Europa Newsblog

Statement attributable to the Head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, General Robert Mood

By Europa Newswire | Published June 16, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photo by UN Photo/Neeraj Singh

There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days. This escalation is limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects – basically impeding our ability to carry out our mandate.

The lack of willingness by the Parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides: innocent civilians, men women and children are being killed every day. It is also posing significant risks to our observers.

In this high risk situation, UNSMIS is suspending its activities. UN observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice. Engagement with the Parties will be restricted.

This suspension will be reviewed on a daily basis. Operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities.

Let me be very clear, UNSMIS is committed to the people of Syria. We stand ready to work with all Parties to assist in bringing an end to the violence and promote political dialogue. A return to normal operations remains our objective.

Source: UN Spokesperson

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged General Robert Mood, Mission in Syria, people of Syria, Syria war, UN, UN observers, United Nations, UNSMIS | Comments Off

Exploring Cross-Cultural Dialogue through Theater – Photos

By Europa Newswire | Published May 19, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos by Luiz Rampelotto

Foreign Press Center – New York – May 17 2012

MR. HWANG: “Oh, I think everybody is really concerned about trying to attract younger audiences. I mean, part of the problem with Broadway and younger audiences is just the cost of tickets. If you have to spend $200 to go to the theater, it’s unlikely that people who are in their 20s are going to be able to afford that. Now there are a lot of ways to get cheaper tickets. It’s kind of like airline tickets. You can always find a cheaper way to get a ticket. But you have to sort of already be going to Broadway and be savvy enough to be able to know those things”.

“So I think it’s hard, and that’s one of the things that I think Broadway has been very successful at over the past 20 years is attracting families. So there’s a big emphasis on family shows, and certainly Lion King is the best example of a show that has been huge for families – but that’s parents taking their kids, which hopefully translates into those kids getting older and then wanting to go on their own. But – yeah, and I think that the – it’s why – I mean, a show like American Idiot; American Idiot is not a baby boomer show. American Idiot – what, the album came out in ninety – what, ‘96 or something? So it’s kind of a Gen-X show, and it did pretty well”.

“So there’s attempts – if you look at the range of a Broadway season, there are always shows that are attempting to bring in new audiences. So this – just now, it closed, but there was the basketball show, Magic/Bird, which is – because the thing that they always say is that the audiences that you can’t get in, that won’t buy tickets, are kind of basically straight men. Straight men don’t want to go to the theater. So you do a basketball show, or you do or Book of Mormon has been good and appealing to straight guys. And so everybody’s – so there are all these different groups that you’re trying to appeal to, and I think Chinglish we did a better job of appealing to. We had certainly a larger percentage of Asians and Asian Americans in our audience in those Broadway shows”.

“And if you went to see a show like Stick Fly, which was the Lydia Diamond play about an African American family – it was on Broadway earlier that season – those audiences, I think, were about 60 percent African American. So there’s attempts to try to broaden the pool. How successful they are is another question”.

Source: Foreign Press Center – New York

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged Asian American, Author, Bruce Lee, Celebrities, CHINGLISH, Cross-Cultural Dialogue, David Henry Hwang, Foreign Press Center, FPC, GOLDEN CHILD, KUNG FU, M. BUTTERFLY, NYC, playwright, Theater, Tony Award, UN, United Nations, USA | Comments Off

Indigenous Peoples and Food Sovereignty – Photos

By Europa Newswire | Published May 10, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos by Luiz Rampelotto

United Nations May 08 2012

Activists for indigenous rights today said that five years after the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted, a great deal remains to be done to realize the objectives contained in that landmark document.

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, native American activist and lawyer:
“We are recommending that the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues conduct an international study on this doctrine and look at the effects that the Doctrine of Domination has had on our health, our physical, psychological and social wellbeing as well as our human and collective rights.”

Grand Chief Edward John, Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues:
“Those schools were premised on this idea that indigenous peoples were inferior to the general population, their cultures and civilisations were inferior, their languages were not to be spoken, children had to be taken from their families and communities and placed in these institutions to begin the gradual civilisation and Christianisation of our peoples. As if our history and our cultures and our languages were not important.”

On 17 May, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will convene a high-level event to mark the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration, reflect on good practices and assess the document’s role in fulfilling the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Adopted by the General Assembly in September 2007 after more than two decades of debate, the Declaration is a non-binding text that sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues.

