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Ecuador: Emprendimiento se enseña en casi todas las carreras universitarias y estudiantes ya idean o aplican su negocio en Ecuador

Emprendimiento se enseña en casi todas las carreras universitarias y estudiantes ya idean o aplican su negocio en Ecuador

Emprendimiento y economía popular y solidaria se enseña desde hace más de doce años en las universidades. Cada año se perfecciona.

Estudiantes de la UTPL idearon la plataforma The Launch Pad, que brinda tutorías para niños con personas calificadas. Foto: Cortesía.

María Victoria Armijos, de 19 años, vio a la pandemia como una oportunidad de negocio. Junto con otros dos compañeros de la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) idearon la plataforma The Launch Pad, que brinda tutorías especializadas para niños con personas calificadas.

La idea es minimizar el estrés de los padres que enfrentan la teleducación y teletrabajo a la vez. “(La plataforma) une las necesidades del padre con la tutora. Te permite hacer una contratación por horas”, dice y agrega que hace unas semanas una adulta mayor contrató a una joven por horas para enseñarle las tareas a su nieto.

Y son los primeros pasos de una idea que nació en la materia de Emprendimiento e Innovación que ve en su carrera de Psicología Clínica.

¿Cuáles son los pasos para emprender un negocio?

Avances que también tienen María del Cisne Sánchez, de 26 años, y Sofania Rojas, de 24, estudiantes de la misma universidad. Sánchez espera graduarse de Gestión Ambiental y en la asignatura ideó con otros cuatro estudiantes la plataforma IBAI, que crea audiencias personalizadas para diversos tipos de campañas.

En tanto que Rojas fue por la línea de productos y fabricó, junto con otros compañeros, harina a base de insectos llamada Yurumké. Esta idea ganó el premio Hult Prize de la UTPL y participaron -vía virtual- en una competencia internacional.

Estudiantes de la UPTL idearon una harina a base de insectos. Foto: Cortesía.

Todas coinciden en que adquirir conocimientos de emprendimiento y economía moderna ayudan a tener una visión más amplia del mercado.

Y es que esta enseñanza, junto con la economía popular y solidaria y la innovación, se viene aplicando hace más de doce años en las universidades. Y cada año se perfecciona por los avances tecnológicos.

Leonardo Izquierdo, decano de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales de la UTPL, señala que independientemente de la carrera todos aprenden sobre emprendimiento e innovación. Y con más énfasis en especialidades como administración de empresas, finanzas, contabilidad, gastronomía, economía, administración pública y hotelería y turismo.

“Un estudiante innovador es el propósito, con nuevos diseños de trabajo, metodologías”, dice y apunta que en la incubadora Prendho se validan, gestionan y se perfeccionan ideas que no solo terminan en poner un negocio, sino en conocer el marco jurídico, potenciar la marca personal y ser un solucionador de problemas.

Crear y posicionar un emprendimiento es difícil en Ecuador, de acuerdo con expertos; recomiendan instruirse y aprovechar propuestas del nuevo Gobierno

En la Universidad Internacional SEK tienen una licenciatura en Administración de Negocios y allí se desarrollan destrezas transversales para fortalecer la inteligencia emocional, creatividad, así como el trabajo en equipo y rendir bajo situaciones de estrés, cuenta su director Alfredo Arízaga.

La Universidad Católica desde su carrera de Economía enseña la utilización de softwares de simulación de categoría y competencia internacional. “Para que los estudiantes se familiaricen y comprendan la dinámica de sus emprendimientos y el impacto de sus decisiones”, señala Nancy Wong, decana de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.

Además se instruye sobre la economía popular, que también lo hace la Universidad de Guayaquil, de acuerdo con René Aguilar, subdecano de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.

“Nosotros tenemos una asignatura de Economía Popular y Solidaria y cuando es nuestro aniversario de fundación, entre uno de los actos, hacemos una feria donde los estudiantes muestran sus emprendimientos”, señala y resalta que por pandemia no es posible este tipo de eventos, pero los alumnos aprenden las herramientas.

María del Cisne Sánchez ideó la plataforma IBAI, junto con sus compañeros, que crea audiencias personalizadas para diversos tipos de campañas. Foto: Cortesía.

La Universidad Espíritu Santo (UEES) también se une a estos aprendizajes desde su Facultad de Emprendimiento, Negocios y Economía, asegura César Vélez, director del Centro de Emprendimiento de la institución.

Y de a poco van agregando más instrumentos como la licenciatura en Negocios Digitales.

“Buscamos como academia profesionalizar el emprendimiento porque tenemos una alta tasa activa, pero también (emprendimientos) que desaparecen y esto porque no cuentan con estudios y bases sólidas que les permitan ver si van por el camino correcto o no”, opina.

Según el Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Ecuador tiene la tasa de actividad emprendedora temprana (TEA) más alta: 36,7%, pero también ocupa el primer lugar en los negocios que cierran.

Carlos Pástor, rector transitorio del Instituto Superior Tecnológico de la Economía Popular y Solidaria (Isteps), dice que los indicadores se solucionan con educación.

