Tharparkar desert in Pakistan’s Sindh province is known for being hot and dry. But a recent heavy rain spell has turned the desert into a lush green landscape. The green explosion is also attracting visitors from the city. VOA’s Muhammad Saqib has more in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

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From: MeNeedIt

This generation of children are called digital natives because they have grown up in a digital world. But there are two generations of older people and many disadvantaged people for whom the digital world is a mystery. A computer science teacher in Washington DC is working to change that. VOA’s Mykhailo Komadovsky reports.

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From: MeNeedIt

The United Nations and human rights defenders are calling for greater protections for journalists as the world observes this year’s International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul last year is a textbook case of impunity. The Saudi Arabian assassins and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly commissioned the killing, have paid no price for this crime.

Many other killings of journalists also go unpunished.   In his message on this International Day, U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, deplores the rise in the scale and number of attacks against the physical safety of journalists and media workers in recent years.

Rheal LeBlanc, the U.N.’s chief of press and external relations in Geneva, told VOA that Guterres warns that world leaders who vilify journalists as purveyors of so-called fake news put the journalists’ lives and liberty in danger.

“I think he said on many, many occasions how it is important for all leaders to show respect for the freedom of the press and all the social tolerance and respect for the work that journalists are doing … Freedom of expression and free media are essential to our democracies.”

UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, reports 1,360 journalists have been killed since 1993.  The non-governmental Press Emblem Campaign reports 65 journalists worldwide have been killed so far this year.  In addition, it notes that journalists in many countries are regularly molested, injured, harassed, detained and prevented from doing their work.

The campaign supports the enactment of an international convention for the protection of journalists to combat impunity more effectively.  It cites the case of Mexico as a country where impunity is almost total because of the corruption of local authorities.  

It says most crimes against journalists in other countries, such as Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Iraq, go unpunished because of the lack of an independent judiciary. It argues that independent international investigation and prosecution mechanisms are needed to identify those responsible for these crimes and bring them to justice.

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From: MeNeedIt

GISBORN, NEW ZEALAND – New Zealand has launched an official campaign to revive the indigenous Maori language. The ambitious project is part of an official strategy that sees the revival of the language as a key part in national identity and reconciliation. 

The language has been surprisingly resilient on its own. Case in point – an album by Maori heavy-metal band Alien Weaponry recently went straight to number one in New Zealand. But census data has shown that the number of indigenous speakers in country has fallen.  

Glenis Philip-Barbara, the former head of the Maori Language Commission, is optimistic about the future though.

“There aren’t as many people speaking Maori as I’d like, I mean, around two-in-five Maori can have a conversation in te reo Maori (the Maori language), which is still quite low.  But, look, we’ve made huge gains since the days when we were at two per cent.  That was the 1970s, so we are steadily growing and, of course, without a proper command of the language you don’t actually have that in-depth understanding of your own culture,” Philip-Barbara said.  

Maori TV is publicly funded.  Its presenters and journalists speak only in Maori.  

It is a far cry from when children were beaten or whipped at school for speaking their native tongue.

Tina Ngata, an indigenous rights campaigner, believes colonization has had terrible consequences for language.

“We talk about this idea of cultural genocide and that one of the forms that colonization takes is that the policies, the legislation, the funding, the structures really lend itself towards only letting you survive if you survive as a colonial version of yourself, and it is much more difficult to survive as a Maori.  Our resistance to that is to continue to flood our communities with beautiful Maori-speaking, Maori-singing ceremonial and contemporary versions and on-going, evolving versions of ourselves,” Ngata said.

Millions of dollars of government money has been promised to help revitalize Maori.  Like many other New Zealanders, the country’s prime minister, Jacinta Ardern, is eager to learn.

“What is the most important thing in the world? The people, the people, the people,” she said.

Words such as kia ora (hello), and kai (food) have long been part of New Zealand English.  It is hoped that by 2040, one million Kiwis will be able to speak basic Maori.  

Indigenous New Zealanders make up about 15% of the national population.

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From: MeNeedIt

A land mine explosion in Afghanistan claimed the lives of 9 children Saturday as they walked to school, according to police.

Spokesman Khalil Asir said the mine detonated in the northeastern province of Takhar, killing the children, who were nine to 12 years old.   

Asir said the Taliban planted anti-personnel mines to clear the area but, “Unfortunately, today, one of those mines exploded and killed nine primary school students.”

The Taliban, which controls the area and is fighting to oust U.S.-backed foreign troops, was not immediately available for comment.

Saturday’s deaths are the latest in a growing number of civilian casualties this year, despite U.S.-Taliban talks to reach a peace agreement.

The U.N. said last month a record 4,313 civilians were killed or injured between July and September, a more than 40 percent increase from the same period last year.

Of that number, more than 1,000 were fatalities — making the period the most deadly since the U.N. began compiling figures in 2009.

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From: MeNeedIt

Hong Kong police Saturday fired tear gas in an effort to disperse protesters whose rallies in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory show no signs of subsiding.

Saturday marked the 22nd consecutive weekend of pro-democracy protests in the territory’s streets.