Source: UNTV

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged 11TH session, Child, Dance, Doctrine of Discovery, eleventh session, Food Sovereignty, Forum, General Assembly, Grand Chief, Haka, Hall, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous Peoples, Kahurangi, Maori, Permanent, Seneca Nation, Seneca people, Seneca-Iroquois, UN, United Nations, UNPFII, waka | Comments Off

Born Too Soon

By Europa Newswire | Published May 3, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos By Luiz Rampelotto

United Nation, May 02 2012

Being born too soon can mean agony for life, and that’s for those lucky enough to survive. A new UN-backed report says that 15 million babies – more than one in ten – are born prematurely each year, meaning they are delivered before 39 weeks of gestation.
Many of those babies suffer some type of lifelong physical, neurological, or educational disability, often at great cost to families and society. And each year, over one million preterm babies die shortly after birth.

Dr. Carole Presern, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health:
“Prematurity is the number one cause of newborn death and the number two cause of death among all children under the age of five, and I want to pause on that because this is completely new and groundbreaking.”

Most of the countries with preterm rates above 15 percent are in Africa – but the problem is not confined to low-income countries.

Adam Pallone, USA parent of preterm baby:
“Her brain injuries made it difficult for her to eat, and she currently has to receive her food through a tube that’s implanted into her stomach. She’s been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, her days are filled with physical therapy and doctor’s visits. She’ll be turning two in almost a week, and she’s still unable to crawl or sit without assistance. Since her birth, her medical bills have totalled over 1.2 million dollars. Her condition, resulting from her prematurity, will likely require lifelong care, and many more treatments, many more bills.”

In poor countries, preterm babies rarely make it that far. More than 90 percent die within the first few days of life.

According to the report, inexpensive treatments could save at least three quarters of preterm babies in the developing world.

The authors estimate that “kangaroo care” alone, where the infant is held skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest to keep warm, could save almost half a million lives a year.

And one big key to reducing preterm deaths, they say, is to help all pregnancies go to full term, because “a healthy baby is worth the wait”.

Source: UNTV

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged Adam Pallone, ailments, Born Too Soon, cerebral palsy, full-term, Global Action Report, Kendall Pallone, Lauren Pallone, March of Dimes, pre-term babies, pregnancies, premature, Preterm Birth, UN, United Nations, World Health Organization | Comments Off

United Nations First International Jazz Day – Exclusive Photos

By Europa Newswire | Published May 1, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos by Luiz Rampelotto

United Nations, April 30 2012

Dozens of jazz greats from around the globe are expected at UN headquarters tonight for a star-studded concert in celebration of the first annual International Jazz Day, which seeks to spotlight the historic influence of jazz in connecting people and igniting social change.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), along with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, is hosting the concert which feature an all-star cast of performers, among them Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett, Chaka Khan, Angélique Kidjo and Romero Lubambo. Co-hosts include actors Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Quincy Jones.

Lionel Loueke, Beninois guitarist:
“As a jazz musician, what you do is you improvise, and I think this goes for jazz as well as for life in general, you need to be able to express yourself freely. In all the countries of the world where you have freedom of expression, you generally have more peace. So you see, they go together.” Continue reading »

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged Angelique Kidjo, Bobby Sanabria, Cameroon, Candido, Chaka Khan, Christian McBride, Danilo Pérez, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Derek Trucks, Dianne Reeves, Eli Degibri, Esperanza Spalding, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Hiromi, Hugh Masekela, Israel, Jack DeJohnette, jazz greats, Jimmy Heath, Lang Lang, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, New York, Quincy Jones, Richard Bona, Robert Cray, Robert de Niro, Romero Lubambo, Shankar Mahadevan, Sheila E., Susan Tedeschi, Terence Blanchard, Tineke Postma, Tony Bennett, Troy Roberts, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Zakir Hussain | Comments Off

NYC First Green Festival – Photos

By Europa Newswire | Published April 22, 2012

Europa Newswire

Jacob Javits Center – New York – April 21 2012 – United Nations promoting Rio+20 at the First NYC Green Festival at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center downtown Manhattan

Credit: Luiz Rampelotto/Europa Newswire

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged Earth Week, eco-fashion designs, Green energy, Green Festival, greener communities, Javits Center, Manhattan, NYC, Rio summit, Rio+20, Stainable development, UN, UN-DESA, United Nations, USA | Comments Off

Statement by the Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan

By Europa Newswire | Published April 8, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photo Luiz Rampelotto

Geneva, 8 April 2012

I am shocked by recent reports of a surge in violence and atrocities in several towns and villages in Syria, resulting in alarming levels of casualties, refugees and displaced persons, in violation of assurances given to me.

This is a time when we must all urgently work towards a full cessation of hostilities, providing the space for humanitarian access and creating the conditions for a political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people.

As we get closer to the Tuesday 10 April deadline, I remind the Syrian Government of the need for full implementation of its commitments and stress that the present escalation of violence is unacceptable. I once again call upon both the Government and the opposition to cease all forms of violence by 0600 Damascus time Thursday 12 April.