“Son una herramienta para mejorar los procesos administrativos contables de producción y de comercialización. En cómo obtener productos, bienes y servicios y mantener los recursos y alcanzar el nivel de autosuficiencia deseada”, menciona.

Este instituto cuenta con dos carreras: Administración de las Organizaciones de la Economía Popular y Solidaria y Gestión de las Finanzas Populares y Solidarias.

Todos los representantes o titulares universitarios coinciden en que los estudiantes observan y practican los avances de la economía para que salgan al mercado con más oportunidades. (I)

Fuente de la Información: https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/economia/emprendimiento-se-ensena-en-casi-todas-las-carreras-universitarias-y-estudiantes-ya-idean-o-aplican-su-negocio-en-ecuador-nota/

 

 

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Venezuela: Conserjes de la privatización

Venezuela. Conserjes de la privatización

María Alejandra Díaz

Una nueva geopolítica ha insurgido en el mundo: el Globalismo. Santa Alianza del capitalismo y la clase hegemónica transnacional, multimillonarios sin patria aliados a organismos multilaterales: ONU, FMI, BM, OMC entre otras, con un plan y una “Agenda 2030” que pretende la cesión de la soberanía de las naciones a los organismos multilaterales que no obedecen a ningún interés nacional o patriótico. La finalidad: el despojo de zonas geoestratégicas ricas en recursos naturales (petróleo, gas, agua, metales, biodiversidad) apropiándose de nuevos territorios en complicidad con los gobiernos débiles rendidos a esta corriente globalista.

Detrás de esa geopolítica globalista están los que se presentan como jugadores marginales (privados siempre), que operan fuera de los límites impuestos por el Estado Nación soberano. Para que este plan se cumpla son necesarios gobiernos rendidos por ignorancia (subordinación ideológica a doctrinas foráneas antinacionales y anti soberanas) o por complicidad, poca claridad de los decisores y de sus Fuerzas Armadas en asuntos de interés nacional o incapacidad de reconocer estas nuevas amenazas que no se comprenden y asimilan como las nuevas formas de guerra que ha declarado el capital a los Estados Nación y a sus pueblos.

García Linera en clase magistral dictada en la Universidad en Asunción, Paraguay (2017), afirmaba que “China se ha posicionado como uno de los principales ejes del poder económico mundial, empujando la globalización y convirtiéndose en motor de cambio de las relaciones económicas internacionales», mostrando además argumentos incontrovertibles al respecto. El plan económico chino incluyó entre otros temas: el desarrollo de Zonas Económicas Especiales (ZEE) que provocaron -según los «policy makers» globalistas- gran éxito económico y financiero, logrando financiamiento de infraestructura, abundante desarrollo tecnológico, sobre todo para proyectos de tipo financiero y servicios globales.
Geo-economía impulsada principalmente por la deslocalización de empresas europeas y norteamericanas hacia China, quien utilizó su ventaja comparativa en el mercado laboral global (el precio casi de esclavitud de la mano de obra) para atraerlas, desregulando y modificando leyes como «garantías de inversiones», asegurándoles además amplios beneficios (exoneraciones) impositivas de todo tipo para que dichos capitales «anidaran» de forma segura, garantizando sus ganancias.

Nuevos ricos en detrimento de los más pobres, concentración de los flujos de inversión en las Zonas Económicas Especiales, ocasionando desequilibrios económicos y sociales, no sólo a nivel nacional, sino también a escala internacional, donde las economías pobres, se vuelven proveedoras de recursos de diversa índole (en nuestro caso materias primas), acondicionándonos al papel que históricamente nos asignaron y a los requerimientos del capitalismo, papel por cierto, que había cambiado con Chávez al frente del proyecto de emancipación nacional.

Chávez por su parte, entendiendo la necesidad de desarrollo y de inversiones para lograr un desarrollo endógeno nacional y como un asunto de Seguridad y Defensa nacional, diseñó las Zonas Especiales de Desarrollo Sustentable (ZEDES) como propuesta estratégica orientada a impulsar y fortalecer el desarrollo nacional y regional en el marco de las políticas territoriales soberanas, cuidándose de posibles secesiones y escisiones territoriales, desde una concepción multidimensional y compleja, que posibilitara su inclusión como estrategia que fortaleciera las potencialidades locales, e impulsara el avance científico.

Sin embargo, hábiles como son los conserjes globalistas, adoptan estrategias de «resistencia a la guerra híbrida» el modelo del neocolonialismo corporativista anglo holandés sionista y Chino que pretende instalarse como «buen ejemplo y éxito» en nuestros países. La misma historia repetida cientos de veces: ayer Inglaterra con enclaves territoriales en las islas del Caribe, el Esequibo Venezolano e India, Israel en Palestina y la Patagonia, ahora China y sus enclaves territoriales.

