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☆ Giving Big, a California Couple Gets Gratitude and Scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Robin Pogrebin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Standing on the grand staircase of Lynda and Stewart Resnick's opulent Beverly Hills mansion at a party last fall — where Diane Keaton, Bob Iger and Brian Grazer were among the luminaries making small talk over crudités and Sazerac cocktails — the author Walter Isaacson took a moment to thank his hosts. Not only were the Resnicks giving the party to celebrate his new biography of Elon Musk, they had also been major supporters of his former professional home, the Aspen Institute, donating $36 million to the think tank over the years. Isaacson was not the only one in the room with reason to be grateful to them. Overall, the Resnicks — whose Wonderful Company business empire includes Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, Wonderful Pistachios, Fiji Water, Halos mandarins and Teleflora, the flower-delivery service — have donated $1.9 billion of their estimated $13 billion fortune to academic institutions, climate change initiatives, cultural organizations and programs in California’s Central Valley. Their gifts have landed them on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the 50 biggest donors three times.

Persons: Stewart, Diane Keaton, Bob Iger, Brian Grazer, Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk, Isaacson, Picasso, Fragonard, Boucher, Michael Govan, Ann Philbin, Michael Milken Organizations: Aspen Institute, Angeles County Museum of Art, Milken Institute, Wonderful Company Locations: Beverly, Fiji, Central Valley

☆ U.N. Expert Tells Philippines to Act on Media Killings, Abolish Anti-Communist Task Force
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Irene Khan, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, spent almost two weeks in the Philippines to assess the state of free speech and media rights. "The Philippines remains a dangerous country for journalists," Khan said, adding "much more needs to be done to attack impunity". A U.N. special rapporteur who visited Manila last year had a similar recommendation. The task force has been accused of "red-tagging", the practice of accusing government critics of being rebel sympathisers as a pre-text to silence, arrest or even kill them. The task force will "transition to a different body", given the weakening communist insurgency, Malaya said.

Persons: Irene Khan, Khan, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Jonathan Malaya, Mikhail Flores, Timothy Heritage Organizations: United, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, World Press Locations: MANILA, United Nations, Philippines, Manila, Malaya

☆ Protecting Opera, ‘a People’s Art Form’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Is opera an endangered art form that needs to be protected and preserved for the generations to come? For a group of about 30,000 Italian music professionals and practitioners, the answer was yes. Consisting of singers, musicians, scholars, composers, conductors and directors, the group formed a committee supported by Italy’s leading opera houses and musical institutions, then persuaded UNESCO to add “the practice of opera singing in Italy” to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The inscription was made official in December. The list identifies what UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, calls “fragile” nonphysical elements that play a crucial role in “maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization.”

Persons: Italy’s, Italy ”, ” Organizations: UNESCO, Intangible, Heritage, Humanity, United Nations Locations: Italy

☆ Students are lawyering up in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Hafez, who CNN has reached out to for comment, is now suing Accuracy in Media for defamation and emotional distress, and the violation of his civil rights. Hafez is among the politically and ethnically diverse students across the country who are filing lawsuits in the wake of October 7. Some are invoking the Civil Rights Act, claiming their schools aren’t protecting them from religious discrimination. “We believe that a number of universities are violating Title VI in this moment. “We have had a massive and unprecedented spike since October 7.”The legal standard for Title VI cases is high, Cron said.

Persons: Yusuf Hafez, “ Columbia’s, ” Hafez, Hafez, Minouche Shafik, “, ” John Beckman, ” Beckman, Beckman, Justin Sadowsky, ” Sadowsky, Sadowsky, Dylan Saba, State University of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, DeSantis, ”, Brittany Wise, ” Adam Steinbaugh, ” Steinbaugh, you’re, Matthew Cron, Donald Trump, ” Saba, Kenneth Marcus, Wellesley, ” “ Wellesley, UPenn, Magill, “ We’ve, Marcus, George W, Bush, Cron, ” Cron, Yusuf Hafez’s, SWATTING, ” – CNN’s Matt Egan, Celina Tebor Organizations: New, New York CNN — Columbia University, Media, CNN, Civil, Columbia, Columbia University, New York University, Jewish, gaslighting, NYU, New York police, Islamic, Civil Rights, Department of Education, Palestine, American Civil Liberties Union, Palestine Legal, University of Florida, UF, Justice, State University of Florida, ACLU, ” CNN, State University System of, University of Florida’s, “, Governors, Foundation, Rights, Florida, DOE, of Education Office, Legal, University of Illinois Chicago, UIC, Brandeis Center, University of Pennsylvania, ”, University, Trump, Ivy League, Private, AIM, U.S . Locations: New York, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Florida, State University System of Florida, Colorado, “, Penn, Chicago

