The impact of Valentine’s Day on the environment

 Valentine's day and its impact on the environment

Valentine’s Day is a traditional holiday widely celebrated every year on February 14 as a day to express love and affection to significant others, family members and friends. Today we are exploring the environmental impact of Valentine’s Day on a global scale, with a focus on the waste generated in Angola.

This is how the streets have been in the city of Luanda on Valentine's day 14. All colorful beautiful very well decorated with gifts, clothes and mostly imported material. Couples are ready to spend thousands of dollars on gift buying.

The Environmental Impact of Valentine’s Day

Love is in the air! Each year on Valentine's Day, millions of roses are given, millions of bottles are opened and millions of cards are sent to those you love—but have you ever thought about where all the waste goes after the celebrations end?

The production of gifts for Valentine’s Day, such as boxes, alcohol bottles, balloons, glitter and small decorations, single-use plastics, flowers, chocolates and cards, can have a significant impact on the environment.

For instance, producing flowers requires large amounts of water, pesticides and fertilisers, which can contaminate soil and water sources. In addition, the transportation of flowers from other countries to meet the demands of the holiday can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Chocolates, which are a popular gift for Valentine’s Day, often come in non-recyclable packaging and can also contribute to deforestation as cocoa is grown in many countries that are prone to deforestation. Moreover, the production of chocolates requires large amounts of energy and water, and the use of artificial flavorings and preservatives can lead to chemical waste in the environment.

The production of Valentine’s Day cards can also have an impact on the environment, as the paper and ink used to create these cards are not always eco-friendly. According to the Greeting Card Association, approximately 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year, which can result in significant waste.

Angola is currently facing the worst drought emergency in the last 40 years as a result of climate change. The effects of the drought include: shortages of food, lack of potable water, cattle dying from disease and malnourished children (among other things). Angola also has been struggling to manage municipal waste: the capital Luanda alone produces 6,000 tons of solid waste every day, which the city has struggled to manage. Meanwhile, storm runoffs and sewer overflows, mean that a lot of waste ends up in the ocean. At the same time, waste from the oil and gas sector and other industrial activities may pose a serious environmental concern.

Waste generated from Valentine’s Day celebrations, such as packaging from gifts and leftovers from fancy dinners, can also contribute to the growing problem of waste management.

While the environmental impact of Valentine’s Day may seem overwhelming, there are many ways to celebrate the holiday in a sustainable and eco-friendly way. Here are a few suggestions:

Buy locally-grown flowers: Buying locally-grown flowers can reduce the carbon emissions associated with transportation and also support local businesses.

Choose eco-friendly gifts: Opt for gifts made from sustainable materials, such as recycled paper, organic cotton, and bamboo. Consider giving a plant or a tree as a gift, which can help to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even better, choose an experience gift such theatre tickets, an agro tourism weekend getaway or a cycling adventure.

Make your own cards or send an e-card: Making your own cards can be a fun and creative activity and can also reduce waste associated with store-bought cards. Use recycled paper and avoid using glitter, which can be harmful to the environment. Another alternative would be to send an e-card.

Have a home-cooked dinner: Rather than dining out, prepare a meal at home using locally-sourced ingredients. This can reduce waste from packaging and also save money.

Choose sustainable transportation: Consider taking public transportation, walking, or cycling to your Valentine’s Day destination, rather than driving, which can reduce emissions and traffic congestion.

Valentine’s Day is a time to express love and affection to those around us, but it is important to consider the impact this holiday can have on the environment.

From the production of gifts to the waste generated from celebrations, there are many ways to reduce the environmental impact of Valentine’s Day. By choosing eco-friendly options and taking simple steps to reduce waste, we can show our love for the environment as well as for our loved ones!

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Ukraine to train African diplomats amid Russia invasion

 Ukraine has launched a training course for diplomats from African countries, as part of an effort to strengthen relations with the continent, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

The Foreign Ministry said on its website on 14 February that a “comprehensive” four-day online training course would be delivered at the Hennadiy Udovenko Diplomatic Academy.

According to the ministry, the agreement was reached during the first-ever tour of a Ukrainian foreign minister to African countries in October 2022.

“During my tour, our African partners showed considerable interest in studying Ukrainian diplomatic experience,” Mr Kuleba said.

He added that since Russia’s invasion last year, Ukraine had proven to be an “undisputed international leader” in public diplomacy.

He further said the course developed by the ministry was a” continuation of the renaissance of relations between Ukraine and African countries, and will also be our practical contribution to strengthening the stability of the African continent”.

More than 200 diplomats from Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Senegal “will have a unique opportunity to learn from the experience of practising Ukrainian diplomats, leading international relations scientists and experts of think tanks” during the course named “Security and Diplomacy in Wartime. Ukrainian experience”, the foreign ministry said.