Ocultan estos globalistas que en realidad esos modelos lo que pretenden es imponernos un ritmo continuo de demolición de la sociedad para subsumirnos al capital travestido en «capitalismo inclusivo» a decir del Vaticano y la globalización justa según DAVOS. Es la misma pulsión capitalista (postcapitalista) a través del extractivismo financiero (crédito blandos tóxicos), minero, energético, troquelamientos y despojos territoriales para expulsarnos y ocupar nuestros territorios y valores: una verdadera geometría territorial de la ocupación y expulsión.

La estrategia aplicada por los globalistas en el caso venezolano (problema-reacción-solución), se desenvuelve de la siguiente forma: PROBLEMA: Plan termita contra PDVSA demoliéndola (estilo Pemex), sanciones, bloqueos, financieros y comerciales, jugada perversa urdida por el anglosionismo a través de sus agentes; REACCION: Nos convencen que estamos quebrados y no hay alternativa sino rendirnos al capital exitoso, bondasoso y caritativo y con esta situación creada pretenden que la República Bolivariana de Venezuela acuda ya no al FMI o al BM sino al salvajismo corporativo; SOLUCION: Aplicarnos sus propias medidas: restricción de la masa monetaria, liberación de precios, tasas de interés indexadas, libre circulación de divisas, congelamiento de los salarios, un supuesto modelo productivo que incluye abandonar el modelo rentista petrolero (como si el dominio sobre recursos en suelo y subsuelo fuese un pecado y no una condición intrínseca de nuestro país), mientras tanto estos mismos «salvadores» se encargarían de la renta preparando el escenario a las privatizaciones que “nos rescatarán de la quiebra”. La modalidad incluye, hecha la tarea por vías externas y de los 5tas y 6tas columnas internos, desalojarnos de lo nuestro (ZEE mediante), bajo el pretexto de la ausencia de la productividad y la falta de libre mercado.

Otras medidas incluyen enmendar el orden jurídico constitucional para proteger la inversión extranjera (con eufemismos legales que garantizan dicha inversión, combaten el bloqueo y garantizan los enclaves territoriales) así como imponer la seguridad privada corporativa trasnacional. Para ello además necesitan garantizar «jueces independientes» (de los Estados Nacionales pero no de los capitales). El reto es desinstitucionalizar al Estado democrático Social de Derecho y de Justicia como el nuestro pues les estorba a sus planes de dominación y expoliación.

En ese diseño de modelo despótico de doble plusvalía, los globalistas necesitan dos tipos de control: una plusvalía política de control (gobiernos conserjes del capital) y una plusvalía económica explotada por el régimen capitalista (régimen despótico de poder). Uno sirve para organizar aplanando a la masa y la otra sirve para repasar a la masa de trabajadores ya antes expoliados subjetivamente (controlados y entrenados).

Lamentablemente ese régimen, es presentado con alfombra roja incluida por los «conserjes de la privatización», obviando que dicho modelo violento que trata de imponérsenos no es más que la maximización de la cosificación, no solo del trabajo y la tecnología como pretende Google (inteligencia de cosa); sino además la fetichización de la mercancía y la tecnología (tecnocracia) a su máxima expresión, lo que equivale a ponerle fin al modelo constitucional venezolano que tantos dolores de cabeza le ha ocasionado al capital transnacional.

Más allá de las debilidades de control y transparencia, en la República Bolivariana de Venezuela se logró hacer una subsunción real del capital con su política de plena soberanía petrolera, nuestro modelo pudo sustraerse del dominio absoluto del capital internacional y aplicarle un saboteo, ralentizando su reestructuración. Totalmente al contrario a quienes quieren imponernos su modelo de globalización extractivista territorial para la paz; claro la paz de los capitales no de los pueblos, por eso insistimos como venimos pregonándolo hace años: Hay que volver a Chávez.

No permitamos que los «conserjes de la privatización» hipotequen la soberanía que ejerce la República sobre los recursos naturales en su condición de dueño de la renta del suelo y dominio, según lo establece la Ley de Minas de 1829, decretada por el Libertador Simón Bolívar y recogida en la Constitución de 1999; sólo para satisfacer el apetito voraz de las élites.

Evitar a toda costa convertirnos en un Estado fragmentado en «enclaves territoriales desregulados», que mediante acumulación por despojo le solucione la crisis de sobreacumulación del capital (Harvey), donde los globalistas aniden seguros y garantizados a costa de la miseria del pueblo. Todo para seguir acumulando, desterritorializándo y despojando, acabando con nuestra doctrina jurídica constitucional, geopolítica y espíritu Bolivariano que fundamenta nuestro modelo de Estado y nuestra Doctrina de Seguridad y Defensa nacional. Ese es el meollo del asunto y el origen y causa del conflicto en Venezuela, como nos dijera el General Tomás Moncanut (+).

Aprendamos la lección de Rousseau, retórico entre los retóricos, cuando decía que debíamos «enseñar a los hombres a considerar su ser individual en relación sólo con el cuerpo del Estado, y a no percibir, por así decirlo, su existencia sino como una parte de aquél; logrando entonces que se identifiquen con un todo superior, que se sientan miembros de una Patria, que se amen como el individuo aislado se ama a sí mismo, que eleven permanentemente su alma a un gran objeto».

