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Solar Energy Saves Dairy Cooperative in Brazil’s Semi-Arid Region

“Ixe! If it wasn’t for solar energy, we would have closed down, you can be sure. We had to stop due to the pandemic on 15 March 2020, but the energy costs were fixed,” said Erika Cazuza, administrative and financial manager of the Brazilian Cooperative of Rural Producers of Monteiro (Capribom). Ixe is a word […]




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The Church and Objective Truth




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The Universal Guilty Verdict

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Most Christians are familiar with Romans 3:23—perhaps too familiar. Many of us have quoted it while sharing the “Roman Road” gospel presentation. It also serves as a quick-fire explanation for why we can never find any sinless people. But how many of us have truly comprehended the devastating truth of our universal guilt?

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Comprehensive Corruption

When it comes to man’s fallen nature, Scripture is clear about the depth and breadth of its defilement. The apostle Paul delivers a blunt assessment of man’s sinful corruption in his epistle to the Romans.

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ECW Delivers Holistic Education Against All Odds, But More Funding Needed

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has delivered quality education to children in crisis “against all odds,” ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif said at the United Nations today. “And you can imagine the odds. We are seeing more armed conflict, a growth of climate-induced disasters and the biggest refugee movement since World War 2.”  Education Cannot Wait’s […]




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World Governments, NGOs Announce $350m Investments in Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

On the heels of the Summit of the Future and the sidelines of the United Nations High-Level Meeting Week, governments and philanthropies pledged to commit at least USD 350 million to boost family planning, sexual and reproductive health and supplies on the national and global level. As enshrined in the newly-adopted Pact for the Future, […]





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MEC LEBOGANG MAILE DELIVERS KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE BOLT SOUTH AFRICA GLOBAL SAFETY CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

On the 7th of November 2024, the Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, delivered a keynote address at Bolt South Africa's Global Safety Campaign launch in Johannesburg. The campaign is aimed at improving safety in the e-hailing industry




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ANC intensifies renewal drive as it fights to win back KwaZulu-Natal

The party has vowed to regain the support it lost to former president Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party in the May election




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Corporate taxpayers frustrated with Sars over delays, aggressive penalties

Half of the participants in the Taxing Times survey still find compliance with tax obligations difficult




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Facelift for mansion owned by ‘Wonga coup’ plotter Thatcher and Gupta state capture fugitives

A British business person is keeping the skeleton of the dilapidated R20 million Upper Constantia house, but has to replace the roof and the interior




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Beyoncé's fans in for surprise as Yale University introduces course on singer's legacy

Yale University introduces Beyoncé course: Deets insideBeyoncé’s fans are in for a surprise as Yale University has announced a new course centering on the singer and her iconic legacy.According to Yale Daily News, the new students will “dive deep” into...




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John Krasinski named PEOPLE's Sexist Man Alive 2024John Krasinski has recently broken silence on being named PEOPLE’s Sexist Man Alive 2024.“Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts,” said The Office alum after he got the big news in this week’s cover story....




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Seeds of Resilience Despite Massive Destruction in Gaza

It was two weeks before October 7—when Hamas attacked Israel—that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood behind the rostrum in the United Nations General Assembly hall clutching a crude map of what he called the “new Middle East,” a visual that erased the land of Palestine. A year later, Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has accelerated, […]




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Chickens as Well as Cheetahs: Biodiversity Conservation Must Also Include Livestock

As the UN’s COP16 biodiversity conference continues, the temptation is to focus on the wild flora and fauna under threat. But there is another, less obvious yet just as critical biodiversity crisis unfolding around the world that also deserves attention. A quarter of livestock breeds – from chickens, ducks and geese to horses, camels and […]




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Tanzanian Students Drive Climate Action Through Tree Planting



The act of planting trees offers more than shade and fruit. It symbolizes a deeper mission—restoring soil, preserving water, and, for these students, living in Tanzania’s northern Rorya district, delivering a form of climate justice. The reforestation efforts are in step with Tanzania's broader plans to fortify its agriculture and water systems against the advancing climate crisis.




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Defending Biodiversity in Armed Conflict: Can COP16 Meet the Expectations?

