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Archive for July, 2018

27 Jul, 2018

India sees rising crime against women, Dalits under Modi regime

New Delhi, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 24-July-2018- As per the latest available published information with National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the details of cases registered under total crimes against women and Scheduled Castes from 2013 to 2016 is as below: Cases registered 2013 2014 2015 2016 Crime against women 309,546 339,457 329,243 […]

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27 Jul, 2018

New digital rights to give travellers more legal cover, better access across Europe during summer holidays

Brussels, 27 July 2018, European Commission – Press release – This summer, European citizens will enjoy more digital rights than ever before. Following the end of roaming charges across the European Union last year, holidaymakers can now travel with their online TV, film, sports, music or e-book subscriptions at no extra cost. In addition, everyone […]

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27 Jul, 2018

Insurance company engages Malaysians to live healthier through #Laughforhealth Campaign

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) — In line with its purpose of empowering people to live a better life, AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad (AAGI) strengthens its payer-to-partner positioning in the health segment by encouraging Malaysians to laugh and live healthier in its #LaughForHealth campaign. “As the no.1 general insurer in Medical and Health, we […]

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27 Jul, 2018

Sri Lanka’s Jetwing group hosts world’s first communications course linking travel & tourism to UN SDGs

Colombo — On July 17-18, twenty young executives from the hotel and travel divisions of Sri Lanka’s prominent Jetwing group attended what is claimed to be the first global training course on improving the communications linkages between travel & tourism and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. With the support of Jetwings Hotels Chairman Hiran Cooray […]

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24 Jul, 2018

Firms Offer Higher Salaries to Keep Departing Employees, but Staff Leave in Less Than 2 Years Anyway

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — In the fight to hold onto top talent, many companies are offering higher salaries to workers who announce they’re planning to quit for a better job opportunity. But new research from global staffing firm Robert Half suggests this method serves only as a stop-gap retention strategy for employers and […]

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24 Jul, 2018

At the World Cup in Russia, BeautyCam photo exhibition proclaimed “Every Skin Color is Beautiful”

MOSCOW–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 13, 2018 – On July 11, at VDNKH Plaza, outside a football stadium in Moscow, a set of photos featuring diverse skin colors caught the eyes of visitors. This is a charity art exhibition themed “NO COLORISM” hosted by BeautyCam, a facial beautification camera app, in Russia, during the World Cup. In the […]

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24 Jul, 2018

Creating an inclusive ASEAN digital economy will require revamp of trade and investment policies

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Bernama) — Despite the projection that the digital economy will add US$1 trillion to ASEAN GDP by 2025, there are policy hurdles that must be overcome by ASEAN to realise the digital economy potential for the region which now has a combined GDP of over US$2.6 trillion. Among others, ASEAN needs […]

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24 Jul, 2018

Europe, Japan deal to create “world’s largest area of safe data flows”

Tokyo, 17 July 2018, European Commission – Press release – The EU and Japan successfully concluded today their talks on reciprocal adequacy. They agreed to recognise each other’s data protection systems as ‘equivalent’, which will allow data to flow safely between the EU and Japan. Each side will now launch its relevant internal procedures for […]

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24 Jul, 2018

What Obama really said in his Mandela tribute lecture: The uber-rich and powerful have become threats to freedom and democracy

Johannesburg – On July 18, the day marking the 100th birth anniversary of South Africa’s iconic leader Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the 16th annual Nelson Mandela lecture. It was his first major public speech since he stepped down after eight years as the United States’ first African-American president. Unfettered by diplomatic […]

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13 Jul, 2018

Other Side of Gastronomy Tourism: Thai Univ Forum to mull perils of Corporate Concentration in Food & Agriculture

Bangkok – Focus on the Global South, the ETC Group and Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) are organizing a Forum on Corporate Concentration in Food and Agriculture; Implications on Food Sovereignty in South East Asia on 24 July. The rate and scale of corporate mergers and acquisitions over the past three years in the […]

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13 Jul, 2018

Imtiaz Muqbil to deliver first communications course on enhancing Travel & Tourism’s linkages to UN SDGs

Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor

Bangkok/Colombo – On July 17-18, 2018, I expect to deliver the first, ground-breaking communications training course on enhancing the linkages between Travel & Tourism and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Executives from Sri Lanka’s Jetwing hotels and travel group will be the first beneficiaries of this tailor-made, 12-hour course, entitled “People Planet Profits — How […]

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13 Jul, 2018

Pakistan’s Buddha of Swat smiles again 11 years after being dynamited

Peshawar, July 12, 2018 (PTI) – The iconic Buddha of Swat, carved on a cliff in the 7th century, has been restored to its almost original form with Italian assistance in northwestern Pakistan,nearly 11 years after it was dynamited by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan during their control over the area. The Buddha seated in a […]

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13 Jul, 2018

CAIR Report: U.S. Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents, Hate Crimes Spike in Second Quarter 2018

(WASHINGTON, DC, 7/12/18) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released an update on anti-Muslim incidents nationwide in the second quarter (April-June) of 2018. CAIR’s quarterly report indicates that anti-Muslim bias incidents and hate crimes are up 83 and 21 percent respectively, as compared to the […]

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12 Jul, 2018

27% of Palestinian working-age population out of a job

RAMALLAH, July 11, 2018 (WAFA) – As the world marks International Population Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said on Wednesday that based on the results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2017, the total population of Palestine in 2017 was about 4.78 million; 2.43 million males and 2.35 million females. The […]

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12 Jul, 2018

Aug 9 deadline nearing for US$600,000 Zayed Sustainability Prize

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 11, 2018 – With less than one month to go until the August 9 deadline, the Zayed Sustainability Prize today issued a call for companies, social good organizations, and schools to submit their entries for the annual global award. This year, the Prize broadened its mandate to align itself with the United Nations […]

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12 Jul, 2018

Israeli police wreck work to renovate compound of Al Aqsa mosque

JERUSALEM, July 7, 2018 (WAFA) – Staff of Al-Aqsa Mosque were able to stop late Friday and early Saturday Israeli destruction of what the Muslim Waqf, the official party in charge of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Muslim endowment, has been introducing of recent to the area of the closed Bab al-Rahmeh, also known as the […]

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12 Jul, 2018

UN: Jewish state demolished 197 Palestinian structures in occupied territories in first half of 2018

JERUSALEM, July 11, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli authorities demolished 197 Palestinian structures in the occupied territories during the first half of 2018, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory said on Wednesday. It said in its monthly report on West Bank demolitions and displacement for […]

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11 Jul, 2018

Planet signs deal with Thai Space Agency for satellite monitoring of land, water resources

SAN FRANCISCO, July 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Planet, the leading geospatial data and analytics company, has signed a deal with the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), an agency under Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology, to provide satellite imagery to enable frequent monitoring in the country.   Editor’s Comment The importance of space technology […]

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11 Jul, 2018

The “Circle of Economists” Issues Declaration for More Peaceful Dialog in the World

AIX EN PROVENCE, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 08, 2018 – After three days of debates with 250 international speakers, the 18th Rencontres Economiques d’Aix en Provence concluded today with the “Declaration of Proposals” from the Cercle des Economistes. In terms of technology, migration, environment, identity and geostrategy, the world has undergone many metamorphoses over time. But now […]

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11 Jul, 2018

Battle of Imphal WWII Tours Expands Into Myanmar

Yangon, 11 July 2018 – A Specialist WWII battlefield tour operator in Imphal, North East India, is now offering tours into Myanmar to give tourists a fuller picture of the decisive Burma Campaign which started the downfall of Japanese imperial ambitions in Asia Battle of Imphal Tours has expanded its tour options beyond Imphal and […]

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11 Jul, 2018

New Travel Information and Authorisation System is NOT a visa, Europe claims

On 5 July 2018, the European Commission issued the following Fact Sheet to explain the procedures and other implementation details of the upcoming European Travel Information and Authorisation System. As is normal with official government announcements, it is couched in all the appropriate language claiming what a smooth, seamless, hassle-free process it will be, all […]

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10 Jul, 2018

International Day of Cooperatives sets stage for ethical, sustainable production and consumption