Hoy, en esta hora crucial de nuestra Patria invocamos aquellas palabras de Palacios Fajardo el 5 de julio de 1811: Venezuela es libre y va a ser independiente; desconózcannos todas las potencias del universo. Venezuela se basta a sí misma, Venezuela triunfará de cuantas se opongan a su felicidad. Todo cede al impulso de la libertad y las fuerzas del hombre libre sólo son comparables a su dignidad. Un terreno dilatado y feroz, poblado de hombres ilustrados y fuertes, es bien acreedor de elevarse al rango de nación. Venezuela será habitada por hombres libres o el sepulcro funesto de sus actuales moradores. Venezuela será un pueblo independiente o dejará de existir entre los pueblos de la tierra.

!!Nos toca luchar !!!

 

María Alejandra Díaz Marín

Fuente de la Información: https://kaosenlared.net/venezuela-conserjes-de-la-privatizacion/

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Alemania: Germany Has Officially Recognized Colonial-Era Atrocities in Namibia. But For Some, Reconciliation Is a Long Way Off

Germany Has Officially Recognized Colonial-Era Atrocities in Namibia. But For Some, Reconciliation Is a Long Way Off

Paramount Chief Adv. Vekuii Rukoro, high-ranked chiefs and other members of the Herero and Nama communities gather around a monument in honor of the Ovaherero and Nama people that were victims of the genocide by German colonial forces at the Swakopmund Concentration Camp Memorial, in Swakopmund, Namibia, as a part of the Reparation Walk 2019 on March 30, 2019.
MAY 28, 2021 12:50 PM EDT

The German government formally recognized colonial-era atrocities against the Herero and Nama people in modern-day Namibia for the first time, referring to the early 20th century massacres as “genocide” on Friday and pledging to pay a “gesture to recognize the immense suffering inflicted.”

“In light of the historical and moral responsibility of Germany, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a statement, adding that the German government will fund projects related to “reconstruction and the development” of Namibia amounting to €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). The sum will be paid out over 30 years and must primarily benefit the descendants of the Herero and Nama, Agence France-Presse reported.

Although it’s a significant step for a once colonial power to agree such a deal with a former colony, there’s skepticism among some experts and observers.

“I have an ambivalent reaction to this,” says Olivette Otele, professor of the history of slavery at the University of Bristol, U.K., and author of African Europeans: An Untold History. “It means that the conversation is ongoing, but I’m assuming and I want to believe that this is not the end. It’s not a case of doing one gesture, and then everything’s forgotten, because that wouldn’t work in terms of reconciliation and bringing communities together.”

What happened to the Herero and Nama people?

Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial forces killed, tortured and displaced thousands of Herero and Nama people in what some historians have called the first genocide of the 20th century. After an uprising against brutal German settler colonial rule in what was then known as German Southwest Africa, many Herero were forced into the Omaheke Desert and left to die of starvation and thirst. Thousands of Nama later suffered a similar fate. Those who survived were imprisoned in concentration camps, where they were subjected to sexual violence, forced labor and medical experiments by German officials, with the aim of exterminating the indigenous people. As many as 60,000 Herero—more than 80% of the group’s total population living in German Southwest Africa at that time—and 10,000 Nama—50% of the population—are estimated to have died.

Since the atrocities, the descendants of the Herero and Nama people have struggled to secure a formal apology, reparations or meaningful reconciliation offers from the German government. The 1985 United Nations’ Whitaker Report classified the campaign against the Herero as a genocide, and in 1988, Germany’s then-president, Roman Herzog, met Herero leaders in Namibia but stopped short of a formal apology. In 2001, representatives of the Herero people filed a $4 billion lawsuit against the German government and two German firms in the U.S., but the claim was dismissed. Another lawsuit filed in New York was dismissed in 2019. In 2018, Germany returned the human remains of Herero and Nama people who were killed during the genocide to Namibia. The remains had been stored in hospitals, museums and universities for decades and had originally been sent to Germany for discredited, racist and pseudo-scientific experiments that sought to prove racial hierarchies.

German soldiers pose with captured Nama, circa 1905.

German soldiers pose with captured Nama, circa 1905.ullstein bild—Getty Images

‘No recognition without reparations’

On the 100th anniversary of the genocide in 2004, German politician Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul identified the atrocities committed as genocide, adding that “we Germans accept our historical and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time.” Talks between the governments of both countries have been ongoing for years, punctuated with debates and disagreements over formal apologies, reconciliation and reparations.

In August last year, the Namibian government rejected a German offer of compensation for the atrocities, reportedly totalling €10 million ($12.1 million). At the time, Namibia’s president Hage Geingob said that the offer “for reparations made by the German government … is not acceptable” and needed to be “revised.” Notably, Friday’s statement from Germany’s foreign ministry avoided the term “reparations,” a term of contention between the two countries.

What constitutes reparations is understood in different ways by different people. “Memory scholars, historians and grassroots organisations think in terms of reparative justice,” says historian Otele. “The legacy of the past cannot be repaired through just money—there’s education, health, environmental considerations, and the preservation of community livelihoods. There are so many things that can be done that won’t be included in that package.”