Friday, Shen Chunyaok, the director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Basic Law Commission warned that China “absolutely will not permit any behavior encouraging separatism or endangering national security and will resolutely guard against and contain the interference of foreign powers in the affairs of Hong Kong and Macao and their carrying out acts of separatism, subversion, infiltration and sabotage.”

Eighteen-year-old protester Gordon Tsoi told the French news agency AFP: “The government and the police have been ignoring and suppressing the people’s demands so we need to continue the movement to show them we still want what we are asking for.”

The Asian financial hub has been mired in massive and oftentimes violent protests since June, sparked by a proposed bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China.  The protests have evolved into demands for full democracy for Hong Kong, an independent inquiry into the possible use of excessive force by police and complete amnesty for all activists arrested during the demonstrations.  Masked activists have vandalized businesses and the city subway system, and attacked police with bricks and homemade gasoline bombs.

Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the “one government, two systems” arrangement established when China regained control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997.  But political activists and observers say Beijing is slowly tightening its grip on the territory and eroding its basic freedoms.

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From: MeNeedIt

An aid group estimates that more than 1 million people in East Africa are affected by flooding after higher-than-normal rainfall.

Parts of the region are bracing for a tropical storm that could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.

The International Rescue Committee on Friday said many people had been reeling from an earlier period of severe drought.

The rains in parts of Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya are expected for another four to six weeks.

South Sudan’s president earlier this week declared a state of emergency in 27 counties because of the flooding. 
 
Experts say the floods are a worrying sign of how climate change is affecting already vulnerable communities. 
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Experts warn that climate change is speeding up melting on Earth’s frozen peaks, threatening the planet’s long-term water supply. 

The more than 150 global mountain experts attending the first High Mountain Summit warn time is running out for the world’s glaciers. They say climate change is causing temperatures to rise in Earth’s frozen zones, leading to a rapid melting on vital peaks.

For example, scientists say Swiss glaciers have lost 10 percent of their volume in the past five years. The disappearance of hundreds of small glaciers in the Alps was dramatized when hundreds of mourners recently attended what was dubbed a “funeral” to mark the loss of Switzerland’s Pizol glacier.

The World Meteorological Organization reports international observers show an acceleration in the retreat of 31 major glaciers in the past two decades. They include mountains in the Himalaya and Hindu Kush regions and Tibetan Plateau in Asia.  

Summit co-chair, Canadian John Pomeroy, a water resources and climate change expert, said the loss of water resources in mountain ranges around the world is devastating the communities in those areas.  He said it also is destabilizing vast populations downstream.

“Around half of humanity relies upon water and rivers that originate in the high mountains. And, so this is used for irrigation. It is used for power production, hydroelectricity. It is used for our urban and community water supplies and it provides essential water for ecosystems from the mountaintop down to the sea.”  

Pomeroy added the rapidly melting mountain glaciers are contributing to rising sea levels. He notes cities along the ocean such as Miami, Venice and Jakarta already are in big trouble.  

“For the high mountain communities or valleys in north India, Pakistan, central Asia, their irrigation is the only source of water for agriculture that is currently provided by ice melt from glaciers,” Pomeroy said. “And the glaciers are retreating … In the Western U.S., 90 percent of the water supplies are from the high mountains and they drive the economy.”  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which measures the impact of global warming, predicts snow cover, glaciers and permafrost will continue to decline in almost all regions throughout this century.

The summit is calling for urgent action to support more sustainable development in both high-mountain areas and downstream. That will involve disaster risk reduction measures, better early warning systems, climate change adaptation and investment in infrastructure to make communities safer.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

As hot, dry Santa Ana winds whipped up wildfires in Southern California this week, 300 unlikely heroes were being credited with helping save the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Three hundred goats, that is.

That’s because in May, 300 goats were brought to the library to eat all the brush around the complex.

“We actually worked with the Ventura County Fire Department in May and they bring out hundreds of goats to our property,” Melissa Giller, a spokeswoman for the library, told ABC. “The goats eat all of the brush around the entire property, creating a fire perimeter.

“The firefighters on the property said that the fire break really helped them, because as the fire was coming up that one hill, all the brush has been cleared, basically,” she said.

The caprine contractors are part of an 800-head herd from 805 Goats, a Southern California company that offers a “sustainable, ecologically friendly” way to reduce fire danger and manage lands.

Scott Morris, the owner, said he charges $1,000 per acre of land to allow the goats to graze.

Vincent van Goat, Selena Goatmez, Goatzart and Nibbles were among the goats in the herd brought in to clear about 13 acres at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Morris said goats, which have voracious appetites, prefer to graze on weeds over grass. As for how it works: The goats are brought to the property and turned loose.

The company’s website said, “Goats will consume the noxious weed vegetation first, consisting of eating all the flower heads and leaves, with only bare stock remaining. With the elimination of the flower heads, the natural progression of the cycle is stopped immediately.”

Morris said his year-old company is busy with clients that include cities, homeowners associations and golf courses.

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From: MeNeedIt

TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of oil in northeastern North Dakota, marking the second significant spill in two years along the line that carries Canadian tar sands oil through seven states, regulators said Thursday.

