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Source: United Kingdom UK House of Lords (video statements)
Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, speaks about why she is campaigning on topics including salmon farming and water company pollution in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner.
‘We’ve seen water companies polluting our waterways, our beaches, our lovely fishing streams… our chalk streams that are very rare and precious. And yet, we still can’t stop them doing it.’
Baroness Jones is one of two Green members of the House of Lords alongside Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle. In this episode, she speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about why she campaigns on a wide range of topics.
‘People carry on eating salmon, even though the way they’re produced in salmon farms is absolutely horrifying. It is the lice. The fish in the farm suffer, quite often die in their pens because the lice have eaten so far into their flesh. Wild Atlantic salmon going past these fish farms can get poisoned by the toxic stuff, all the antibiotics and so on, coming off the farm fish.’
Baroness Jones describes how members initially questioned the Green link to various issues when she first joined the Lords but how that has now changed. She explains ‘I had to explain to people everything is about the environment. If you build the wrong houses in the wrong place, then it’s a disaster for future flooding, and so on.’
Baroness Jones also shares how she came to the Lords after training as an archaeologist and later serving as a London Assembly Member and Deputy Mayor.
See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/
Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)
Minister of The Department of Communication and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi delivers keynote address at the My Mzansi Digital Transformation Roadmap Launch.
Source: United States of America – The White House (video statements)
“We’re the hottest country of the world. And six months ago, they were laughing at the U.S., but they don’t laugh anymore… This is a record tour. There’s never been a tour that will raise—it could be a total of $3.5, $4 trillion. Just in this four or five days.” –President Donald J. Trump
Source: United States Department of Defense (video statements)
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Training @USNavy submariners is getting easier thanks to augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. Engineers at@NAVSEApa in Keyport, Wash., are using commercial gaming technology to produce simulations to teach sailors how to maintain the fleet.
For more on the Department of Defense, visit: http://www.defense.gov
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Joint statement delivered by Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations, on behalf of the signatories of the Shared Commitments on Women, Peace and Security, on the situation of women in Yemen, at the Security Council Stakeout.
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Secretary-General/peacekeeping
Peacekeeping ministerial meeting
Yemen
Security Council
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Lebanon
Syria
Syria returnees
Deputy Secretary-General/trip announcement
Somalia
Haiti
José “Pepe” Mujica
Noon briefing guests – tomorrow
Noon briefing guest – Andrew Saberton
SECRETARY-GENERAL/PEACEKEEPING
The Secretary-General is continuing his meetings in Berlin. As you know, he is in Berlin to attend the Ministerial Meeting on Peacekeeping. Right now, he is meeting with Friedrich Merz, Federal Chancellor of Germany and they are just starting a press stakeout.
Earlier today, he said that he is heartened by the exceptional turn-out of Ministers from across the globe, representing the full range of peacekeeping partners. Just to let you know that we have an update that more than 130 Member States were present and 74 Member States made pledges to support peace operations.
The Secretary-General added that this meeting comes at a time when unfortunately, peacekeeping operations are facing serious liquidity problems. He called on all Member States to respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time.
These remarks were made during a joint press conference with the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, and Federal Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius. He noted that he is especially pleased to be in Berlin so soon after the new Government took office, and he looks forward to building on our partnership in the time ahead.
Mr. Guterres also met today with Ms. Reem Alabali-Radovan, Minister for Development and Economic Cooperation of Germany. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to hold discussions with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of Germany, before he departs to Iraq to attend the League of Arab States Summit.
PEACEKEEPING MINISTERIAL MEETING
During the Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin, the United Nations unveiled a new multi-year initiative funded by the Federal Republic of Germany to provide women troops deployed in Peace Operations with gender-specific protective gear, including ballistic vests and helmets. During an award ceremony held earlier today during the Member States’ gathering, Nils Hilmer, State Secretary at the German Ministry of Defense and Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support, announced the selection of Fiji, Guatemala, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia and Tanzania, to receive the equipment – in recognition of their commitment to the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy and the deployment of women in operational roles. The project, worth one million Euros in total, aims to enhance the performance, safety and security of women peacekeepers in complex and volatile mission environments and ultimately promote their participation in peacekeeping efforts.
