EAD Weekly News Summary – 18 – 24.04.2022
Earth Day protests
Climate change campaigners have organized a series of protests for Earth Day, pushing demands such as an immediate stop to European imports of Russian oil and gas and an end to the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure.
In Europe, activists in Berlin, Warsaw, Brussels and elsewhere were set for rallies outside German government or embassy buildings, where they will hand out red-stained roubles to symbolize blood covering a currency they say is fuelling both climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,construct of new military machines, new bombs, which are killing Ukrainians.
Germany is one of the EU countries opposed to an embargo on Russian oil and gas for fear of damage to their economies.
(Reuters)
Organization of American States Suspends Russia from its permanent observer status.
The Organization of American States (OAS) said on Thursday it adopted a resolution suspending Russia as a permanent observer to the inter-governmental institution over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
As the Russia-Ukraine war has entered its 58th day, the Organization of American States (OAS) decided to suspend Russia’s position as a permanent observer in the organization following a vote. The vote ended with 25 in favor of the decision and 0 against, while 8 abstentions and one country, Nicaragua was absent.
This decision has also been confirmed by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who wrote in a tweet post, “Today, we proudly support the adoption of the @OAS_official resolution suspending Russia’s Permanent Observer status for Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
(Source: BBC NEWS)
Kyiv Symphony Orchestra on tour
On Thursday night the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra launched a European tour with a concert in Warsaw, which was described as a “miracle”.
The audience at the Warsaw Philharmonic and those listening to a live broadcast on public radio enjoyed a selection of Ukrainian and Polish compositions that symbolized the solidarity between the two states, with Poland having been at the forefront of providing humanitarian, diplomatic and military support since Russia’s invasion.
The orchestra showed the richness of Ukrainian culture as Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to deny its existence and wipe it from the map.
This concert comes as part of the orchestra’s 10-day stay in Warsaw, organized by Poland’s National Philharmonic and the National Institute of Music and Dance, using funds from the culture ministry.
Culture minister Piotr Gliński said that the Ukrainian musicians are facing “the highly important task of conveying to the European public the truth about Russian war crimes” in Ukraine.
(Source: Notes from Poland)
Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter over infringement of free speech.
Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, saying that the social media company needs to be transformed privately,he wrote that he invested in Twitter as he believed in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy
According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can “neither thrive nor serve” free speech in its current state. Later at TED2022 during a talk he claimed that he isn’t interested in acquiring Twitter to make money off it but it was his strong, intuitive sense to have a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive,which is extremely important to the future of civilization
(Source: CNBC)
Neftlix crackdown
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming video company, warned a global crackdown on password sharing is coming. It seems like a serious warning this time, and it could mean an end to the rampant practice of borrowing a family member’s or friend’s or loose acquaintance’s login information.
Netflix said it estimates more than 30 million U.S. and Canadian households are using a shared password to access its content. The company said more than 100 million additional households were likely using a shared password Netflix acknowledged it allowed generous out-of-home password sharing because it helped get users hooked on the service. But with competition from worldwide companies Netflix said it wants the millions of households sharing passwords to start paying.
(Source: CNBC)