Crews on Tuesday shut down the pipeline after the leak was discovered, said Karl Rockeman, North Dakota’s water quality division director. It remained closed Thursday.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company formerly known as TransCanada said in a statement that the leak affected about 22,500 square feet (2090 sq. meters) of land near Edinburg, in Walsh County.

The company and regulators said the cause was being investigated.

“Our emergency response team contained the impacted area and oil has not migrated beyond the immediately affected area,” the company said in a statement.

TC Energy said the area affected by the spill is less than the size of a football field and that the amount of oil released — 9,120 barrels — would approximately half fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.  

North Dakota regulators were notified late Tuesday of the leak. Rockeman said some wetlands were affected, but not any sources of drinking water.

Regulators have been at the site since Wednesday afternoon monitoring the spill and cleanup, he said.

Crude began flowing through the $5.2 billion pipeline in 2011. It’s designed to carry crude oil across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri on the way to refineries in Patoka, Illinois and Cushing, Oklahoma.

It can handle about 23 million gallons daily.

The pipeline spill and shutdown comes as the company seeks to build the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has drawn opposition from people who fear it will harm the environment.

President Donald Trump issued a federal permit for the expansion project in 2017, after it had been rejected by the Obama administration.Together, the massive Keystone and Keystone XL network would be about five times the length of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

The original Keystone has experienced problems with spills in the past, including one in 2011 of more than 14,000 gallons (53,000 liters) of oil in southeastern North Dakota, near the South Dakota border. That leak was blamed on valve failure at a pumping station.

Another leak in 2016 prompted a weeklong shutdown of the pipeline. The company estimated that just under 17,000 gallons (64,350 liters) of oil spilled onto private land during that leak. Federal regulators said an “anomaly” on a weld on the pipeline was to blame. No waterways or aquifers were affected.

In 2017, the pipeline leaked an estimated 407,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of oil onto farmland in northeastern South Dakota, in a rural area near the North Dakota border. The company had originally put the spill at about 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters).

Federal regulators said at the time that the Keystone leak was the seventh-largest onshore oil or petroleum product spill since 2010. Federal investigators said the pipeline was likely damaged during installation during 2008 and may have occurred when a vehicle drove over the pipe, causing it to weaken over time.

North Dakota’s biggest spill , and one of the largest onshore spills in U.S. history, came in 2013, when 840,000 gallons (3.1 million liters) spilled from a Tesoro pipeline in the northwestern part of the state. The company spent five years and nearly $100 million cleaning it up.

The Sierra Club said the latest spill was an example of why the Keystone XL should not be built.

“We don’t yet know the extent of the damage from this latest tar sands spill, but what we do know is that this is not the first time this pipeline has spilled toxic tar sands, and it won’t be the last.”

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took to Twitter on Thursday to condemn the pipeline and Trump for supporting the extension of it.

Sanders said he would shut down the existing pipeline if elected.

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From: MeNeedIt

On Aug. 25, 1989, an 8-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis wrote in her journal that it was “the most best day” because scientists had “found a Jean for Cistik fibrosis.”  

On Thursday, the current head of the National Institutes of Health — who was a member of one of the teams that found the gene — wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that a triple-drug therapy has been found to be highly effective in treating the life-threatening disorder.

“We hoped that the gene discovery would someday lead to effective treatments for children and adults with cystic fibrosis,” Francis Collins wrote. “Now, 30 years later, that time has come.”

The drug, called Trikafta, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last week.

Some 30,000 Americans have been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which causes thick mucus buildup in the patient’s organs, affecting respiration and digestion. While other drugs have helped lengthen patients’ lives, those born with the disease are expected to live only into their 40s.

Past treatments helped only a small percentage of patients, but Trikafta targets Phe508del, the most common mutation of the cystic fibrosis gene. Collins said this means 90% of those suffering from cystic fibrosis — including Jenny, the 8-year-old journal writer — will be helped by the therapy.

Now 38, Jenny McGlincy told The Washington Post that she cried when she read the drug had been approved.

“To think of my lung function improving or my digestion increasing, or even adding a few years to my life that I could spend with my daughter. … Now that it’s available, I’m a little like, ‘Is this really happening?’ ” she told the Post.

 Model of collaboration

Cystic fibrosis research has set a standard of how the collaboration between nonprofits and pharmaceutical firms can help develop treatments. Collins points out that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, frustrated that gene treatments were slow to be found, decided to invest directly in a small company called Aurora Biosciences, which is now Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the developer of Trikafta.

That collaboration, “now spanning more than two decades, can be seen as an important model for other rare genetic diseases,” Collins wrote.

After the discovery of the gene, Collins wrote a song, “Dare to Dream.”  

“The lyrics expressed hope that the gene discovery would lead to effective treatments for cystic fibrosis — that someday we would see ‘all our brothers and sisters breathing free.’ It is profoundly gratifying to see that this dream is coming true,” he said.

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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. President Donald Trump’s attended two fundraisers this week, raking in millions of dollars for the Trump 2020 and House Republican campaigns. The events, both held at Trump’s own properties in Washington and Chicago are drawing continued scrutiny and charges of ethics violations that the president brushes aside. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

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From: MeNeedIt