There’s also the question of inclusion, and who has truly been represented in these negotiations, billed as a landmark agreement. Ahead of the formal announcement of the agreement, local Namibian media outlets reported that some government-recognised traditional leaders, who were consulted during negotiations, refused to endorse the deal. One unnamed chief was quoted as saying that “what is being offered is too little, an insult to our community and totally different to what we, the chiefs, have agreed on.” Herero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro also told Reuters the reported agreement was a “sellout.”

For writer and academic Zoé Samudzi, who has just completed a PhD on how the effects of the genocide of the Herero and Nama people have endured in the present-day, the agreement represents a hollow victory, “if you can even call it that.” She points out that the financial package has been framed around development and infrastructure, rather than compensation for the atrocities and for survivor communities. Henning Melber, a scholar of Namibian history, tweeted that the 30-year financial package in this new agreement wouldn’t represent a step change in German aid contributions to Namibia, because it’s roughly equivalent to the amount Germany has put on record as development aid for Namibia over the last three decades.

“Herero and Nama traditional leadership are rejecting this, because they have been adamant for many years about no recognition without reparations,” says Samudzi. “We should not even have the words reconciliation in our mouths,” she says. “Any conception of reconciliation in this moment is simply a way for Germany to absolve itself, and to not have to think about the ways that this genocide was incredibly formative for a lot of other German state violence.”

A ceremony is held for the victims of Namibian genocide, at the Friedrichstadt church in Berlin, on Aug. 29, 2018. At the invitation of the Evangelical Church and the Council of Churches in Namibia, the mortal remains of two victims of the genocide 1904-1908 in former German Southwest Africa are returned during a divine service.

A ceremony is held for the victims of Namibian genocide, at the Friedrichstadt church in Berlin, on Aug. 29, 2018. At the invitation of the Evangelical Church and the Council of Churches in Namibia, the mortal remains of two victims of the genocide 1904-1908 in former German Southwest Africa are returned during a divine service.
Gregor Fischer—picture-alliance/dpa/AP

Former colonial powers slow to act

The acknowledgment from Germany comes at a time of reckoning over imperial history across the continent. This has manifested through debates about the repatriation of objects looted in violent colonial expeditions, the inclusion of imperial history in school curriculums, and the presence of statues of colonizers and slave traders in public spaces, as well as formal apologies for past racist violence and slavery.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly acknowledged France’s “overwhelming responsibility” in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in a trip to the country’s capital Kigali. Yet survivors were critical of Macron’s failure to clearly apologize for his country’s role, after an independent report commissioned by his government concluded that France was “blind” to atrocities in Rwanda.

“We just saw France, not apologizing for what it did in Rwanda, but already asking for forgiveness,” says Samudzi. “And Germany is doing very similarly, through acknowledging and using the ‘G’ word [genocide], but being very quick to reject the possibility of meaningful compensation for the survivor communities.”

Otele says that, while the developments in Germany should put pressure on other governments to examine their pasts, the reality is that some political systems across Europe are stagnant, reluctant or slow to move on these issues. Imperial nostalgia is also still prevalent within some societies: A 2020 poll found a third of people in the U.K. believed Britain’s colonies were better off for being part of an empire, and that Britons were more likely to say they would like their country to still have an empire compared with people living in other former colonial powers.

Otele, a Cameroonian citizen, says the history of German colonization in the country of her birth in the 19th century has been significantly underexplored. “It will be interesting to see how Germany addresses other stories,” she says, adding that the conversations around these issues in broader society, particularly at the institutional level in some museums and universities in the U.K., are a positive sign. “It’s not perfect. There’s so much more to be done. But the conversation is actually happening rather than avoiding it.”

Fuente de la Información: https://time.com/6052493/germany-colonial-genocide/

 

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Malaysia Announces National Lockdown

Malaysia Announces National Lockdown

A medical worker wearing a protective suit inserts a test kit into a device at a free COVID-19 coronavirus testing site in Shah Alam, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, on 27 May, 2021. (AFP Photo)

Malaysia announced on Friday it will impose a nationwide lockdown for the first time in over a year as it battles a rapidly escalating coronavirus outbreak that has strained the country’s healthcare system.

Officials believe more infectious variants have contributed to the surge, as well as gatherings in the Muslim-majority country during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday earlier this month.

After a new daily record of 8,290 infections Friday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s office announced the entire country would enter a «total lockdown» from Tuesday.

This involves the «complete shutdown of all social and economic sectors», with only businesses deemed essential allowed to operate, it said in a statement.

The restrictions will be in place initially until 14 June.

«The existence of new aggressive variants with a higher and faster infection rate has influenced this decision,» it said.

«With the increase in daily cases… capacity in hospitals across the country to treat COVID-19 patients has become more limited.»

Malaysia, with a population of 32 million, has so far recorded a total of 549,514 cases since the start of the pandemic, and 2,552 deaths.

