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25 Oct 2011 15:12

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Culture: UNICEF + Threadless = good cause, good shirts (prices may vary)

  • Wearing your support: Pretty neat idea hatched between the folks at UNICEF and Threadless — you can now throw down for one of these rather charmingly minimalist t-shirts, and your money goes straight to African aid efforts. As you may have noticed, some of these shirts are hyper-expensive (not pictured, a $300,000 “cargo plane” shirt), which is because the amount you pay equals the cost of the sort of aid effort pictured. It’s a very cool and worthy example of humanitarian relief meeting up with design. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Sep 2011 11:08

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World: Miss Universe Leila Lopes, from Angola, plans to work to fight HIV

  • As Miss Angola I’ve already done a lot to help my people. I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs … I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.
  • The new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes • Describing what she plans to do to help as the new Miss Universe. The current Miss Angola is a bit of a trailblazer as far as beauty pageant winners go — she’s one of the few black women to win the Miss Universe title, and she had harsh words for anyone that might have a problem with that: “Any racist needs to seek help.” Not that we’re particularly huge fans of Miss Anything pageants, but considering her social stances, we can totally get behind this winner. Africa has a huge HIV problem, and needs any help it can get. Now it has a high-profile ambassador. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jul 2011 16:39

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World: Making amends: Greece floats a completely different flotilla idea

  • blocked A couple days back, Greece blocked a flotilla headed towards Gaza from heading out of one of its ports. It understandably drew a lot of controversy from certain quarters of the political sphere — but briefly took attention off the country’s austerity crisis.
  • allowed Now, it seems that Greece is ready to offer up a mea culpa to Palestine — in coordination with the United Nations, they’ll send a ship loaded with aid over to Gaza, which they’ll offer up to the Palestinian Authority — but, as you’ll note, they aren’t working with Hamas. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jul 2011 12:02

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World: Greece’s not-so-hot week ends with a blocked flotilla to Gaza

  • action Despite a ban blocking flotillas headed towards Gaza from leaving Greek ports, an American one attempted to do just that yesterday. It was turned away by the Greek coast guard, which reportedly pointed machine guns at flotilla passengers. This comes  on the heels of Greece’s austerity vote.
  • reaction As you might imagine, reaction to this news was emotional on both sides. “Greece sold its body to the banks and its soul to Israel and the United States,” said one activist on the flotilla. The ship was named “The Audacity of Hope,” meaning Obama was indirectly dragged into this situation, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Mar 2011 13:53

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World: As Japan’s post-quake realities worsen, U.S. commits military aid

  • U.S. warships join Japanese relief effort: This is the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which is currently aiding in relief efforts in Japan, serving as a fueling station for helicopters. The U.S. has several warships in position, with more to arrive in the coming days. This is welcome news, as the picture in Japan looks increasingly grim by the day; as we mentioned earlier, the government now believes a horrific 9,500 may have died in Otsuchi. This is a horrible reminder that for many Japanese citizens, what’s happening with the country’s nuclear reactors is yet a more abstract concern in the face of the massive, physical devastation that’s racked the land. We sincerely hope that our military can be of any and all assistance to the people of Japan. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 10:42

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World: Libya: The United Nations pushes for large humanitarian offering

  • 400k the number of people leaving Libya that the United Nations expects to need aid
  • 600k the number of people inside Libya that the UN thinks will need varying degrees of help
  • $160M the amount that the UN wants to set aside to help with the crisis in Libya source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Jun 2010 22:27

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World: Kyrgyzstan conflict: Holy crap, there’s a lot of people who need help

  • 1M number of people directly affected by the ethnic conflict
  • 191 number of people killed in the conflict since it started last week
  • $65M the amount of help the UN is trying to get the country source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Mar 2009 10:20

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World: Sword-waving Sudanese president al-Bashir is not helping his case

  • We will expel anyone who goes against Sudanese law, whether they are voluntary organizations, diplomatic missions or security forces.
  • Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir • On expelling aid groups in Darfur, which is suffering through a major wartime crisis at his hands. (He said this while waving a sword, by the way.) Al-Bashir was recently charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court, the first time they’ve done that to a sitting head of state. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2009 09:54

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World: A pause on the fighting in Gaza

  • 3 hour breaks – the daily period Israel will allow so aid can enter Gaza source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
 
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