☆ Fact Check: UN has not been granted ‘powers to regulate all internet content’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The United Nations has not been granted “powers to regulate all internet content,” as claimed in an article circulating online. The article cites a report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November that outlines guidelines on governing the internet as proof. The report (archived) does not grant the U.N. authority to regulate the internet, however. Nowhere in the objectives does it say that the document gives power to the U.N. to govern the internet. The U.N. has not been granted powers to regulate all internet content.

Persons: “, ”, ’, Lorna Woods, Woods, Read Organizations: United Nations, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, UN, Reuters, Internet Law, University of Essex, Thomson

From a health perspective, people in places like the U.S., Canada and Europe eat far more meat, especially red meat and processed meat, than recommended. There’s no question that cutting back on meat consumption could have real and lasting effects. Meat consumption is “orders of magnitude higher” in the U.S. than in low-income countries, and meals are often centered around it. Despite those hurdles, certain interventions can cut meat consumption, research shows. Interventions described as “nudges,” or small choices aimed at influencing behavior, appear to be among the most effective at cutting meat consumption.

Persons: — Preston Cabral, Eugenio Maria De Hostos, Vegans, Keren, Martin Bloem, he’s, Julia Wolfson, “, ” Wolfson, Ricardo Morales, ” Organizations: The Associated Press, NORC, for Public Affairs Research, United, Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations, Food and Agriculture Association of, University of Oxford, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University ., Stanford University, of Public Health, AP, Preston Cabral’s, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group Locations: I.S, United Kingdom, U.S, Canada, Europe, Netherlands, Haarlem, Amsterdam

☆ Extraordinary photos reveal the secret kingdom of the soil
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It’s a scene most of us might associate with an open savannah in a nature documentary, but photographer Andy Murray is watching the drama unfold from his back garden in Somerset, UK. To Murray, these microscopic soil animals are as fascinating as the lions and zebras you might see on safari – just far more accessible, if you know where to look. “They live in this tiny world; it works like our world, it’s just on a really small scale,” he tells CNN. Andy MurrayYet despite this wealth of life, the creatures living in the soil beneath our feet are relatively unknown. “He captures moments of soil life doing interesting and cool things,” says Anthony, such as laying eggs in a place where we would never expect.

Persons: Andy Murray, He’s, Murray, ”, “, Mark Anthony, Anthony, they’ve, it’s Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Food, Agricultural Organization, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Research Locations: Somerset, Mexico City, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania

☆ 92NY Halts Literary Series After Pulling Author Critical of Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Jennifer Schuessler | More About Jennifer Schuessler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

The reading, organized by 92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center, instead moved to a bookstore in downtown Manhattan, without any sponsorship from the Y. 92NY confirmed afterward that the decision not to go ahead with the event stemmed from Nguyen’s public statements about Israel. On Saturday, as news of the cancellation of Nguyen’s event spread, writers began announcing they would withdraw from upcoming appearances. The poet Paisley Rekdal and the critic Andrea Long Chu also wrote on X that they were pulling out of their events. The turmoil at the Y is part of continuing cultural repercussions over the war between Israel and Hamas.