I am in constant contact with the Syrian Government and ask all States with influence on the parties to use it now to ensure an end to the bloodshed and the beginning of dialogue.

Source: UN Spokesperson

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged 10 April, bloodshed, Damascus, Kofi Annan, Statement, Syria, Syrian government, Syrian people, war, war crimes | Comments Off

UN Autism Postage Stamp Creators – Photos

By Europa Newswire | Published April 5, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos by Luiz Rampelotto
United Nations – New York – April 03 2012 – The UN Postal Administration launched a series of postage stamps designed by artists diagnosed with autism with the goal of raising awareness about the condition..

PHOTO OF: Pilipino and Canadian Artist, J. A. Tan – VICTORY – Stamp Creator .

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged 2 April, ALEX MASKET, artists, autism, autism awareness, Autism Speaks, collectible, commemorative, Crazy Love, envelopes, HANNAH ROSE KANDEL, J. A. Tan, KINETIC BLUE, Michael Augello, Mythic Creatures Mural, postage stamps, Postal office, RYAN SMOLUK, SETH CHWAST, Stamp Creator, STAMPS, THE PATH, TRENT ALTMAN, UN, UN Postal, United Nations, UNPA, VICTORY, World Autism Day | Comments Off

UN Autism Stamps

By Europa Newswire | Published March 31, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos by Luiz Rampelotto

United Nations – March 30 2012

New York, Vienna and Geneva, the UN Postal Administration (UNPA) released six commemorative postage stamps and two collectible envelopes dedicated to autism awareness, with images created by artists who have been diagnosed with autism.
UNPA’s chief, David Failor, told a news conference in New York that the selection process enabled the agency to discover the many hidden talents that people diagnosed with autism have.

David Failor, Chief of the United Nations Postal Administration:
“Selecting the subject and designing the stamp really presented us with quite a unique challenge. You know, after all, how do you visually depict autism on a postage stamp? And I think the one thing that struck us is as we learned more about the disorder was the many hidden talents that some of these folks had. Rorie, who is the head of our UNPA stamp design team really came up with the idea of, let’s see about using artwork that was created by individuals that had been diagnosed with autism.”
He noted that it was Rorie Katz, Head of Graphic Design for United Nations Postal Administration, who came up with the idea of, “let’s see about using artwork that was created by individuals that had been diagnosed with autism.”

Katz commented that “the artwork was so good” that it made it “really difficult to pick just eight.”

Rorie Katz, Head of Graphic Design for United Nations Postal Administration:
“The artwork was so good that we had no idea what we were going to get and it was really, really difficult to pick just eight. Originally we were going to use just three and there was so much artwork and it was so good that we had to use more and I wish we could have used every single picture that we got.”
The UN is the only organization in the world which is neither a country nor a territory that is permitted to issue postage stamps. It is also the only postal authority to issue stamps in three different currencies – the United States dollar, the Swiss franc and the euro.

The stamps will go on sale in New York, Vienna and Geneva beginning on Monday.

Source: UNTV.

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Ashley Judd on Human trafficking, HIV/ AIDS

By Europa Newswire | Published March 15, 2012

Europa Newswire

Photos Luiz Rampelotto

United Nations – March 14 2012

Actress Ashley Judd participated in a discussion with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on human trafficking, HIV/ AIDS and women’s issues and shared experiences she chronicles in her new memoir, “All that is Bitter and Sweet.”

She told of her experiences travelling around the world

Ashley Judd, Author of All That Is Bitter and Sweet:
“I’ve been on the front lines of the battle of preventable diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS, traveled into the depraved world of human trafficking, sex slavery and labor slavery, visited the palaces and corridors of power, engaging the decision-makers who can improve public policies. My aim when I began this journey was to make my life an act of worship, to be useful to my fellows.”

Ashley Judd, Author of All That Is Bitter and Sweet:
“I was at a brothel in Madagascar and interviewing women, asking you know, how, how did you end up here? And this one woman, she was really beautiful, in the most off-handed manner said, ‘Same ole, same ole.’ And that’s when I really made the connection that sex slavery is everywhere, the story is largely the same and differs only in the details.”

Ashley Judd, Author of All That Is Bitter and Sweet:
“A victim of human trafficking’s will to live is probably the most remarkable thing I have ever beheld in my life. The ability to do what is in front of them to do and to keep taking the next breath speaks to some thing about the human spirit that defies explanation.”

Source: UNTV

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Posted in NEWS | Tagged actress, All that is Bitter and Sweet, Ashley Judd, HIV/AIDS, Human Trafficking, malaria, UN, United Nations | Comments Off

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