Slow And Chaotic

While moderate by global standards, its outbreak has increased rapidly in recent weeks, and the number of patients in intensive care and on ventilators has hit record highs.

In Friday’s statement, the government laid out a plan for a gradual easing of curbs if the initial lockdown brings cases down.

Authorities also pledged to step up the country’s vaccination rollout, which has been criticised as slow and chaotic, and to provide financial aid to those impacted by the lockdown.

Malaysia managed to avoid a serious outbreak last year when COVID-19 first emerged by implementing tough curbs, including a lockdown.

But cases started to rise sharply at the start of this year, leading the government to gradually tighten restrictions and impose a state of emergency. – AFP

Fuente de la Información: https://theaseanpost.com/article/malaysia-announces-national-lockdown

 

 

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Bahamas – Hit-and-Run: “They did not stop; not even for a second”

HIT-AND-RUN: “They did not stop; not even for a second”

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Individuals who claimed to have witnessed a woman and child being struck by a speeding vehicle shortly after 5pm on Abaco on Tuesday said the driver did not stop “for a second” after nearly killing the pair.

A graphic video of the incident was widely circulating on social media, showing the woman holding the child’s hand as they both walked along the side of the road.

At least two cars can be seen passing the two pedestrians before a silver vehicle suddenly speeds past, hitting the woman from behind, sending her flying into the air and pushing her out of the frame.

The child could still be seen moving at the end of the video.

Police said the child was being held at the Marsh Harbour Clinic and the woman was flown into New Providence for further medical attention.

Both were last listed in serious but stable condition.

One witness, who asked not to be named, said she was in a nearby store when she heard a loud bang.

“I looked out the window and saw the child standing on the side of the road, then I saw the mother lying in the grass and we all ran outside to see what happened,” she said.

“That’s when we realized it was a hit-and-run.”

She noted police were immediately called but did not answer, so calls were then placed to the Marsh Harbour Health Centre and EMS.

The emergency services arrived about 15 minutes later, said the good Samaritan.

She said she stayed and looked after the woman, who was “visibly in distress but conscious the whole time”, and the child, who did not appear seriously hurt.

The Abaco resident insisted the driver in the vehicle did not stop.

“Not even for a second,” she said.

“It was a very shocking ordeal. I just couldn’t believe someone would do that and not stop”.

Police said yesterday a Haitian man and woman, residents of Dundas Town, have been taken into custody in relation to the incident.

Fuente de la Información: https://ewnews.com/hit-and-run-they-did-not-stop-not-even-for-a-second

 

 

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The fastest ways aviation could cut emissions

The fastest ways aviation could cut emissions
From switching the fuel they use to changing flight plans so they produce fewer contrails, airlines are searching for ways to cut their impact on the climate.

Aircrafts use an incredible amount of fuel. A Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet carries 63,000 gallons (240,000 litres) of jet fuel, equal to about a 10th of an Olympic sized swimming pool, and burns through it at a rate of 4 litres (0.9 gallons) per second.

This is why flying individuals, or goods, around the world is so very energy intensive – and so terrible for the climate. Just one flight can emit as much CO2 as many people do in a year, and the number of flights globally is expected to grow at an alarming pace over the coming decades.

Compared to other sectors, aviation is a relatively small contributor to global greenhouse emissions, but it is also one of the fastest growing. Between 2000 and 2019, there was a 5% average rise in flights per year; by 2019, it accounted for 2.5% of the world’s CO2 emissions.

With Covid-19, flights and passenger numbers plummeted, but the number of people flying is expected to return to 2019 levels within a few years and continue to grow. All this means that we need to start doing far more on aviation emissions, and fast. But bar gradually rising efficiency in planes, little progress has been made so far on how to actually decarbonise aeroplanes.

Everything, even if it’s more into the future, needs to start today and we need to do it swiftly – Maarten van Dijk

If the world hopes to limit global warming by meeting the ambitious cuts in carbon emissions set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change, aviation will need to move away from fossil fuels completely in the long term. Companies like Airbus have grand plans to develop hydrogen planes within 15 years, for example, but what can be done in the shorter term to curb the aviation industry’s impact on the climate? Can we find alternative fuels to burn in our aircraft or even change the way aircraft fly so they are kinder to the planet?

Switch the fuel

In 2010,  a venture founded by Dutch airline KLM and several other partners began one of the first efforts to develop more climate-friendly alternatives to conventional kerosene.

Little was known at the time about how to do this, says Maarten van Dijk, one of the three and managing director of SkyNRG. «But we knew that whatever happened, someone needed to get the fuel and get it into an aircraft and sell it. So that’s what we started focusing on.»

The numbers of flights and passengers is set to rise considerably in the coming years, increasing pressure for action to make aviation sustainable (Credit: Getty Images)

The numbers of flights and passengers is set to rise considerably in the coming years, increasing pressure for action to make aviation sustainable (Credit: Getty Images)

Eleven years on and SkyNRG is one of a handful of companies supplying «advanced waste» biofuels to airlines. These fuels are made from recycled waste such as used cooking oil, industrial waste and agricultural and forestry residues.

