W.H.O. calls ‘vaccine hesitancy’ an increasing concern globally

Rick Gladstone

August 18, 2015

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of what it called the growing problem of “vaccine hesitancy,” when people delay or refuse vaccines for themselves or their children. In a statement on its website, the organization called the problem “a growing challenge for countries seeking to close the immunization gap.” Globally, the organization said, one in five children still do not receive routine lifesaving immunizations, and 1.5 million children die each year of diseases that could have been thwarted by vaccines.

(www.nytimes.com)

Mount Roraima is a fascinating lost world

It's a real lost world. On this flat-topped mountain in Venezuela, cut off from civilisation, prehistoric castaways have evolved into unique species found nowhere else on the planet.

Welcome to the Mount Roraima, a spectacular sight which Lonely Planet has explored for the new book The World's Great Wonders.

Waterfalls spilling down sheer cliff faces into clouds. Labyrinths of stone pinnacles. Valleys carpeted with crystals. Carnivorous pitcher plants. Exquisite rare orchids.

When you gazed up at the fortress of stone from the base of the mountain, you didn't know what to expect from this plateau floating high above the Amazon jungle. Now that you're on the summit, it feels as if you've stepped into some archaic land. A world untouched by humankind. A forgotten world.

Pitching your tent for the night inside the caves, you hunker down, your dreams filled with images of gushing waterfalls, strange shifting landscapes and prehistoric creatures.

Texto - MED

Islamic State’s destruction of Palmyra temple confirmed by satellite photo

Satellite images have confirmed the destruction of a Roman-era temple in the Syrian city of Palmyra, a United Nations agency said, after the hardline Islamic State group claimed responsibility for blowing up the structure a week ago.

Islamic State detonated explosives in the ancient Baal Shamin temple on August 25, an act that cultural agency UNESCO has called a war crime aimed at wiping out a symbol of Syria’s diverse cultural heritage.

The temple of Bel stood just outside the main area of the ancient city, whose column-lined principal street leads to its gate.

Its richly decorated central shrine area, or cella, was extremely well preserved.

An analysis of an image taken in June and others taken several days ago show the obliteration of the temple in the central desert city, the Geneva-based United Nations Institute for Training and Research said in a statement.

“We confirm the destruction of the main building, while surrounding columns seem to be less affected.”

Islamic State captured Palmyra, an oasis town and former trading centre in Syria’s central desert, from government forces in May.

Photographs published by IS last week showed a pile of rubble on the site of that temple.

Its destruction was condemned by UNESCO, which lists Palmyra as a World Heritage Site, as a war crime.

The head of the UN cultural agency, Irina Bokova said Palmyra’s art and architecture was “a symbol of the complexity and wealth of the Syrian identity and history.”

Two weeks ago Islamic State beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, who was the city’s chief archaeologist for decades, and hung his body from a lamp post.

Islamic State, which controls most of eastern Syria and the central desert, has previously destroyed ancient monuments as well as Christian and Muslim holy sites in neighbouring Iraq.

DPA, Reuters

Colombian Government and Rebels Agree to Retrieve, ID Remains of Guerrilla War Dead

State and rebel leaders in Colombia agreed on Saturday to implement an unprecedented plan to locate, identify and return the remains of the tens of thousands of people who have disappeared in the country’s lengthy ongoing civil conflict, TeleSUR, a South American broadcasting network, reported.

The agreement, between the Colombian government and the left-wing guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is a milestone in a bloody conflict that has spanned half a century, leaving 220,000 people dead and displacing 6 million more. More than 50,000 people are still missing, according to government approximations.

The FARC and other left-wing extremist groups claim to defend Colombia’s poor against state hostility in the name of communism; right-wing paramilitary groups use force to lash out against the left-wing guerrillas; the government says it merely seeks to establish stability and protect its citizens. Experts say that all three parties have abused human rights by either action or inaction in what has been described as the longest ongoing domestic conflict in the Western hemisphere.

Per the agreement, both FARC and the government will work to identify and retrieve the remains of their victims, with the state facilitating burials in cemeteries located in areas impacted by the conflict. It is the latest advance in a recent concerted effort to establish peace between the guerrillas and the Colombian government. A month ago, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri — known by his nom de guerre Timochenko — symbolically met in Havana to begin a sixmonth period in which a mutual peace accord will be drafted.

Undergraduate students at Princeton benefit from the extraordinary resources of a world-class research institution dedicated to undergraduate teaching. Princeton faculty have an unparalleled reputation for balancing excellence in their fields with a dedication to their students, through both classroom instruction and independent study advising. Undergraduates fulfill general education requirements, choose among a wide variety of elective courses, and pursue departmental concentrations and interdisciplinary certificate programs. Required independent work is a hallmark of undergraduate education at Princeton.

CIVIL-CRIMINAL LITIGATION

www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/caseexamples.aspx. Acessado em 21/10/2015. Adaptado.

It took nine years and a lot of work going to US Courts of Appeals, for nearly 40 clinic students to stop the deportation of a mentally retarded man who had come to the United States with his family at age 14 and lived here for 33 years. At the final hearing, the immigration judge restored the client\'s permanent resident status. Students are now helping the client gain U.S. citizenship.