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Top political and financial leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos say recent natural disasters, along with Obama’s inauguration announcement that he is making the battle against rising temperatures a pillar of his second term, could rev up the glacially slow climate pact negotiations and revive fund–raising for global action to cool the planet.
The Elders warmly welcomed the appointment of Lesley–Anne Knight as chief executive officer from January 2013. She will manage the London–based staff and foundation that supports the work of The Elders.
Vegetable gardening has been introduced at the Capanda Agro–industrial Pole (PAC) as a source of income for local small farmers. The vegetable gardens are part of a social program, Kulonga pala Kukula (“education for development” in Kimbundu, which also includes actions to promote health, water availability and education. Women and a few men plant a variety of seeds brought from Brazil to 10 villages close to the Capanda hydroelectric plant, 360 kilometers from the capital, Luanda.
Basic economics tells us that demand dictates supply. But despite government’s beefing up inter–agency efforts to curb demand for illegal drugs to gradually cut off the supply line, the number of identified illegal drug users in the Philippines is, nevertheless, “steadily increasing.” According to the Department of Health’s records, there are at least 1.7M illegal drug dependents across the archipelago, and only about 10,000 of these are housed in some 15 government–run drug treatment and rehabilitation centers nationwide. At least 922 of this number are currently treated at the DOH Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DOH TRC) inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City that is considered to be the largest of all state–run facilities in terms of population.
Two analysts review the approach to one of the most ignored issues of the last US November elections. The first, Ted Galen Carpenter, a top expert of the prestigious think–thank Cato Institute, laments that the war on drugs was absent from the electoral debate. The second, Eugene Jarecki, director of a landmark documentary which chronicles how the current penal approach has resulted in social disaster, considers that the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in two states, Washington and Colorado, can, after all, be the greatest legacy of the elections, – a sign of shifting attitudes towards illegal narcotics.
When I had the chance to watch closely a Philippine eagle, I understood the metaphor in Exodus: “You yourselves have seen how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.” It was such a glorious vision but, at the same time, a sad one: we are the last generation of humans that will see the Philippine eagle in the wild. The quick extinction of the species, and the huge loss of biodiversity we are going through, should remind us of the wise words of St. Columban: “If you wish to know God, learn about Creation.” And lead us to act accordingly.
Nicknamed “The Naughty Nun” by the French press, she was also called “The French Mother Teresa.” These two names describe the two sides of the rich and generous personality of Sister Emmanuelle who lived twenty years with the young rubbish collectors of Cairo. When at 85, she at last retired, she became an outspoken and courageous television celebrity, fighting on behalf of the poor and Christianity. Sister Emmanuelle ((1908–2008) was awarded Egyptian citizenship in 1991 and the “Légion d’honneur” by Jacques Chirac. She is an example of bravery, open–mindedness, energy and faith not only in God but in human beings.
