Category: World News

Bleached coral in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, in September 2023.

By David Helvarg / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / June 5, 2024

On May 21, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that greenhouse gases are marine pollutants and nations must take action to “reduce, control and prevent” their effects.

Eighty years ago today, in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the largest invasion fleet in human history crossed the English Channel and launched an unprecedented, world-turning assault on Nazi-occupied France. Remembering the enormity of that moment is as critical for America now as it has ever been.

Eighty years ago exactly, on June 6, 1944, some 160,000 troops from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other allies descended upon these shores in Normandy by air, land and seat to liberate Nazi-occupied France.

By Cooper Gegan/ The Inertia / June 3, 2024

A newly published study has identified a fungus living in the sea that can break down plastic. The marine microbe, called Parengyodontium album was found on plastic debris floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. When scientists later isolated the fungus in a laboratory, they found it was capable of breaking down the plastic polyethylene after it had first been exposed to UV radiation from sunlight.

The discovery was made by marine microbiologists

From Mexico News Daily

[Edited slighted at beginning for clarification. Article originally published Sept. 2023]

Claudia Sheinbaum, the new President of Mexico, was the former Mexico City mayor (2018-23), who will also represent the Labor Party and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico, will face off against the Broad Front for Mexico’s Xóchitl Gálvez at the June 2, 2024 election. Senator Gálvez was officially designated as the three-party opposition alliance’s “coordinator” just over a week ago.

Sheinbaum – a physicist and environmental scientist who was environment minister in Mexico City when Andrés Manuel López Obrador was mayor in the early 2000s – recently spoke with Expansión Política, the politics site of the Expansión news organization, and expressed views on a range of issues she will face if elected as Mexico’s first female president next June.

Mexican voters on Sunday elected Claudia Sheinbaum

From Washington Post / June 3, 2024

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is famous for its macho culture. Women here didn’t win the right to vote for president until 1953 — three decades after their U.S. counterparts. As recently as nine years ago, there wasn’t a single female state governor.

Yet Mexico has just elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum,

Come out This Saturday, May 11th, 2024 at Noon in Ocean Beach !!

This weekly demonstration, organized by the San Diego Veterans For Peace and the progressive women’s group, Code Pink, will mark the fifteen consecutive Saturdays at the same location, corner of West Point Loma Blvd and Sunset Cliffs Blvd

A contact of the Rag’s at UC San Diego has just informed us that the situation on campus appears that law enforcement is preparing to shut down the Palestine solidarity encampment.

The encampment — now in its 5th or 6th day — consists of some 50 tents and is mainly near the Geisel Library.

As pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on college campuses nationwide, protesters — including students and faculty — have been arrested. The protests grew after an encampment on the campus of Columbia University in New York City led to the arrest of more than 100 protesters on April 18.

Please join the ceasefire in Gaza vigil / rally, Saturday, March 30th from Noon to 1 PM at the Ocean Beach portal.

By Martin Kuebler / DW / March 25, 2024

A winter of heavy storms and flooding, especially in late December, has washed away vast stretches of protective sand dunes and bathing beaches on Germany’s North Sea islands.

Coastal areas on islands such as Sylt, Borkum and Norderney, which together attract millions of tourists, will need to be rebuilt before the summer holidays — an extensive and expensive procedure.

By Marta Vidal / Washington Post / February 5, 2024

CORUCHE, Portugal — The rhythmic noise of axes whacking trees echoes in the depths of the cork oak forest. But in Coruche, a rural area south of the Tagus River known as Portugal’s “cork capital,” the bang of trees falling to the ground doesn’t follow the sound of the ax strokes. Instead, experienced workers carefully peel away the bark from the tree trunks.

This annual rite of extracting cork in the summer months has been around for thousands of years in the western Mediterranean. Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans used the material to make fishing gear and sandals and to seal jugs, jars and barrels. As glass bottles gained popularity in the 18th century, cork became the preferred sealant because it is durable, waterproof, light and pliable.

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams / March 4, 2024

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday accused Israel of standing in clear violation of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act by creating the conditions for mass starvation within the Gaza Strip as he called on the Biden administration to halt all military aid to the country until Palestinians are granted the life-saving humanitarian relief they urgently need.

“Starvation is taking place in Gaza,” Sanders said in a statement. “Israel is prohibiting aid convoys from delivering desperately needed food and water.”