But industry-wide, the production of alternative fuels remains miniscule. The problem is that it takes time, investment and technology – as well as a strong policy push – to swap out a fuel as ubiquitous as kerosene. A recent paper from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found that at most 5.5% of aviation fuel in the EU could come from sustainable sources by 2030, largely from advanced waste biofuels.

Alongside advanced waste biofuel, the other main short-term sustainable alternative to fossil jet fuel is synthetic fuel made using electrochemical reactions between water and captured carbon.

Known together as sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), these have similar chemistry to conventional jet fuel, and can be blended with fossil fuels and used on conventional planes without needing any new onboard technology. Some are already certified for use in aircrafts up to a 50:50 blend with fossil jet fuel. But the reduction in emissions each of these sustainable fuels offer compared with fossil jet fuel varies depending on how they are made and sourced.

In 2019, 13 million gallons (50 million litres) of SAFs were used in flights, just 0.01% of global aviation fuel, meaning the industry missed a goal set in 2010 to reach 6% use by 2020. Several EU countries have already set blending mandates for SAFs: the Netherlands, for example, has said 14% of its aviation fuel must be sustainable by 2030.

The reason so little is currently used is that these fuels are both expensive and have very limited supply. The vast majority of sustainable fuels used in aviation today come from advanced waste biofuels, but there is demand for this from other sources such as cars, trucks and ships. And as countries aim to establish more sustainable economies, making biofuels in this way could become more difficult.

Concept design aircraft aim to shift flying to hydrogen power, but the technology to make that happen is decades in the pipeline (Credit: Airbus)

Concept design aircraft aim to shift flying to hydrogen power, but the technology to make that happen is decades in the pipeline (Credit: Airbus)

«There are competing uses for it and not a lot of availability, because who knows, in 2030, how much waste we will actually produce,» says Jo Dardenne, manager of aviation at the Brussels-based non-profit Transport and Environment (T&E). «We’re moving towards a more circular economy.»

T&E has warned against setting targets for clean aviation fuels too high, due to concerns over a lack of sustainable options in the short term. They warn that pushing the aviation industry to use more biofuels before reliable sources are in place could lead airlines to switch to low quality, unsustainable food-based biofuels – such as those made from palm oil and linked to deforestation.

Electrofuels

Synthetic fuels, on the other hand, have more potential to be scaled up. But there is almost no production right now. In order to be truly low carbon, these fuels also need to fit a strict sustainability criteria, made using clean electricity as well as a source of carbon captured from the atmosphere in the first place.

The first flight using sustainable e-kerosene only took place this year – and even this only used 5% of it in its fuel mix. «The big problem is that at the moment, it’s about three times the cost of kerosene,» says Chris Lyle, chief executive of the Air Transport Economics consultancy. When scaling up, this becomes a significant issue.

The ICCT paper sees only a small amount of synthetic fuels being used in aeroplanes by 2030, just 0.2% of the total 5.5% of SAFs it says could be used in the EU by 2030.

Further into the future, planes could be powered entirely on hydrogen or batteries. Airbus already has plans to develop the world’s first hydrogen commercial aircraft by 2035. But powering long haul flights with either of these technologies will be tricky.

SAFs have got off to a slow start, with the first flights to use the fuels, mixed with conventional fuel, only lifting off in 2021 (Credit: Getty Images)

SAFs have got off to a slow start, with the first flights to use the fuels, mixed with conventional fuel, only lifting off in 2021 (Credit: Getty Images)

«We think that there’s a role for them and breakthrough aircraft should be incentivised and innovation should help the sector decarbonise,» says Dardenne. «But we are quite sceptical of the timeframe and the costs of developing these aeroplanes.»

More efficient planes

All this means that other measures will be needed for the aviation industry to put a serious dent in its emissions in the next decade.

«Everything, even if it’s more into the future, needs to start today and we need to do it swiftly,» says van Dijk. «And then everything that’s left on the fossil fuel side needs to be replaced with sustainable [fuel].»

To date, the industry has made most progress on efficiency gains in planes, with new aircrafts today around 85% more efficient than those entering service in the 1960s, and the UN’s aviation agency aims to achieve 2% improvement in fuel efficiency a year up to 2050.

But growth in flights has so far strongly outpaced these efficiency gains, and the industry’s long-term projections for growth would see this continue. «Even if it’s a new generation of aircraft that are more efficient, if you add to the fleet in order to grow and you still burn kerosene, then you’re going to increase your emissions overall,» says Dardenne.

Flight routes

Flights today are largely optimised on a cost basis, but optimising them for CO2 levels could shave off further emissions. Technology can support this: airlines such as AirFrance and Norwegian Airlines have signed up to use Sky Breathe, an AI technology which analyses flight operations to reduce fuel consumption.

But there is also another way that adjusting flight routes could cut aviation’s climate impact: avoiding the conditions for making contrails.

As well as it’s CO2 impact, aviation also has a significant non-CO2 climate impact. A recent analysis for the EU Commission found these emissions may double or even triple the climate impacts of aviation compared with CO2 alone.