YEMEN
Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy for Yemen, briefed the Security Council this morning and welcomed the announcement on 6 May of a cessation of hostilities between the USA and Ansar Allah. He said that this step represents an important and necessary de-escalation in the Red Sea and in Yemen following the resumption, on 15 March, of US airstrikes against targets in Ansar Allah-controlled areas.
He said that events in recent weeks, however, have also served as stark reminders that Yemen is ensnared in the wider regional tensions. The attack carried out by Ansar Allah on Ben Gurion Airport on 4 May, and the subsequent strikes by Israel on Hudaydah Port, Sana’a Airport, and other locations in response, represent a dangerous escalation, and the threats and attacks, regrettably, continue.
Tom Fletcher, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told Council members that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating, and those most in peril are the country’s children. Half of Yemen’s children – or 2.3 million – are malnourished, he said, and 600,000 of them are severely so.
Mr. Fletcher warned that Yemen’s 2025 humanitarian response plan is barely 9 per cent funded – less than half of what we received at the same time last year. These shortfalls have very real consequences. He said that we expect pipeline gaps as early as June or July – right when malnutrition numbers will peak.
Mr. Grundberg will speak at the stakeout once he is done in the Council and we will let you know when that happens.
Full Highlights:
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=14%20May%202025
Women peacekeepers and uniformed leaders reflect on how to strengthen the full, equal and meaningful participation of uniformed women in UN Peacekeeping.
Hear from members of the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers and uniformed leaders in the UN Peacekeeping Operations in Abyei, South Sudan and Western Sahara on how to promote an enabling environment, where women feel safe, supported and empowered – and the role of leaders in ensuring that women and men have equal opportunities to participate. Ultimately to ensure UN Peacekeeping better implement its mandates.
More info: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/women-peacekeeping
More info on the Network: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/how-network-is-supporting-women-peacekeepers
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher today (13 May) asked the Security Council Members “to reflect for a moment on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.”
Fletcher, briefing the Council on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, said, “Israel is deliberately un unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory. For more than ten weeks. Nothing has entered Gaza. No food, medicine, water, or tents. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again been forcibly displaced and confined into ever shrinking spaces, as 70 percent of Gaza’s territory is either within Israeli militarized zones or under displacement orders.”
The humanitarian official said Israel denies humanitarians access, “placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians.”
He said, “we have lifesaving supplies ready now at the borders. We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors. We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians, and not to Hamas. But
He asked Council Members, “what more evidence do you need now? Will you act decisively to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead that we did all we could?”
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director of its Liaison Office with the United Nations, Angélica Jácome, told the Council that “agrifood systems have collapsed in the Gaza Strip while food prices have soared.”
Jácome said, “we are witnessing the systemic breakdown of conditions essential for survival. People in Gaza are not only experiencing lack of food, but they are going through a profound breakdown of health, livelihood, and social structures, leaving entire communities in a state of desperation, devastation, and death.”
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the Council that “930,000 children are at critical risk of famine” in Gaza, “not because there is no food. Food is there. A few meters away. Rotting instead of reaching those who desperately need it. But because Israel has been openly and brazenly blocking humanitarian aid for over two months now.”
Mansour said, “this is engineered starvation. It is the most inhumane form of torture and killing.”
He noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Israeli Knesset on Sunday “we are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to. The only inevitable outcome will be the wish of Gazans to immigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.”
For his part, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said, “we will not accept a humanitarian mechanism that props up the terror organization that butchered our people. We will not sit idly by as food, fuel and funds meant for civilians are funnelled into the Hamas terror machine. We will never allow our morality to be weaponized against us again.”
Danon said Secretary-General António Guterres had “refused to engage” in a new humanitarian distribution plan proposed by Israel, alleging that the plan “in his view, does not meet the principles of and I quote, ‘impartiality, humanity, independence and neutrality.”
The Israeli Ambassador said, “the irony is unbelievable, as the previous mechanism made a mockery of every one of those principles. That is not diplomacy. That is not neutrality. That is sabotage disguised as principle.”
Danon said, “to Secretary-General Guterres I say this; the aid that ended up in Hamas hands did not bring hope. It did not bring progress. It brought death. That path leads nowhere, Mr. Guterres, you are invited to return to the table. But if you do come with open eyes, and open ears, something can be achieved.”
“Blue helmets can mean the difference between life and death,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged renewed global commitment to peacekeeping during the opening of the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin, warning that operations are facing unprecedented financial and political pressure.
