News Roundup Archive

Thursday, August 2, 2012

USIP's Science, Technology & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Science, Technology and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, July 26 - August 1, 2012

Table of Contents


West Bank's Emerging Silicon Valley Evades Issues of Borders
Compared with other industries that the anemic West Bank economy might look to develop, the information and communications technology sector has an advantage: it is much less affected by impediments to movement that Israel imposes on the territory in the name of security. Experts and business leaders say that the main resource the Palestinians have to work with is their young, well-educated, entrepreneurial-minded population. But there is a need to overcome the image the world has of the territory as a volatile conflict zone where people ride to work on camels.
See the full article (New York Times, Isabel Kershner, 7/29/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
Click to read "Political Upheaval in Israel," a USIP Peace Brief by Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen.
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How Technology Makes Us Vulnerable
Technology has made our world increasingly open, and for the most part that has huge benefits for society. Nevertheless, all of this openness may have unintended consequences. Take, for example, the 2008 terrorist assault on Mumbai, India. The lethal innovation was the way that the terrorists used modern information communications technologies, including smartphones, satellite imagery and night-vision goggles to locate additional victims and slaughter them.
See the full article (CNN, Marc Goodman, 7/29/12)
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Pakistan Official Slams Drones Ahead Of CIA Talks
Pakistan's ambassador to the United States is calling for an end to CIA drone strikes ahead of an intelligence summit in Washington between the two countries expected next week. In a frank debate Friday with White House war adviser Douglas Lute, Ambassador Sherry Rehman said the drone attacks have already succeeded in damaging al-Qaida but are now only serving to recruit new militants.
See the full article (AP, Kimberly Dozier, 7/28/12)
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US Cyber Commander Accuses Countries of Targeting Infrastructure
Unspecified nations played a role in a 17-fold jump in cyber attacks on U.S. infrastructure since 2009, but this does not appear to reflect payback for a reported U.S. role in malicious code known as Stuxnet, the head of the Pentagon's National Security Agency said on Thursday. Some of what the general called the 17-fold increase was attributed to nation states and some to "hackers and other criminals," he said.
See the full article (Reuters, Jim Wolf, 6/26/12)
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A Country with Fourteen Psychiatrists
A recent World Health Organization study found that 21,000 out of [Misrata's] population of 250,000 were suffering from psychological trauma. While scientists now understand a great deal about post-traumatic stress in individual cases, they have yet to understand precisely how widespread experiences of trauma affect societies that are emerging from periods of mass violence. It seems likely that the collective trauma among Libyans will have an impact on their efforts to build a new, democratic, post-Qaddafi state.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, Portia Walker, 7/26/12)
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Millions in Pakistan Suffer Mental Scars from Militant Violence, but Few Get Help
While there are no official figures, [Mian Iftikhar] Hussain and another psychiatrist with a clinic in Peshawar, Wajid Ali Akhunzada, estimate that up to 60 percent of the more than 20 million people who live in Pakistan's northwest could be suffering from violence-related psychological issues. The number of psychiatrists and psychologists in Pakistan is far short of the level needed to handle the current crisis. There are also few social workers who deal with psychological problems in Pakistan.
See the full article (AP, Riaz Khan, 7/26/12)
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USIP's Media, Conflict & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, July 26 - August 1, 2012