Some changes don't require significant technological breakthroughs to happen, such as prioritising carbon emissions when planning routes (Credit: Getty Images)

Some changes don’t require significant technological breakthroughs to happen, such as prioritising carbon emissions when planning routes (Credit: Getty Images)

They include particles, nitrogen oxides and sulphates, but their largest climate component is through the production of contrails, which in some conditions can spread out and persist over long periods of time, says Marc Stettler, a lecturer on transport and the environment at Imperial College London. «Essentially these contrails can alter the balance of radiation entering and leaving the Earth,» says Stettler.

But not all flights create contrails to the same extent: they form largely in humid and cold atmospheric conditions. A 2020 study modelling the Japanese airspace co-authored by Stettler found that just 2% of flights contributed to 80% of the contrail warming effect.

The study showed for the first time just how few flights make more contrails, says Stettler, and indicates that relatively simple changes to altitude to these few flights could vastly reduce this climate impact. «That’s something that we think that could be done easily within the next decade.»

An ongoing trial by the EU’s aviation authority, Eurocontrol and the German Aerospace Institute is already testing the feasibility of avoiding contrails using operational methods. «I can envisage some future where in the flight planning process of deciding exactly what the route should be, it accounts for fuel consumption, as it does already today, but it also accounts for the potential to form contrails,» says Stettler.

It’s worth noting that, even in a case where all kerosene is replaced with SAFs, contrails will still be a climate issue for planes.

Policy measures

The above measures can go some way to reducing the climate impact per flight, but industry roadmaps tend to show aviation emissions in 2030 as higher than 2019 levels even including these measures due to the expected growth in overall flights.

«Fundamentally, we have to face the fact that up until 2030, there are only a very limited number of options to cut aviation emissions,» says Dardenne.

Stronger policies could push a larger dent in emissions in the next decade. So far, the major global policy to address aviation emissions has been an offsetting scheme developed by the UN aviation agency ICAO. However, the scheme has long been slammed as inadequate by campaigners, who criticise its failure to incentivise airlines to cut their own emissions by instead allowing them to buy cheap offsets, and only for only applying to emissions above 2019 and 2020 levels. Last year the body changed this joint baseline year to 2019 due to the collapse of international air traffic in 2020. Since the scheme only promised to offset emissions above the baseline year, this means even offsetting will be non-existent until flight levels return to above 2019 levels.

With emissions from aviation set to rise, there are plenty of ways to become more efficient even before fossil fuels are phased out (Credit: Getty Images)

With emissions from aviation set to rise, there are plenty of ways to become more efficient even before fossil fuels are phased out (Credit: Getty Images)

«With the decision to base it on 2019, instead of the average of 2019 and 2020, it will not have any impact at all, for about five years now,» says Lyle, who is also a former official responsible for the environment at ICAO. Lyle believes international aviation should instead be added to the UN climate pledges of states under the Paris Agreement.

Other policies could also reduce demand for flying. Climate action group Possible is pushing for a frequent flier levy, which would see everyone get one tax-free return flight each year but add a gradually rising tax on any subsequent flights, a policy which proved popular at the UK’s citizen climate assembly last year. Others are calling for an end to the current tax exemption for kerosene.

Countries such as Austria and France have also made moves to curb short haul flights on routes where there is a rail connection.

Others consider even stronger policies are needed. «In all honesty, there’s one silver bullet to solve this all: we should simply say, ‘Stop getting that stuff out of the ground,'» says van Dijk. «You need one policy: cap fossil fuel. Just cap it and start reducing it.»

The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1.2g to 3.6g CO2 per page view. Find out more about how we calculated this figure here.

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Fuente de la Información: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210525-how-aviation-is-reducing-its-climate-emissions

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Canadá: Remains of 215 Children Found at Former Indigenous School Site in Canada

Remains of 215 Children Found at Former Indigenous School Site in Canada

TORONTO – The remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, were found at the site of a former residential school for indigenous children, a discovery Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Friday as heartbreaking.

The children were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978, according to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation, which said the remains were found with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist.

«We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify,» Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said in a statement. «At this time, we have more questions than answers.»

Canada’s residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families, constituted «cultural genocide,» a six-year investigation into the now-defunct system found in 2015.

The report documented horrific physical abuse, rape, malnutrition and other atrocities suffered by many of the 150,000 children who attended the schools, typically run by Christian churches on behalf of Ottawa from the 1840s to the 1990s.

It found more than 4,100 children died while attending residential school. The deaths of the 215 children buried in the grounds of what was once Canada’s largest residential school are believed to not have been included in that figure and appear to have been undocumented until the discovery.

Trudeau wrote in a tweet that the news «breaks my heart — it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history.»

In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the system.

The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation said it was engaging with the coroner and reaching out to the home communities whose children attended the school. They expect to have preliminary findings by mid-June.

In a statement, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee called finding such grave sites «urgent work» that «refreshes the grief and loss for all First Nations in British Columbia.»

Fuente de la Información: https://www.voanews.com/americas/remains-215-children-found-former-indigenous-school-site-canada

 

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