José Aruna, a forest defender from Sud Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), remembers the night in September 2019 when a group of heavily armed men barged into his house in the middle of the night. Aruna and his wife—6 months pregnant at the time—were in bed when he heard sounds […]




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COP16 Delivers on Indigenous Peoples, Digital Sequencing, But Fails on Finance

The curtains fell on the 16th Conference of the Parties of UN Biodiversity (COP16) on Sunday without any formal closing. In a voice message, David Ainsworth, the Communications Director of the UNCBD, confirmed that the COP was suspended due to a lack of quorum in the plenary and would be resumed sometime later. However, before […]




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Diverse Diets Are Essential for Nourishing a Healthy Planet as Well as Healthy People

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Mexican Cooperative Promotes Energy Transition on Indigenous Lands



What started as a broad attempt to allow women to live a more dignified life, an indigenous women’s organization, Masehual Siuamej Mosenyolchicauani, now aims to solve environmental and climate problems that others have created.




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Leather Cooperative Stops Unemployment in Northeast Brazil

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Toyota eyes lunar rover powered by regenerative fuel-cell tech

Toyota has teamed up with JAXA since 2019 to develop the manned lunar rover — which it dubbed the Lunar Cruiser — that they hope can be put on the moon in 2029.




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This infographic examines how extreme heat disproportionately impacts women in Asia and the Pacific, presenting data on health and economic vulnerabilities shaped by intersecting factors like age, hormonal influences, caregiving roles, and limited cooling access.




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Asian Development Blog: Four Ways to Strengthen Public Financial Management Systems and Drive Reform

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Development Asia: Designing a Comprehensive Public Financial Management Reform Plan for the Philippines




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People's Republic of China's Competitive Threat to Latin America: An Analysis for 1990-2002

How have Latin American exporters been affected by the rapid increase in the PRC's exports to the USA and other large markets? Are PRC and Latin American exports complementary or competitive with each other?



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22 drown as bus plunges into river in Diamer: rescue officials

Twenty-two people drowned, while one person was saved on Tuesday after a bus carrying them plunged into a river in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district on Tuesday, according to rescue officials.

“Sixteen dead bodies have been recovered from the river, while the search for the remaining persons continues,” Senior Superintendent of Police Diamer, Sher Khan, told Dawn.com.

He added that a woman, who was a bride, had sustained injuries and was receiving treatment at a hospital.

Sharing details of the accident earlier, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Shaukat Riaz told Dawn.com that a bus coming from Astore fell into the Indus River from Telchi bridge in the limits of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday afternoon.

“The vehicle was part of a wedding procession heading towards Punjab’s Chakwal district,” he said.

He added the passengers who were onboard the bus had been identified and women were among the drowned.

“Nineteen of them belonged to Astore while four were from the Chakwal district of Punjab,” he said.

The district administration officials were also present on the spot and supervised the search operation in the river, Riaz added.

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his grief and conveyed his condolences to the victims’ relatives.

Road accidents are frequent in KP and GB, exacerbated by harsh weather, rugged terrain, poorly maintained roads, overloaded vehicles, and minimal traffic regulations.

The narrow, winding routes and driver fatigue further elevate risk, making these regions especially accident-prone.

In October, two people were killed and 36 others were injured when a Rawalpindi-bound passenger bus fell into a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Kohistan area.




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Aid groups slam Israeli duplicity on relief delivery

JERUSALEM: Aid agencies slammed Israel for continuing to obstruct the delivery of aid to Gaza, despite Tel Aviv’s claims that it had opened an additional crossing into the besieged territory on the eve of a US deadline to boost relief deliveries.

The United States last month warned Israel to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to its military support.

A day before the deadline, the Israeli military said it opened the Kissufim crossing “as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid” to Gaza.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight humanitarian groups said Israel was still not doing enough to get aid in as the situation in the besieged north becomes especially “catastrophic”.

On eve of US deadline to restore aid supplies to Gaza, Tel Aviv claims to have opened another border crossing

The eight organisations, including Oxfam and Save The Children, said Israel “failed to comply” with US demands — “at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023,” they said in a joint statement.

Asked about whether there were signs the situation had improved ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, highlighted that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months”.

No food was permitted to enter besieged northern Gaza for an entire month, Wateridge said, adding that UN requests to access the area have been repeatedly denied.