Media and Journalism

Internet and Social Media

What's New from PeaceMedia


Media and Journalism

Gunmen Kill Local TV Journalist in Northern Iraq
Iraqi officials say a local journalist has been shot dead by gunmen who broke into his house in the country's north. A police officer said Tuesday that the 29-year-old TV presenter, Ghazwan Anas, was having his Iftar when the gunmen broke into the family's home Monday night in the city of Mosul. His mother and wife were wounded in the attack. Anas worked for al-Mosul satellite TV channel.
See the full article (AP, Bushra Juhi, 7/31/12)
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Mexico Media Office Torched in Monterrey
A newspaper in the Mexican city of Monterrey has come under attack after several armed men stormed into a branch office of the El Norte newspaper, poured gasoline and then set fire to the building. The attack on Sunday was the third such assault to occur in the last month. Experts say the attacks could be a sign of an escalation in efforts by drug traffickers to intimidate one of the few regional outlets that continues to cover the drug war and investigate official corruption linked to cartels, while others fall silent to intimidation.
See the full article (Al Jazeera, 7/31/12)
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Myanmar Censors Suspend Publication of 2 Magazines
Myanmar's censors have suspended two weekly magazines indefinitely in the latest confrontation between the government and the newly aggressive press. Reporters at the publications said privately they suspected they were linked to articles speculating about the details of an anticipated Cabinet reshuffle. President Thein Sein eased censorship as one of his reforms, [but] the flourishing of press freedom has brought serious investigative reporting and sensationalism.
See the full article (AP, 7/31/12)
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Syrian Rebels Free 2 Journalists after Weeklong Ordeal with Islamic Extremists
Two foreign journalists captured by Islamic extremists in Syria and held for a week were rescued by Syrian opposition fighters, one of them said on Friday. Dutch freelance photographer Jeroen Oerlemans and his colleague, British photographer John Cantlie, were held at a camp in Syria by a group of several dozen foreign jihadists. Mr. Oerlemans said their captors apparently included no Syrian fighters, but instead jihadists from Bangladesh, Britain, Chechnya and Pakistan.
See the full article (New York Times, Rod Nordland, 7/27/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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Children of War
In today's marketing-saturated culture, the term [propaganda] may have lost some of its meaning. But that doesn't mean we should abandon our principles and our integrity. Children are a real part of the complex conflict zones in which we operate, and they will inherit the future for which we fight. We have an obligation to portray in a truthful and accurate way what we are doing for them and their families, and we need to use images of them that convey these realities.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, James Thomas Snyder, 7/27/12)
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Syria Reporters Struggle to Bear Witness as the Regime Unravels
For 17 months, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has severely restricted press access in the country as his soldiers first brutally cracked down on peaceful protests and now battle opposition forces. Western journalists have occasionally snuck into Syria, but on a daily basis primarily rely on information provided by opposition activists, residents, state-controlled media, rebel commanders, social media and anti-regime groups operating outside the country.
See the full article (Huffington Post, Michael Calderone, 7/27/12)
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Internet and Social Media