United Nations, (UN News Centre) 07 July 2018 – Each year on the first Saturday in July, the international community celebrates the International Day of Cooperatives – successful businesses based on ethical values and principles. This year, the Day focuses on the theme “Sustainable consumption and production of goods and services.” Simel Esim, head of the […]

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10 Jul, 2018

UN Human Rights official tells Myanmar to show some “shame” over ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas

United Nations, (UN News Centre) 4 July 2018 – Myanmar should experience feelings of “shame” after attempting to convince the world that it is willing to take back hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled an “ethnic cleansing campaign” last year, given that “not a single” one has returned officially, the United Nations human rights […]

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10 Jul, 2018

Myanmar: Discriminatory policies means no return for refugees anytime soon, says expert

GENEVA (9 July 2018) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said the Government’s failure to redress discriminatory laws against the Rohingya made it impossible for hundreds of thousands of refugees to return to their homes anytime soon. “As it is now clear that the Government of […]

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10 Jul, 2018

Socialist International blasts Israel’s racist, apartheid policies, calls for military embargo on Jewish state

GENEVA, July 8, 2018 (WAFA) – The Council of the Socialist International (SI) has called for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) for Palestinian rights at their meeting in the United Nations in Geneva. SI also called for a “total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel.” Socialist International brings together 140 […]

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9 Jul, 2018

Jewish fanatics raze hundreds of Palestinian vineyards

BETHLEHEM, July 7, 2018 (WAFA) – Jewish fanatic settlers Saturday cut down hundreds of fruitful vineyards belonging to Palestinians in the town of al-Khader, in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, said a local activist. Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Anti-Settlement Committee in the town, told WAFA correspondent settlers cut down around 200 fruitful […]

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9 Jul, 2018

More jobs available, but wages at unprecedented levels of stagnation: OECD report

Paris, 04 July 2018, OECD news release – Economic growth is picking up and unemployment has reached record lows in some OECD countries but wages continue to stagnate. Unless countries can break this cycle, public belief in the recovery will be undermined and labour market inequality will widen, according to a new OECD report. The […]

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9 Jul, 2018

The Olive Tree Ed 8 highlights World of Work, Decent Jobs, in Travel & Tourism

Bangkok – Discussions of human resources in travel & tourism for the most part focus on the shortage of qualified personnel for our rapidly-growing industry. This is a chicken-and-egg issue. Has the travel & tourism sector ever done a serious, comprehensive study of our working conditions, and critically compared them to those in other equally […]

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8 Jul, 2018

Forests ‘essential’ for the future, UN agriculture chief spells out in new report

United Nations, (UN News Centre) 6 July 2018 — Time is running out for the world’s forests, warns a new report by the United Nations agriculture agency, urging governments to foster an all-inclusive approach to benefit both trees and those who rely on them. Halting deforestation, managing forests sustainably, restoring degraded forests and adding to […]

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8 Jul, 2018

Low quality healthcare is increasing the cost burden of illness globally: OECD/WHO/WB report

Paris, (OECD news release), 05/07/2018 – Poor quality health services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels, according to a new joint report by the OECD, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. Today, inaccurate diagnosis, medication errors, inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, inadequate or unsafe clinical facilities or […]

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8 Jul, 2018

$99.4 million ADB loan to Upgrade Thailand Highways, Improve Road Safety

Bangkok, ADB news release, (4 July 2018) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Thailand today signed a $99.4 million loan agreement to help the country upgrade 125 kilometers (km) of highways and improve road safety management in the country’s northeastern region. The agreement was signed by Thailand’s Finance Minister and ADB […]

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8 Jul, 2018

FIFA President lauds ‘fantastic’ Russia-hosted World Cup

Moscow, July 06, (TASS News Agency)- FIFA President Gianni Infantino in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman. — Mr. President, thank you very much for this meeting. I know how busy you are but this Mundial, this World Cup in Russia comes to the final way. I have a very easy […]

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8 Jul, 2018

‘Just One Inch of Water’ Exhibition To Go on Show at UN HQ, 9-29 July

United Nations, (UN News Centre) 05 July 2018 – An opening reception for an exhibition entitled “Just One Inch of Water” will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, 9 July 2018, in the Visitors’ Lobby.  The exhibition is organized on behalf of the United Nations Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). […]

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