LogOn: Unfired earth blocks surpass modern building codes
A new homebuilding method with ancient roots in adobe offers protection from wildfires, earthquakes, high winds and floods, while being climate friendly and sustainable. The secret ingredient: compressed earth blocks made from mud. Shelley Schlender has the story in this…
Crushing the scam farms: Southeast Asia’s ‘criminal service providers’
As we reported earlier in the week, there has been a proliferation of illicit operations, known as scam farms, following the COVID-19 pandemic, across Southeast Asia – including in the Philippines – where they have often operated alongside legal gambling…
Southeast Asia: Torture rooms and karaoke bars in gang-run ‘scam farms’
There are estimated to be some 400 of these criminal enterprises in the Philippines alone. They are almost always operated clandestinely and illegally alongside licensed and legal online gaming operations. The proliferation of online scam farms targeting victims across the…
UN pressing for release of staff detained in Yemen
The staffers have been held incommunicado by the de facto authorities in Yemen who hold the capital and large swathes of the war-wracked country, formally known as Ansar Allah. More commonly known as the Houthis, they have been fighting for…
Casualties rise in Ukraine amid escalating Russian attacks, Security Council hears
Two of the country’s main specialist hospitals for children and women were heavily damaged along with key energy infrastructure, reportedly killing dozens of civilians, including children, and injuring over 110. Joyce Msuya, acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told ambassadors in…
UN rights chief calls for end to Ukraine war following latest airstrikes
Mr. Türk said these “relentless” attacks were deepening the humanitarian crisis in the country, tearing apart infrastructure, and creating a host of socioeconomic challenges. Between March and May, 436 civilians were killed and 1,760 injured, High Commissioner Türk said….
Arbitrary detentions and impunity widespread in Libya, warns UN’s Türk
“Trafficking, torture, forced labour, extortion, starvation in intolerable conditions of detention” are “perpetrated at scale…with impunity”, the High Commissioner for Human Rights told Member States. “Mass expulsions, the sale of human beings, including children” are widespread in Libya, Mr. Türk…
Gazans reeling from closed hospitals, malnutrition and heat risks, warns UN health agency
Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that according to the enclave’s health authorities, 34 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration amid ongoing Israeli bombardment, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on 7 October….
Support for Ukraine in focus as NATO opens summit in Washington
NATO begins a summit Tuesday in Washington with support for Ukraine’s battle against a Russian invasion topping the agenda. NATO leaders are expected to finalize a plan to bring what are now individual national efforts to aid Ukraine’s military into…
After $1B gift, most Johns Hopkins medical students won’t pay tuition
Most medical students at Johns Hopkins University will no longer pay tuition thanks to a $1 billion gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Monday. Starting in the fall, the donation will cover full tuition for medical students from families earning less…