that beauty is the final measure of all things. True beauty born of self-knowledge and self-understanding, burns in her art like a bea…
TECHNOLOGY
A Month’s Worth of Social Media Growth Hacks & Experiments
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Christine Cope
Christine Cope
blog.bufferapp.com – If you’re curious for ways to grow your social media numbers, to have more success, to get more followers and more clicks, the absolute best piece of advice we’ve found is to keep trying new things…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
Charlie Sheen discloses he is HIV positive on ‘Today’ show
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Sarah Garcia
Sarah Garcia
money.cnn.com – In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Sheen was asked, “How many people have you paid?” Sheen said, “Enough to bring it into the millions.” He agreed with interviewer Matt Lauer’s characterization…
SCIENCE
3 Scientific Studies With Real Insight Into Social Media
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Social Media Reserve
Social Media Reserve
convinceandconvert.com – It’s no secret: social media marketing has a data problem. Despite a growing number of tools available to measure the ROI of social media, many of the claims made by “marketing gurus” in this secto…
LEISURE
How Book Selling Really Works – Updated
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AuthorsGoSocial
AuthorsGoSocial
services4authors.com – If you’re a new author, traditionally or independently published, one of the problems that you face is that you may not understand how book selling really works. If you want to be a writer who sell…
ART & ENTERTAINMENT
Judge borrows Taylor Swift lyrics to throw out legal case
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sujin
sujin
bbc.co.uk – A judge in America has thrown out a lawsuit against Taylor Swift, quoting the lyrics to some of her biggest songs. The singer was being sued for £27 million for allegedly stealing the lyrics for he…
Mark G Kirshner
MarkGeoffreyKirshner @MarkGKirshner #Art #Music #Law #vaw #UN #HeForShe #Interfaith #Iran #Egypt #Spirituality. http://pinterest.com/markgkirshner . https://markgeoffreykirshner.wordpress.com . http://instagram.com/markgkirshner/ . NY
Melissa Fleming | Speaker | TED.com
Source: Melissa Fleming | Speaker | TED.com
As head of communications for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming sheds light on their devastating plight and remarkable resilience.Why you should listen
Almost 60 million people in the world today have been forcefully displaced from their home – a level not seen since WWII. As many as four million Syrian refugees have sought refuge in neighboring countries. In Lebanon, half of these refugees are children; only 20 percent are in school. Melissa Fleming of the UN’s refugee agency calls on all of us to make sure that refugee camps are healing places where people can develop the skills they’ll need to rebuild their hometowns. Investing in this, she says, may well be the most effective relief effort there is. This inspires her and the teams at the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees to tell stories of the individuals who are displaced.
Melissa Fleming’s TED talks
Melissa Fleming on the TED BlogThis infographic shows what it’s like to be a modern refugee
“Syrians are just looking for a quiet place where nobody hurts you,” says one refugee, who survived a capsized escape craft on his dangerous journey. Clarice Holt, an illustrator in London, was moved by the simple, powerful truths she heard in Melissa Fleming’s TED Talk, “Let’s help refugees thrive” — and made these beautiful illustrations […]
A map of the future: A recap of session 7 of TEDGlobal 2014
The theme of this session is “Blueprints.” And so we hear from speakers who have that all-too-easy-to-overlook first step: a plan. Brazil is named for a tree, says Tasso Azevedo. And thus, it is a good place to be a forester. 12% of the world’s forests are in the country, primarily in the Amazon, which plays a vital role in […]
Live from TEDGlobal
The uprooted dreams of refugees: Melissa Fleming live at TEDGlobal 2014
“These are very difficult times to be a refugee,” says the UN Refugee Agency’s Melissa Fleming. She gives some stats that are hard to swallow: Not since WWII have there been so many people on the run; by the end of today 32,000 people will have been forcibly displaced from their homes; currently there are […]
Mark Geoffrey Kirshner 