“My thanks to Germany for bringing us together at this consequential moment,” Guterres said. “This year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations organization was founded on the conviction that peace is possible if we work as one United’s human family. That is what our peace operations are about.”
Highlighting the symbolic and operational importance of the United Nations peacekeeping forces, the Secretary-General stated, “The UN Blue Helmets are the most globally recognized symbol of the world’s ability to come together to help countries move from conflict to peace.”
Guterres pointed to several countries that transitioned from war to stability with the help of UN missions. “There is a long list of countries that have achieved durable peace with the support of UN peacekeeping, including Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Liberia, Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste. Many of these countries now themselves contribute troops,” he said.
However, he also emphasized the human cost of these missions. “Through the decades, 4400 peacekeepers have fallen in the line of duty. Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” he said, inviting participants to join him in a moment of silence.
As part of a broader reform process initiated by Member States, Guterres referenced the “Pact for the Future,” which calls for a comprehensive review of peace operations. “The review will examine how we can make peacekeeping operations more adaptable, flexible and resilient while recognizing the limitations in situations where there is little or no peace to keep,” he said.
He acknowledged the difficulties of operating in increasingly polarized geopolitical contexts. “We see increasing differences of views around our peacekeeping operations work, and then what circumstances with what mandates they should be deploys. And for how long,” he noted.
Guterres also addressed the challenge of shrinking financial resources. “Peace operations can only succeed when backed by robust mandates and clear, predictable and sustained contributions, both financial and logistical,” he stated. “It is crucial that we are able to use the increasingly limited resources we have and use them well.”
Concluding his address, the Secretary-General called for continued Member State engagement. “Supported at every step by Member States, we look forward to your government’s support and ideas as we tackle these challenges together,” he said.
Joint Press Encounter delivered by ambassador Barbara Woodward, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza on behalf of the UK, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia.
Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)
After Tropical Storm Helene reshaped Western North Carolina, thousands of private bridges were washed out or severely damaged, limiting access to thousands of homes in the region.
In response, FEMA continues to partner with state and county emergency management agencies, faith-based organizations, and local communities to restore safe access and help survivors return home.
Through the Bridging Together initiative – spearheaded by the Mennonite Disaster Service and the Lutheran Disaster Response – these partnerships are making a difference in survivors’ lives.
In Henderson County’s Stoney Creek Bridge community, the recent completion of a 60-foot bridge has supported 16 households and moved the neighborhood one step closer to recovery.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
The sharply deteriorating global order is adding further complications to Europe’s already challenging economic situation. New tariffs come at a time when economies are grappling with structural transformations in demographics and energy, and amidst increasing security spending needs. Export markets are shrinking, uncertainty is undermining firms’ willingness to innovate, and public expenditure needs are rising. Without a turnaround in growth, Europe’s ability to deliver on its social welfare promises is in jeopardy. If European policymakers were to seize the moment, the region’s growth potential and resilience to shocks could rise substantially.
Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)
Will the Sun ever burn out? Not quite, but it will change dramatically. Like all stars, it’s going through a life cycle powered by nuclear fusion. Right now, it’s halfway through its 10-billion-year lifetime.
Eventually, the Sun will expand into a red giant, engulfing the inner planets, then collapse into a white dwarf — a small, hot, dim remnant of its former self.
A NASA scientist explains what’s ahead for our star.
Learn more about our Sun: https://nasa.gov/sun
Download this video at: https://images.nasa.gov/details/Will%20the%20Sun%20Ever%20Burn%20Out
Producers: Scott Bednar, Pedro Cota, Jessie Wilde
Editor: James Lucas
Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)
In this episode, Deputy Secretary, Dr. Paul Lawrence breaks down higher-level review. If you believe VA made a mistake deciding your claim, a second, more experienced VA reviewer will take a fresh look.
To learn more, go to https://www.va.gov/decision-reviews/higher-level-review/.
Over the past two days, 130 Member States participated at the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin – with more than 60 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense participating. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, briefed the media following a ceremony where more than 70 Member States made pledges of needed capabilities and support to UN Peacekeeping, including 81 military and police units, as well as in the areas of capacity-building partnerships, Women, Peace, and Security, Safety and Security, Technology, environment, conduct and accountability and strategic communications and Information Integrity.