Ukraine has been trying to win support in Africa where Russia has a much stronger foothold.

Source: BBC

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India, set to be most populous, doesn’t know its number of people

No signs of India’s once-in-a-decade census, due in 2021 and delayed due to the pandemic, beginning soon.

In two months, India is projected to become the world’s most populous country with more than 1.4 billion people. But for at least a year, and possibly longer, the country will not know how many people it has because it has not been able to count them.

India’s once-in-a-decade census, due in 2021 and delayed due to the pandemic, has now got bogged down by technical and logistical hurdles, and there are no signs the mammoth exercise is likely to begin soon.

Experts say the delay in updating data such as employment, housing, literacy levels, migration patterns and infant mortality, which are captured by the census, affects social and economic planning and policymaking in the huge Asian economy.

Calling census data “indispensable”, Rachna Sharma, a fellow at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said studies like the consumption expenditure survey and the periodic labour force survey are estimations based on information from the census.

“In the absence of latest census data, the estimations are based on data that is one decade old and is likely to provide estimates that are far from reality,” Sharma said.

A senior official at the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said census data from 2011, when the count was last conducted, was being used for projections and estimates required to assess government spending.

A spokesman for the ministry said its role was limited to providing the best possible projections and could not comment on the census process. The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Two other government officials, one from the federal home ministry and another from the office of the Registrar General of India, said the delay was largely due to the government’s decision to fine-tune the census process and make it foolproof with the help of technology.

The home ministry official said the software that will be used to gather census data on a mobile phone app has to be synchronised with existing identity databases, including the national identity card, called Aadhaar, which was taking time.

The office of the Registrar General of India, which is responsible for the census, did not respond to a request for comment.

The main opposition Congress party and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have accused the government of delaying the census to hide data on politically sensitive issues, such as unemployment, ahead of national elections due in 2024.

“This government has often displayed its open rivalry with data,” said Congress spokesman Pawan Khera. “On important matters like employment, COVID deaths, etc, we have seen how the Modi government has preferred to cloak critical data.”

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national spokesman, Gopal Krishna Agarwal, dismissed the criticism.

“I want to know on what basis they are saying this. Which is the social parameter on which our performance in nine years is worse than their 65 years?” he said, referring to the Congress’s years in power.

The United Nations has projected India’s population could touch 1,425,775,850 on April 14, overtaking China’s.

The 2011 census put India’s population at 1.21 billion, meaning the country has added 210 million, or almost the number of people in Brazil, to its population in 12 years.

India’s census is conducted by about 330,000 government school teachers who first go door-to-door, listing all houses across the country and then return to them with a second list of questions.

They ask more than two dozen questions each time in 16 languages in the two phases that will be spread over 11 months, according to the plan made for 2021.

The numbers will be tabulated and the final data made public months later. The entire exercise was estimated to cost 87.5 billion rupees ($1.05bn) in 2019.

However, teachers have returned to school after the pandemic disruption and have to conduct nine state elections in 2023 and national elections in 2024 besides the census and this would again disrupt teaching. Payments have also become an issue.

Arvind Mishra, a senior official at the All-India Primary Teachers Federation which counts 2.3 million members, said teachers are bound by law to help conduct elections and the census but government must increase the fees they receive.

“They must roll out a systematic payment mechanism for the drill,” said Mishra. “Teachers deserve respect and they can’t be running around demanding reimbursement for conducting the largest counting exercise on earth.”

A former top official of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government agency that runs the highly successful national identity programme Aadhaar, however, sought to downplay the significance of the decennial census data saying the identity programme is a “de facto, real-time” census.

According to UIDAI, 1.3 billion people were enrolled under Aadhaar on December 31, 2022, against a projected population then of 1.37 billion. The gap would mostly be children who are not enrolled and deaths that are not updated, the former UIDAI official said.

Pronab Sen, a former chief statistician of India, said the sample registration system (SRS) which estimates birth and death rates shows the population growth rate with reasonable accuracy.

Unlike Aadhaar, the SRS survey counts a representative sample of births and deaths and uses it to project the count for a larger region.

“It’s not exact,” Sen said. “The problem is that SRS and projections that we have are reasonably accurate if the country is taken as a whole. What it will not give you is the distribution of people in different geographies within the country.”

SOURCE: REUTERS

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Donald Trump Blasts Rihanna

 Donald Trump has blasted Rihanna for the ‘worst halftime show in Super Bowl history’ after she insulted ‘far more than half our nation’ by previously spray painting ‘f*** Donald Trump’ on a car.

The singer, with her baby bump beaming out of her red ensemble, stormed the stage in Arizona before the Chiefs became Super Bowl champions on Sunday night.

