places

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Saturday 22 April 2017

"[W]e wish to reiterate the company’s commitment to conduct its operations under the highest sustainability and human rights guidelines, avoiding damages to cultures and their surroundings; a value promise we feel remains intact."

Canadian oil firm pulls out of national park in Peru's Amazon Pacific abandons one million hectare concession including indigenous peoples’ territories along Brazil border.

A Canadian-headquartered company, Pacific Exploration and Production, has pulled out of a huge oil and gas concession overlapping a new national park in the Peruvian Amazon. The concession, Lot 135, includes approximately 40% of the Sierra del Divisor national park established in 2015.

The concession has provoked opposition in Peru and just across the border in Brazil for many years, including regular statements since 2009 from indigenous Matsés people in both countries and a lawsuit recently filed by regional indigenous federation ORPIO. Both Lot 135 and the park overlap territory used by the Matsés and a proposed reserve for indigenous people living in “isolation.”

Pacific signed a contract for the concession in 2007, the year after a significant chunk of it had been declared a supposedly “protected natural area” but eight years before it became a national park.

The company’s decision to pull out was made public by UK-headquartered NGO Survival International. Institutional Relations and Sustainability Manager Alejandro Jimenez Ramirez told Survival in a letter dated 13 March 2017:  read more »

Instead Of building another costly Berlin Wall
(which has been pulled down anyway),
"Let’s Build a Border Of Solar Panels"!
(What a brilliant idea, so constructive in every measure!!)
It would attract investment, create jobs and neighborly neighbors
(How wise, and no waste – imagine a gigantic smile on Earth!).

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Dec 19, 2016
Instead of another Berlin Wall, Instead Of Trump’s Wall, Let’s Build A Border Of Solar Panels President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Mexico to build a wall between our countries. There is indeed a way that Mexico could create a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico, one constructed exclusively on the Mexican side, with substantial benefits for both countries and the planet: a solar border.

Sunlight in the northern deserts of Mexico is more intense than in the U.S. Southwest because of the lower latitude and more favorable cloud patterns. And construction and maintenance costs for solar plants in Mexico are substantially lower. Thus, building a long series of such plants all along the Mexican side of the border could power cities on both sides faster and more cheaply than similar arrays built north of the border.  read more »

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Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks, and a public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common. Other common features of carnival include mock battles such as food fights; social satire and mockery of authorities; and a general reversal of everyday rules and norms.  read more »

What an amazing true story and happy healthy granny!
"* Kung Fu keeps Zhang in good health and in tip-top shape:
she has never been to the hospital – and never takes vitamins or supplements.
* Kung Fu has also earned Zhang the title of best cook in her village
because of her ability to do large-pot cooking with her strong arms -
once cooked 52 dishes for a single banquet, all by herself."

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February 21, 2017
Zhang began learning Kung Fu from her father at the age of 4 and has not stopped practicing her skills.
The face of strength and protection in a province of southeast China has a bamboo stick in her hand and 90 years of Kung Fu experience under her belt.

Zhang Hexian, 94, has been protecting the members of her village and fighting injustice for decades and has recently become a star on Chinese social media.

After photos and videos of the “Kung Fu Granny” practicing her craft surfaced on the Internet, stereotypes of inactive old women took a punch.

Kung Fu keeps Zhang in good health and in tip-top shape. According to her son, Feng Chuanyin, she has never been to the hospital – and never takes vitamins or supplements.

Zhang began learning Kung Fu from her father at the age of 4 and has not stopped practicing her skills. She has even become quite the teacher herself, according to her students in Zhejiang Province who called her “wing-footed.”  read more »

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27 January, 2017
"As the lanterns are lit and the dumplings are served, let me wish you and your family, wherever you are, a very happy and healthy New Year,” she said, before concluding her message in Chinese: "Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year)"
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday sent her wishes through the government’s website and her own Weibo account to those who celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year worldwide, pledging to further strengthen China-UK relations.

May said the Year of the Rooster is set to be particularly important for the relationship between Britain and China, because the starting point for bilateral relations is stronger than ever before.

Recalling the historic state visit of President Xi Jinping in October 2015, she said the two countries are seeing an increasing development of their relations. "We receive more Chinese investment than any other major European country. We’ve got around 150,000 Chinese students studying here and the number of Chinese tourists visiting has doubled in five years," May said.  read more »

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18 Jan 2017
Tourists Flee 'Nightmare' Paris Amidst Rising Theft, Assaults... Paris' regional tourism office last year reported a slump in visitor numbers to the city. Rising violence and aggression account for the drop. President of the Chinese Association of Travel Agencies in France, Jean-François Zhou, said "increasingly violent” thefts and assaults are turning France into "one of the worst destinations for foreign tourists." In 2016, there were 1.6 million Chinese tourists compared to 2.2 million in 2015. The number of Japanese tourists dropped 39 percent and Koreans 27 per cent."

18 Jan 2017
A lone wolf was spotted prowling just 200 miles from Paris - when an expert was quick to point out that they can cover 300 miles in a DAY on foot. French told not to fear wolves roaming Paris streets as 'they only eat four-legged animals.'
Parisians are frightened that the endangered beasts are now within howling distance of the capital and can't be stopped.

Only lone wolves have been spotted so far wandering its streets. Experts and eyewitnesses claim they are freely roaming French 'departments' (an administrative district) of Yvelines and Essone in Île-de-France - which overlaps with the Paris metropolitan area in the south and west - at night.

Warnings were first made last year when a lone wolf was spotted prowling just 200 miles from Paris - when an expert was quick to point out that they can cover 300 miles in a DAY on foot.

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January 13, 2017
Finnair flight 666, at 13 o'clock on Friday the 13th with a 13 year old aircraft

Finnair Flight 666 took off from Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday the 13th bound for HEL.
Helsinki, Finland, that is.
HEL is Helsinki’s airport code.
This according to air traffic site FlightRadar24.com.

Finnair flight 666, at 13 o'clock on Friday the 13th with a 13 year old aircraft, has landed safely in HEL https://t.co/0kWfkcARmO pic.twitter.com/OPvpyyq4F4
- Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 13, 2017

It departed Copenhagen at approximately 1:07 p.m. local time, touching down again at 3:41 p.m.

May 13, 2016
Who wants to get Flight 666 to HEL on Friday 13?

Can it get worse?
Flight 666 to HEL on Friday
— Mike (@FR24mike) May 13, 2016

How’s that for an ominous journey?
Maybe they should have driven – and taken the highway to HEL instead.
… Sorry.
H/T @FR24Mike

How’s that for an ominous journey?
But luckily for everyone, despite being very ominously named the plane landed safely in Finland after all.

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Photo courtesy @FR24mike and TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP / Getty Images