Syria's Video Activists Give Revolution the Upper Hand in Media War
In April last year Ahmad Mohammad left his village in northern Syria and moved to Lebanon. He came back five months later with a certificate in mobile phone maintenance - a weapon more powerful than Bashar al-Assad's helicopters and tanks. Across Syria hundreds of video activists - most of them young, male, and technologically savvy - have joined the revolution against the Syrian government.
See the full article (Guardian, Luke Harding, 8/1/12)
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Russia Blogger Charged as Kremlin Widens Crackdown
Russian authorities charged Alexei Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics, with theft on Tuesday, threatening him with a 10-year prison sentence as the Kremlin ramps up a crackdown on dissent. Navalny rejected the charges as "weird" and baseless. Navalny, a 36-year-old anti-corruption crusader and popular blogger, has played a key role in rallying Russia's young Internet generation against Putin's rule.
See the full article (AP, Vladimir Isachenkov, 7/31/12)
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Pentagon Wants to Monitor Facebook, Twitter to Predict Terrorism
The Pentagon wants computer programs that predict "cyber terrorism events" by detecting how criminal groups and hackers interact on the Internet, contracting databases indicate. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will fund the development of algorithms that make sense of the chatter of more than 1 million Internet users, and track how online groups evolve. DARPA is interested in software that can spot conflicts between groups and weak links that the Pentagon and law enforcement could exploit for "strategic military operations" and espionage prevention.
See the full article (Mashable, 7/30/12)
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Taking It to the Street in China
Perhaps we are even seeing the development of the "Chinese street," in the sense that the "Arab street" in the Middle East expresses the sentiments of those with no effective access to legal remedies or ways to express their outrage. If everyday people are seeing - largely via online photos, video and microblog messages - and sensing a growing effectiveness in their taking to the streets, the Communist leadership, especially with a major party congress coming in the autumn, might do well to pay heed.
See the full article (International Herald Tribune, Mark McDonald, 7/29/12)
Click to read "Democratic Breakthroughs: The Ingredients of Successful Revolts," a USIP Peace Brief by Ray Salvatore Jennings.
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Syrian Rebels Appeal to Donors through Video
With limited foreign media on the ground in Syria, our picture of the conflict is being assembled largely through citizen videos posted online and Syrian government television. Added to the mix is a new type of video made by rebels, aimed at getting funding from donors abroad. [On the Media] speaks to NPR Middle East correspondent Deb Amos about making videos in order to get weapons.
See the full article (NPR, 7/27/12)
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Sudanese Blogger Detained without Charge
"I think my country Sudan has really hit rock bottom." After saying that on a video, journalist Usamah Mohamad then announced that he would be joining protests against Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir. He was arrested soon after the video was aired and it was a month before anyone, including his family, became aware that he was being held without charge in Khartoum's high security prison. He is one of hundreds of people who have been detained over the past month in a crackdown aimed at crushing protests against the 23-year presidency of al-Bashir.
See the full article (Guardian, Roy Greenslade, 7/27/12)
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Study Finds World Leaders Take to Twitter, but New 'Twiplomacy' Has Its Limits
The rise in so-called "Twiplomacy" among world leaders resembles something of an echo chamber, according to an analysis of Twitter accounts belonging to 264 heads of state. Altogether the Twittering leaders have sent more than 350,000 tweets to almost 52 million followers. About a third of them don't follow each other, and dozens of them don't follow any other Twitterers. Still, some converse. More than nine of every 10 tweets by Kagame and Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi are replies, the study says.
See the full article (AP, 7/26/12)
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Student Peacemakers Pledge Memorable International Day
Can the social media generation do what the "Blowin' In The Wind" generation couldn't do -- or make it last? Is it possible to seek a global truce by using the Internet and Twitter and Facebook? Are students using these tools rather than guitars and folk songs to move us to action? Student Joseph Hindogbae Kposowa of Nigeria believes that there is power in getting the non-violence word out by using the Internet.
See the full article (Huffington Post, Ken Royal, 7/26/12)
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What's New from PeaceMedia

"Social Media Conquers the Third World" - Big Think
Alec Ross, Senior Adviser for Innovation to Secretary Clinton, speaks on the role of new technologies in the developing world. Ultimately the discussion seeks answers to the question of whether or not social media technologies are spreading to the developing world. Alec expresses that we should not make the mistake of assuming that those in poor countries don't have the ingenuity to use technological tools effectively.
See the full video
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Monday, July 30, 2012

USIP's Science, Technology & Peacebuilding Roundup

 

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Science, Technology and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, July 19 - 25, 2012