Persons: Viet Thanh Nguyen, 92NY’s, 92NY, ”, Israel, “, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Richard Ford, John Edgar Wideman, Roxane Gay, Christina Sharpe, Saidiya Hartman, Dionne Brand, Paisley Rekdal, Andrea Long Chu, ” Rekdal, ” Chu, Chu, Sarah Chihaya, Sophie Herron, Nguyen, Min Jin Lee, Bernard Schwartz, Schwartz Organizations: Young, Hebrew, Jewish, Yorkers, Academy of American, London, divesting, McNally Jackson Locations: Israel, Manhattan, States, Gaza, Lower Manhattan

☆ UNESCO, Dutch launch project to prepare for AI supervision
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTHE HAGUE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Netherlands and the U.N. on Thursday launched a project to help prepare Europe's national agencies to supervise artificial intelligence (AI). The project, undertaken with support of the European Commission, comes ahead of the passage of the AI Act, the broad legislation that is expected to govern AI use in Europe. In the project, The United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will be assembling information about how European countries are currently supervising AI and putting together a list of "best practices" recommendations. The Dutch digital infrastructure agency (RDI) will be assisting UNESCO in communicating and meeting with national working groups from around Europe, including a first meeting on Thursday in The Hague.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, UNESCO's Gabriela Ramos, Nathalie Berger, Toby Sterling, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, HAGUE, European Commission, United Nations, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Union, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Netherlands, Europe, The Hague

☆ The global treasures in the running for UNESCO’s World Heritage status
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Tamara Hardingham-Gill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

This year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is reviewing nominations from both 2022 and 2023, with participants from across the world attending the session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to examine almost 50 contenders. According to UNESCO, sites must be of “outstanding universal value” to be included on the World Heritage List. So far, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed approximately 1,157 sites in 167 different countries onto the World Heritage List. Seo Heun Kang/UNESCO World Heritage Nomination OfficeOnly those countries that sign the convention creating the World Heritage Committee and list are permitted to nominate sites. Gordion, the capital city of ancient Phrygia in Ankara, Turkey, is also nominated for a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Persons: John E, Seo Heun Kang, Bale, Gordion, Mustafa Ciftci, Midas, Morten Rasmussen, Sarah Langrand, Dominique Marck, Bani Ma’arid, Bani Ma'arid, Hamad Al Qahtani, Koh Ker, Mount Pelée, Canada Bale, Francesca Street Organizations: CNN, UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage, Heritage, World, Anadolu Agency, Danish Agency for Culture, Fine Arts Department, de Nîmes, National Center for Wildlife, Architectural Museum, Kazan Federal University, Khinalig, Tunisia ESMA Museum, Clandestine Center of Detention, Wooden Posts, Greece Historic Center of Guimarães Locations: Gaya, Denmark, Thai, Ohio, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Hancock, United States, Goryeong, South Korea, Addis Ababa, Phrygia, Turkey, Ankara, B.C.E, Madagascar, Si Thep, Thailand, Si, Nîmes, France, Gorokhovets, Russia, Vladimir Oblast, Erfurt, Germany, Cambodia, Khmer, Courland, Latvia, Kaunas, Lithuania, Ab’aj, Guatemala, India, Karakum, Tajikistan, Menorca, Spain, Ethiopia, Iran, Klondike, Canada, Czech, Odzala, Kokoua, Congo, Mount, Northern Martinique, Benin Ha Long, Ba Archipelago, Vietnam, Forests, Azerbaijan, Jericho, Palestinian Territories, Kazan, Tunisia, Argentina, Belgium, Suriname Royal, Netherlands, Anatolia, Bisesero, Rwanda, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Masouleh, Turan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Northern Apennines, Italy, Tajikistan Highlands, Mongolian, Mongolia, Greece, Portugal

[1/2] AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken June 23, 2023. Some have expressed concern that students might similarly rely on AI to produce work and effectively cheat - especially as AI content gets better with time. Passing off GenAI as original work could also raise copyright issues, prompting questions over whether AI should be banned in academia. It has provided that tool free to more than 10,000 education institutions globally, although it plans to charge a fee from January. So far, the AI detection tool has found that only 3% of students used AI for more than 80% of their submissions and that 78% did not use AI at all, Turnitin data shows.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, OpenAI, ChatGPT, Bard, Leif Kari, Rachel Forsyth, Sophie Constant, Stefania Giannini, Kirsten Rulf, Deepa Babington Organizations: REUTERS, Lund, University of Western, University of Hong, Microsoft, Royal Institute of Technology, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Strategic, Lund University, England's University of Oxford, Reuters, European Union, EU, Boston Consulting Group, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, University of Western Australia, Perth, University of Hong Kong, Stockholm, Sweden, Britain, Singapore

