the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Five middle-distance runners from South Sudan, until recently living in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, to take part in first-ever Refugee Olympic Team. Amid tears of joy, farewell hugs and songs of encouragement a group of smiling young refugee African athletes flew out of Nairobi today bound for the Rio Olympics in Brazil and an appointment with history. Five middle-distance runners from South Sudan, until recently living in Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya’s inhospitable far north, were given a rousing send-off from friends, fellow refugees and Kenyan well-wishers. The five will join five others from Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia to make history by taking part in the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team. “ I feel very excited. This is the first chance for the refugees to participate in the Olympics and to give us hope, for us to encourage the young generations of fellow refugees who are remaining in the camps maybe to continue their talent,

Hillary Clinton ignored advice to punish Honduran businesses for backing the 2009 coup and helped push the elected President Manuel Zelaya out of Honduran politics, an investigation by teleSUR into WikiLeaks documents show. Despite insistence from her director of policy planning, Anne Marie Slaughter, that she define Zelaya’s ousting by the military as a military coup and that she “ make noises about prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with companies " controlled by the leaders, revealed in emails published by WikiLeaks, Clinton did neither. “ I got lots of signals last week that we are losing ground in Latin America every day the Honduras crisis continues; high level people from both the business and the NGO community say that even our friends are beginning to think we are not really committed to the norm of constitutional democracy we have worked so hard to build over the last 20 years, ” wrote Slaughter two months after the coup. “ I am wi

El Salvador runs the risk of seeing the reemergence of death squads as the government pursues a hardline approach in its efforts to tackle violent crime in the Central American country, national human rights ombudsman David Morales told EFE. 2015 saw a record level of homicides in the Central American country and the nation has already registered 3,050 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, the bloodiest period of the last decade. Violent crime is attributed mostly to the country's armed gangs, known as maras, which were born in the United States but grew in size and power inside El Salvador when many of its members were deported from the U.S. back to Central America. In light of the violence, the government of President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a former leftist guerrilla, launched a militarized offensive against the gangs. The government effort is showing signs of success, with homicides down 51 percent in June 2016 compared to the year

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed serious concerns about the ongoing violence in South Sudan, saying the African country stands “ on the brink of an abyss. ” Addressing a UN Security Council session on Thursday, Ban said “ the promises of the new state for peace, justice and opportunity have been squandered ” in South Sudan. Ban also said he was “ appalled by the scale of sexual violence ” after UN rights officials reported at least 120 cases of rape across the capital, Juba, over the past three weeks. Full report: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/29/477435/South-Sudan-Ban-UNSC-UNMISS-Kiir-Machar

Up to million people could be forced to flee their homes in Iraq in coming weeks and months as fighting intensifies to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday. The humanitarian agency said it was seeking a further 17.1 million Swiss francs for its program in Iraq, its third largest worldwide, bringing its budget for the country to $137 million Swiss francs. “ Hundreds of thousands of people may very well be on the move in the coming weeks and months, seeking shelter and assistance, ” said Robert Mardini, ICRC director for the Near and Middle East on return from Iraq. https://www.rt.com/news/line/