She gave the millions of viewers a sultry performance – however her racy dancing and risqué lyrics were perhaps too much for some.

Trump – who has butted heads with the Barbadian singer multiple times – was not impressed by her Super Bowl show and return to the big stage.

Taking to Truth Social, he wrote: ‘EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history — this after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her ‘Stylist!”

Trump’s sour take is perhaps unsurprising as he had already berated the pop star before she took to the stage. Days ago, he blasted her for having ‘no talent.’ 

The ex-president’s ire was raised after Texas Republican congressman Ronny Jackson urged the NFL to pull Rihanna from the Sunday’s show after the Barbadian singer spray painted ‘F**k Donald Trump’ at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

Jackson, the Trump’s White House doctor, said in a social media post, ‘She’s made a career of spewing degenerate filth while badmouthing America every chance she gets. Why is the NFL showcasing this crap? Rihanna SHOULD NOT be the halftime performer!!’

In 2019, Rihanna took aim at Trump during his presidency, calling him ‘the most mentally ill man in America’ in an interview with Vogue.

She is clearly no fan of the ex-president, whom she asked to stop using her music.

When the subject of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton come up, Rihanna talks Trump because he said the shooting happened due to mental illness while not discussing gun control.

‘It is devastating,’ she said. ‘People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal. That should never, ever be normal.

‘And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist.’

She goes on: ‘Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem.

‘The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.’

In 2020, Rihanna went to the famed Cadillac Ranch in Texas to commit her act of political protest. The singer posted a photo of her graffiti on Instagram and captioned it, ‘Art.’

The message was later covered up with black paint by Trump supporters.

That wasn’t the first time that RiRi tackled Trump. In 2018, when she learned that her music was played at a MAGA rally, she tweeted: ‘Not for much longer…me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies.’

Source: dailymail.co.uk

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6,000 Ukrainian Children Sent to Russian Camps To Undergo Military-Related Education’ In Possible War Crime

 Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a US study has found. Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for ‘pro-Russia patriotic and military-related education’.

Nathaniel Raymond, a Yale researcher at the Humanitarian Research Lab – funded by the US State Department – said that Russia was in ‘clear violation’ of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the treatment of civilians during war. He called his team’s report a ‘gigantic amber alert’, referring to US public notices of child abductions. The activity ‘in some cases may constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity’, he told reporters.

Russia has tried to cast the relocation of the children as saving orphans or bringing them to camps for medical care. Some parents were pressured into give consent to send their children away, the report said.  The report called for a neutral body to be granted access to the camps and for Russia immediately to stop adoptions of Ukrainian children.

Ukraine’s government recently said that more than 14,700 children have been deported to Russia where some have been sexually exploited. The study said that Putin aides have been closely involved in the operation, including Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights. It quoted her as saying that 350 children have been adopted by Russian families and that more than 1,000 were awaiting adoption.

The US report, which relied on satellite imagery and public accounts, said that at least 6,000 children have been sent to camps but that the number is ‘likely significantly higher’. It said that Russian authorities have sought to provide a pro-Moscow viewpoint to children through school curricula as well as through field trips to patriotic sites and talks from veterans.

Children have also been given firearms training, although Mr Raymond said there was no evidence they were being sent to fight. It has been nearly a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin denying the historical legitimacy of the neighbouring country and in September formally declaring four regions to be part of Russia.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

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Philippine president summons China envoy over sea confrontation

China’s foreign ministry defended the Chinese coastguard’s actions towards a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has summoned China’s ambassador to convey his “serious concern” following reports that a Chinese coastguard vessel had engaged in dangerous manoeuvres and used a “military-grade” laser to impede a Philippine ship in the South China Sea.

The president’s office said that China’s ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian was called to a meeting on Tuesday afternoon during which Marcos Jr criticised the behaviour of China’s coastguards on February 6 near Second Thomas Shoal, which is known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines.

Marcos Jr addressed “the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen in their bancas [small fishing vessels], the latest of which was the deployment of a military-grade laser against our Coast Guard vessels,” the president’s office said.

China had engaged in “acts of aggression” in the South China Sea, the Philippine foreign ministry said on Tuesday, which were “disturbing and disappointing”, ministry spokesperson Teresita Daza said.

The harassment by China of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship while on a resupply mission to troops based at Ayungin Shoal threatened the sovereignty and security of the Philippines, the ministry said.

China’s use of a high-powered laser had temporarily blinded the ship’s crew, according to the PCG, and the Chinese ship had engaged in dangerous activities that could have caused a collision.

Reuters reported that the Chinese ambassador to Manila said after the meeting with Marcos Jr that he had discussed the implementation of an agreement between the two countries on managing maritime differences at sea, which was reached during the Philippine leader’s recent visit to China.