☆ Dependence on Tech Caused ‘Staggering’ Education Inequality, U.N. Agency Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Natasha Singer | More About Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In early 2020, as the coronavirus spread, schools around the world abruptly halted in-person education. To many governments and parents, moving classes online seemed the obvious stopgap solution. In the United States, school districts scrambled to secure digital devices for students. Almost overnight, videoconferencing software like Zoom became the main platform teachers used to deliver real-time instruction to students at home. Now a report from UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational and cultural organization, says that overreliance on remote learning technology during the pandemic led to “staggering” education inequality around the world.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: UNESCO, United Nations, Education Locations: United States

☆ Global food prices bounce following collapse of Black Sea grain deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Global food prices ticked up last month after Russia pulled out of a deal to allow the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports. The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said Friday that its global Food Price Index rose 1.3% in July compared with the month before — notching only the second increase in a year of steady declines since the grain deal was struck. “International sunflower oil prices rebounded by more than 15% month-on-month, primarily underpinned by renewed uncertainties surrounding the exportable supplies out of the Black Sea region,” the FAO said in a statement. The FAO’s global wheat price index — which feeds into its broader Food Price Index — jumped 1.6% in July from the month before, its first monthly increase in nine months. Russian attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure since the grain deal’s collapse have also bumped up prices in recent weeks.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, —, ” Putin, Shashwat Organizations: London CNN — Global, United Nations, Food, Agricultural Organization, FAO, —, UN, Organisation for Economic Co, Development, Gro Intelligence, East, International Rescue Locations: Russia, Russian, Somalia, Eritrea, Ukraine, Asia, North America, East, East Africa

☆ Australia's Great Barrier Reef stays off UNESCO danger list, still under 'serious threat'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A colony of mushroom leather coral grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File PhotoSYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A UNESCO heritage committee on Tuesday stopped short of listing Australia's Great Barrier Reef as a site that is "in danger" but warned the world's biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under "serious threat" from pollution and the warming of oceans. The UN panel has asked the government to submit a progress report by February 2024. The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia said UNESCO could place the reef on the endangered list if the government failed to demonstrate progress on existing commitments. "There's an opportunity for Australia to lift its game before it is required to provide a progress report ... next year."

Persons: Lucas Jackson, Anthony Albanese, Richard Leck, Renju Jose, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, Labor, UN, Fund, Nature, Australia, Thomson Locations: Cairns, Australia, Queensland, Sydney

☆ The Price of Admission to America’s Museums Keeps Rising
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Zachary Small | More About Zachary Small | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Audience sizes just aren’t what they used to be at the Guggenheim Museum, where membership — once a dependable source of income — has declined by nearly 16 percent since 2019, and attendance in June slumped by 26 percent, from 89,600 to 65,900, over the same time frame. At the Guggenheim, leaders said that options for relief were limited after three years of managing the fiscal crisis of the pandemic. And so on Tuesday, the museum raised admission fees, bringing the cost of an adult ticket from $25 to what is becoming the new normal for major museums: $30. Museums, which are concerned about alienating the families and the diverse crowds they have been trying to court, say it’s typically a measure of last resort. “As we recover from the lingering financial strain caused by the pandemic, the museum needs to increase its admission prices, which have not been adjusted since 2015,” said Sara Fox, a spokeswoman for the Guggenheim.

Persons: —, ”, Sara Fox, “ Organizations: Guggenheim Museum, Guggenheim Locations: New York City

☆ What are the Women’s World Cup armbands and why were they created?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Matt Foster | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

What are the eight Women’s World Cup armbands? The eight different armbands each carry a “specific message” according to FIFA, falling under the governing body’s “Football Unites the World” campaign and in partnership with various United Nations’ agencies and the World Health Organization (WHO). During last year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar, a number of European captains withdrew from wearing an armband adorned with a heart striped in different colors as part of the “OneLove” campaign. England captain Millie Bright said she planned to wear three different armbands for each of her team’s group stage matches. “Nothing stopping Ali Riley from showing PRIDE at the World Cup this summer,” the website Women’s Sport Exchange tweeted.

