Category: World Touch

Costa Rica

Zero Emissions By 2050

Costa Rica has launched an economy-wide plan to “decarbonize” the country by 2050, as the Central American nation aims to show other nations that it is possible to address climate change.

Thailand

World’s Most Unequal Nation

Thailand enjoys the dubious distinction of being the world’s most unequal nation, the deadliest country in ASEAN for road accidents, and one of the Asian nations with the highest level of gun-related murders, according to recent studies.

China

Replace Pictures of Jesus With Xi Jinping

Believers are urged to replace religious artifacts in their homes with posters of the Communist Party leader if they want to benefit from poverty-relief efforts

1.6 Million Deaths Per Year in China

Pollution costs Beijing 1.6 million lives per year, 17% of all deaths; 92% of Chinese people breathed at least 120 hours of unhealthy air between April and August 2014; 38% of the people live, on average, in an atmosphere harmful to health, according to U.S. environmental parameters. This was discovered by scientists at the University of Berkeley, who conducted research on Chinese territory using Google Maps platform that Beijing has blocked nationwide.

Migrant Crisis

Millions of Refugees Overwhelm Europe

European Union leaders, faced with a staggering migration crisis and deep divisions over how to tackle it, managed to agree early Thursday to boost border controls to ease the influx and to send 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to international agencies helping refugees at camps near their home countries.

Pakistan

Jihadist Mentality Grows in the Classroom

Schools are at the heart of the problem but, at the same time, they are the key to defeating terrorism and religious extremism in Pakistan. Many are adamant about this: experts, educators, bishops, civil society organizations, politicians and scholars alike. “For as long as the jihad begins in the classroom and religious hatred is fostered through state school textbooks, it will not be easy to imagine this country as one that exudes tolerance, a peace-building country that strives for harmony,” Professor James Paul Anjum explained to Vatican Insider. Mr. Anjum is a Christian and president of the Pakistan Minorities Teachers’ Association (PMTA).

Church

Vatican Tackles Mining

Continuing the Vatican’s full-court environmental press, Pope Francis, recently, called for radical change in the mining industry, demanding greater respect both for nature and for the human rights of workers. The mining industry, he said, is “called upon to adopt a behavior inspired by the fact that we constitute a single human family.”

North Korea

Party Candidates Elected with 99.97% Votes

In North Korea, state-controlled local elections saw a 99.97% voter turnout on Sunday, July 19, state media reported. New representatives, put forward by the ruling party, were elected.

Migrants

Remittances From Europe Top $100 Billion

One in five migrant workers – about 50 million people – lives and works in Europe, making the region home to a quarter of global remittance flows, according to a new report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Indonesia

Boosting Sustainable Agriculture

For more than 14 years, a group of Indonesian nuns has been developing organic farming methods to grow food while protecting the environment through a form of lay apostolate that has attracted the attention of many farmers, most of them Muslims.

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