Asked to respond to the claims of aggressive actions made by Manila, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that his country’s coastguard had acted in a “professional and restrained” manner towards the Philippine ship, and denied the version of events as conveyed by Philippine officials.

“At present, the relevant waters are calm overall,” Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing.

Wang also accused the Philippines and the United States – a close ally of Manila – of engaging in “pure political drama” in taking a case to the international court of arbitration which ruled in 2016 that China had no legal basis for its territorial claim to almost the entire South China Sea.

He said that China would not be intimidated by the US, which also accused China of “provocative and unsafe” conduct in attempting to disrupt the delivery of supplies to the Philippine troops.

“The US invokes its Mutual Defence Treaty with the Philippines at every turn in an attempt to intimidate China, but it will not weaken our resolve and will to safeguard China’s legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” Wang added.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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Japan warns China of airspace violation as spy balloons suspected

 Japan’s defence ministry ‘strongly suspects’ Chinese surveillance balloons entered Japanese airspace three times since 2019.

Japan has warned China that violations of its airspace by surveillance balloons were “totally unacceptable”, as new information emerged that unidentified aerial objects that had entered Japanese airspace in recent years were likely Chinese spy balloon flights.

“As a result of further investigation of specific balloon-shaped flying objects that were confirmed in Japan’s airspace in the past, it is strongly suspected that they were unmanned surveillance balloons from China,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Wednesday.

Japan’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that it “strongly suspects” Chinese surveillance balloons had entered Japanese territory at least three times since 2019.

The ministry also said that it had “strongly demanded China’s government confirm the facts” of the incident and “that such a situation not occur again in the future”.

“Violations of airspace by foreign unmanned reconnaissance balloons and other means are totally unacceptable,” the ministry added.

Japan’s government is now considering relaxing requirements on the use of weapons by its armed forces in order to defend against intrusions of its airspace, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.

Relaxing the rules on engagement would allow Japan to shoot down aerial objects that violate its airspace. Currently, Japanese forces can only open fire in cases of legitimate self-defence or to avoid clear and present danger, Kyodo news agency reported.

Beijing hit back on Wednesday, saying Japan lacked proof to support its accusations.

“Japan is making groundless accusations and smearing China without conclusive evidence. We are resolutely opposed to that,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters.

Japan’s reassessment of past intrusions into its airspace has heightened since the United States shot down a Chinese balloon this month and briefed officials from 40 nations about the object, including Japan.

In the wake of the incident, the US military adjusted radar settings to detect smaller objects and discovered three more unidentified craft that US President Joe Biden also ordered shot down – one over Alaska, another over Canada and the third over Lake Huron off Michigan.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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UK accused of crimes against humanity over Chagos

 The UK has been accused of crimes against humanity in its refusal to allow a group of islanders to return to the Chagos archipelago, half a century after they were forced off the island by British troops.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said reparations should be paid to generations of people affected by the decision to depopulate the remote islands, deep in the Indian Ocean.

The UK’s Foreign Office has responded by repeating its “deep regret” about the manner in which people were removed from the islands in the late 1960s and early 70s. But it stressed that “we categorically reject the characterisation of events” as crimes against humanity.

The HRW report comes as the UK is facing growing international condemnation for holding on to what it calls the “British Indian Ocean Territory,” with the UN’s International Court of Justice ruling that the continuing British occupation of the archipelago is illegal.

The UN General Assembly has also voted, overwhelmingly, in favour of the islands being returned to Mauritius.

“The UK is today committing an appalling colonial crime, treating all Chagossians as a people without rights. The UK and the US, who together expelled the Chagossians from their homes, should provide full reparations for the harm they have caused,” said HRW’s senior legal adviser, Clive Baldwin.

The UK insisted on keeping hold of the Chagos islands when it negotiated Mauritius’s independence in 1968. Mauritian officials have since accused the UK of “blackmailing” them into relinquishing the territory.

The UK had already entered into secret talks with the US to lease one of the islands, Diego Garcia, to Washington for use as a military base.

Today the Foreign Office insisted that base “helps to keep people in Britain, the region and around the world safe, combatting some of the most challenging threats to international peace and security, including those from terrorism and piracy, and responding to humanitarian crises”.

But with all but a handful of nations now backing Mauritius’s claim, the UK has now entered into negotiations about the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago.

Jagdish Koonjul, Mauritius’s UN ambassador, described those talks as “constructive”, and his government welcomed the HRW report, saying: “Justice must be done.”

Mauritius insists the US can continue to keep its base on Diego Garcia, and that it will commit to resettling “any individuals of Chagossian origin” on their home islands.

Source: BBC

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