Persons: Ali Riley, Steph Catley –, Sam Kerr, –, Qatar Bruno Fahy, Gianni Infantino, Millie Bright, ” Bright, ” Sarah Gregorius, “ You’ve, ’ ” Gregorius, Zealander Riley’s, Riley, Amanda Davies, ”, “, ” Ali Riley, Saeed Khan, Jennifer Garner, Angel City’s Organizations: CNN, New Zealand, Football Ferns, Inclusion, Australia, Indigenous Peoples, Ireland, FIFA, body’s “ Football, United Nations, World Health Organization, WHO, UN Human, Equality, UN, Peace –, UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency, Education, –, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, UN Women, Qatar, Getty, Football, “ Football, Reuters, “, FIFPRO, Zealander, Norway, Angel City FC, PRIDE, Exchange Locations: Norway, Sydney, Qatar, England, Netherlands, Germany, Eden, Auckland, AFP

☆ UN warns that implanting unregulated AI chips in your brain because could threaten your mental privacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The United Nations is warning about "potentially harmful" advances in neurotechnology. Some tech could allow AI to compromise a person's mental privacy, UNESCO officials said. "It's like putting neurotech on steroids," Mariagrazia Squicciarini, an economist from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, told the AFP. I didn't like it at all," Galvin, who eventually had the device removed, told UNESCO. It could threaten our rights to human dignity, freedom of thought and privacy," UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay said in June, when she proposed a "common ethical framework at the international level."

Persons: Gabriela Ramos, Ramos, Antonio Guterres, Hannah Galvin, Galvin, " Galvin, Squicciarini, Audrey Azoulay Organizations: UNESCO, UN, Morning, United Nations, Agence France, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, AFP Locations: neurotechnology

☆ Women’s World Cup teams permitted to wear armbands that highlight ‘social causes’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Amanda Davies | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —World soccer governing body FIFA will allow a variety of different armbands that highlight “a range of social causes” to be worn at the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the organization said Friday. “FIFA, in partnership with several United Nations agencies, will use the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ to highlight a range of social causes, selected following extensive consultation with stakeholders including players and the 32 participating member associations,” FIFA said in a statement. “But football does even more than that – it can shine the spotlight on very important causes in our society. Several European teams were set to participate in the “OneLove” campaign to promote inclusion and oppose discrimination, but those countries were prevented by FIFA from doing so. There is no explicit mention of LGBTQ rights in Women’s World Cup armbands, beyond the “themes” of “gender equality” and “inclusion.”The Women’s World Cup is scheduled to be played from July 20 to August 20 with the opening game taking place in Auckland when co-hosts New Zealand play Norway.

Persons: ”, “, Gianni Infantino, Hadja Lahbib, Nancy Faeser – Organizations: CNN, FIFA, “ FIFA, United Nations, ” FIFA, Football, Inclusion, UN Human, Indigenous Peoples, Equality, UN, Peace –, UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency, Education, –, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, UN Women, World Health Organization, WHO, Qatar –, Belgian Foreign Affairs, German, New Zealand Locations: Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Infantino, Auckland, Norway

☆ UNESCO member countries ready to welcome US back to organisation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The member states will make their decision at an extraordinary session on Thursday and Friday. "This comes after a lot of work to persuade, educate and explain on the current realities of UNESCO," Azoulay, who is French, told reporters, adding that she had personally lobbied U.S. lawmakers for several months. At this stage there are no negotiations for its return, Azoulay said. Its return to UNESCO was enabled after a waiver from the U.S. Congress earlier this year. Azoulay said China had responded at UNESCO to the potential U.S. return by saying it should be constructive and not oppose one state.

Persons: Donald Trump, Audrey Azoulay, Washington's, Azoulay, John Irish, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Trump, PARIS, United Nations, U.S . State Department, UNESCO, Reuters, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, U.S, Congress, Thomson Locations: States, US, United States, Israel, Paris, U.S, Timbuktu, Jerusalem, Washington, Palestine, China

☆ Putting salt in tap water and drilling wells in parks: one city’s desperate quest to avoid running dry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The situation has become so bad that residents are being forced to drink salty tap water and workers are drilling wells in the center of the capital to reach the water beneath the ground. Another, the Paso Severino, which normally serves 60% of the country’s population with fresh water, has seen the largest decrease in water levels on record. Water levels could be depleted completely in early July, according to local media reports. Low water levels at the Canelón Grande reservoir on March 13, 2023. As well as tasting salty, Uruguayan officials say the tap water also has a high level of chlorides, sodium, and trihalomethanes.