Wateridge said that testimonies from the north painted “an endlessly horrific” picture that was becoming “more critical” by the hour.

“Hospitals have been bombed, the doctors inform us that they have run out of blood supplies, they have run out of medicine… there are bodies in the streets.”

Separately, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council told Al Jazeera that Israelis were obstructing aid from entering through the crossings.

“Aid is arbitrarily rejected and essential supplies are not allowed in, including timber to help people build shelters as they face winter. Sometimes the requests to access those crossings are denied for over a month,” Shaina Low, NRC’s communications adviser, told Al Jazeera.

Once the aid enters Gaza, aid workers must request safe routes through which they can safely distribute the aid.

“Israel often denies requests to move from place to place in order to reach Palestinian families that are in desperate need,” Low said.

However, the US State Department on Tuesday said that Israel was not violating US law on the level of aid entering Gaza, but called for further progress.

Asked if Israel had met the US demands, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said of Israel, “We have not made an assessment that they are in violation of US law,” but added: “The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory”.

“But in the context of the letter, it’s not about whether we find something satisfactory or not; it’s what are the actions that we’re seeing,” he said, adding that Tel Aviv was taking steps in the right direction.

Attacks on Gaza

Gaza’s civil defence agency said that at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in Beit Hanoun and besieged four displaced families before ordering them to leave towards Gaza City.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,665 people have been killed in more than 13 months.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024




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PTI files curative review with SC in ‘bat’ symbol case

ISLAMABAD: As a last resort after losing the election symbol, PTI on Tuesday filed a curative petition with the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Jan 13 and Oct 21 rulings that supported the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to deny the party its ‘bat’ symbol.

The curative petition is a final remedy that allows the SC to reconsider a dismissed review petition.

The 32-page petition, moved by Advocate Ajmal Ghaffar Toor, says the present petition has been necessitated by circumstances during the hearing and therefore based upon the principle of natural justice.

Besides the verdict is per incuriam and not a judgement at all, argued the petition, adding the petition was relying upon the Aug 22 Mubarak Ahmed Sani case in which the Supreme Court had altered its earlier decision.

Judgement was per incuriam, 32-page petition argues

The petition argues that the judgement was per incuriam, meaning it was made in ignorance of the terms of a statute or rule having the force of a statute. A decision made per incuriam can be considered a mistake and may not be binding.

The petition also relied on the Aug 22 Mubarak Ahmed Sani case, where the SC had altered its earlier decision, setting a precedent for revisiting previous judgements.

On Oct 21, the SC headed by former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa rejected PTI’s petition, seeking to revisit Jan 13 verdict in the bat symbol case.

The review petition was dismissed on the grounds that no illegality or material error in the judgement was pointed out by the petitioner.

During the case, the senior counsel Hamid Khan had pleaded before the apex court that he did not want to argue before a bench headed by a person who “harbours bias against PTI”.

It is the case of the petitioner that both judgements of Jan 13 and Oct 21 were void and non-existent in the eyes of law. The petition has raised questions of public importance with respect to fundamental rights and interpretation of the laws relating to the electoral rights of the people who were true sovereigns, by seeking to invite SC’s attention towards two of its own judgments, the curative review says.

On May 26, 2021, PTI had moved a curative review petition before the SC against Justice Isa who had won a case on a review petition. Then the curative review petition was moved against the majority order in favour of Justice Isa.

Later on July 21, 2023, ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial rejected in chambers PTI’s curative review petition against Justice Isa whereas Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in his additional note stated that a second review or a curative review or whatever given name, was not maintainable under Article 188 since this provision envisages only one-time exercise of this jurisdiction, whether made on a review petition or suo motu in respect of any of its judgments.

Now the fresh curative petition pleads that the SC judgment of Oct 21 was virtually an ex-parte order as no substantive hearing took place in view of the objections raised against former CJP Qazi Faez Isa and therefore it would serve the interest of justice that the judgement was set aside and the review petition was fixed for hearing again.

The curative review argued that both Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, who were members of the bench which heard the review petition then, signed allegedly a blatantly biased orders, dictated by then CJP and therefore they have disqualified themselves from hearing the present petition.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024




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to give a damn good speech

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