Persons: Luis Lacalle Pou, It’s, Paso Severino, Ernesto Ryan, Carlos Santos, “, ”, Karina Rando, Lacalle Pou, Santos, Eitan Abramovich, ‘, Daniel Panario, Panario, OSE, Ana Ferreira, ” Friederike Otto, Miguel Doria, hydrologist, Uruguay “, Doria, ” Gerardo Amarilla, ” Doria Organizations: CNN —, National Commission, Defense of Water, University of, CNN, of Public Health, ”, Getty, Parque, of Ecology, University of the, Bloomberg, United Nations Educational, Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Uruguay’s Ministry of, United, Montevideo don’t Locations: CNN — Uruguay, American, Uruguay, country’s, Montevideo, Republic, la Plata, Paso, South America’s, San, ”, University of the Republic, America, Argentina, Caribbean, United Nations

☆ Veracruz state: Home of the flying Voladores, Mexico's top coffee and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Tim Leffel | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The Voladores of Veracruz in Mexico have a history that goes back at least 1,400 years. “The flying ritual has never had a learning age, it is a project of a lifetime,” he says. Nearly all of the Voladores train in or around Papantla, where the flying schools prepare young people to take over for those who are eventually aging out. Coffee, ancient ruins and an overlooked capital cityMen with ankle ropes flying deftly around a pole are not the only export from this state, though. The big draw, however, is Mexico’s second most important archaeological museum after the one in Mexico City.

☆ The World Faces an Imminent Water Crisis, U.N. Warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People collect water from a mountain runoff to take home in Caracas, Venezuela. The world is facing an imminent risk of a global water crisis, a United Nations agency warned in a report that casts a dim view of government cooperation on the issue. Around two billion people, roughly 26% of the world population, don’t have access to safe drinking water, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization report published Wednesday. An additional 3.6 billion people, or 46%, lack access to safely managed sanitation, it said.

☆ Growth is slowing in Indonesia and events thousands of miles away are playing a part
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Fcdo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has dented economies around the world, is contributing to growth slowing down in Indonesia. The food sector has been strongly affected by the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted wheat and fertilizer imports into Indonesia. After recording economic growth of 5.3% in 2022, the strongest for almost a decade, Indonesia is now braced for growth to slow down intensified by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. With weakening commodity and energy prices denting export earnings, Indonesia is contending with economic headwinds as fears of a global recession mount. Indonesia, one of Asia's success stories of recent years, has been less hard-hit than many emerging economies by the war in Ukraine.

☆ Exclusive: Activist Legion Partners nominates 4 directors at Primo Water -letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Activist investor Legion Partners Asset Management is pushing for four new directors to join Primo Water Corp's (PRMW.N) board, arguing they could help the water company's share price triple over five years. Legion nominated experts in water delivery, beverage operations, marketing and capital allocation as director candidates for election to the U.S.-Canadian company's 10-person board to help reverse "chronic underperformance," according to a letter seen by Reuters. "Substantial shareholder-driven change in the boardroom is long overdue and necessary at the 2023 Annual Meeting in order for Primo to achieve its full potential," Legion's managing directors, Chris Kiper and Ted White, wrote to fellow Primo Water shareholders. Legion, which helped place directors onto boards at Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's, said it owns a 1.5% stake in Primo Water and has been an investor in the past. Primo Water offers home and office water delivery, water exchange, where customers return their empty water jugs and buy new ones at retailers, and water refill, its most affordable offering, where customers refill jugs themselves.

☆ One year after volcanic blast, many of Tonga's reefs lay silent
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Coral reefs were turned to rubble and many fish perished or migrated away. Following the eruption, the Tongan government said it would seek $240 million for recovery, including improving food security. SILENT REEFSThe vast majority of Tongan territory is ocean, with its exclusive economic zone extending across nearly 700,000 square kilometres (270,271 square miles) of water. It is likely volcanic ash smothered many reefs, depriving fish of feeding areas and spawning beds. While volcanic eruptions on land eject mostly ash and sulfur dioxide, underwater volcanos jettison far more water.

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