Table of Contents


Iran Threatens Cyber-attackers with "Teeth-breaking"
The United States will face a "teeth-breaking" response if it continues to carry out cyber attacks against Iran, an Iranian official said on Wednesday. Iran has previously accused the United States and its allies of trying to sabotage its disputed nuclear program by using computer worms like Stuxnet, which caused centrifuges at the country's main enrichment facility to fail in 2010. Last month, Iran said it had detected plans by the United States, Israel and Britain to launch what it said was a massive cyber strike.
See the full article (Reuters, Isabel Coles, 7/25/12)
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Russia Is Stockpiling Drones to Spy on Street Protests
Small surveillance drones are starting to be part of police departments across America, and the FAA will soon open up the airspace for more to come. Across the ocean, Russia seems hell-bent on outdoing its former Cold War enemy. Russia's leading manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles has provided the Russian government with more than 70 unmanned systems, each containing several aircraft. These small drones are perfect to monitor dissatisfied Russians marching down the streets.
See the full article (Wired, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, 7/25/12)
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Iranian Nuclear Facilities are Hit by AC/DC Virus
Two of Iran's uranium-enrichment plants were struck by a cyberattack earlier this week that shut down computers and blared AC/DC songs. After shutting down the network, the attackers played the song "Thunderstruck" by the hard rock band AC/DC at maximum volume. Iran has been subject to past attacks intended primarily to hamper its uranium-enrichment program, which Western powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency say it is not authorized to develop.
See the full article (Washington Post, Olga Khazan, 7/25/12)
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The Battle for Water - Water Scarcity Leads to Conflict? Not a Foregone Conclusion
Rather than causing conflict in a previously peaceful situation, climate change can act as a 'trigger' or 'multiplier' in situations where the basis for conflict already exists due to economic, social, cultural or historical factors. Countries threatened by resource scarcity may believe they need to act pre-emptively to secure resources from their 'enemies'. Instead of assuming the inevitability of conflict, it is possible to see water scarcity as an opportunity for cooperation.
See the full article (AlertNet, Steven Heywood, 7/24/12)
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Drone Operations over Somalia Pose Danger to Air Traffic, U.N. Report Says
The skies over Somalia have become so congested with drones that the unmanned aircraft pose a danger to air traffic and potentially violate a long-standing arms embargo against the war-torn country, according to United Nations officials. In a recently completed report, U.N. officials describe several narrowly averted disasters in which drones crashed into a refu­gee camp, flew dangerously close to a fuel dump and almost collided with a large passenger plane over Mogadishu, the capital.
See the full article (Washington Post, Craig Whitlock, 7/24/12)
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Why Cyberwar Isn't the Warfare You Should Worry About
News reports describing the U.S. role in developing the Stuxnet computer virus, and similar allegations about the existence of a second computer virus, named Flame, have sparked a much-needed debate of cyberwarfare and cybersecurity. President Obama contributed to the discussion last week with a call for greater attention to the latter in the Wall Street Journal. Certainly there is reason to harden U.S. infrastructure against cyber attack. In doing so, however, we should avoid cyber hysteria.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, Tom Mahnken, 7/23/12)
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Satellite Spots Syria's Iranian-Made Drones
Since at least February, the Syrian government has been using Iranian-built drones to track and target Free Syrian Army rebels in their strongholds, including Homs and Hamah. Now some fresh commercial satellite imagery provides new details about the unmanned aerial vehicles' possible tactics and capabilities. The first glimpse by outsiders of drones in Syria came in February, when someone uploaded a video to YouTube depicting what appeared to be a UAV flying over the rebel-controlled town of Kafr Batna.
See the full article (Wired, David Axe, 7/23/12)
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How TileMill is Mapping Support of the International Justice System
The Campaign for Global Justice, launched this week on International Justice Day, which celebrates the creation of the International Criminal Court 10 years ago, asks people to demand justice for the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The map, integrated on the campaign homepage, tells the story of where these crimes -- and their perpetrators -- are located as well as countries' support of the international justice system and payment toward reparations.
See the full article (PBS, Dave Johnson, 7/19/12)
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USIP's Media, Conflict & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, July 19 - 25, 2012

Media and Journalism

Internet and Social Media

What's New from PeaceMedia


Media and Journalism

Libyan Authorities Allow Arrested Journalist to Fly Home to UK
A journalist detained in Libya was allowed to fly home to the UK on Tuesday night after five days of negotiations for her release between embassy staff and the authorities. Sharon Ward, a freelance TV reporter who has worked in Libya for organisations including the BBC and Human Rights Watch, was arrested last Thursday after filming refugees from the former pro-Gaddafi town of Tawarga housed in Tripoli's naval academy.
See the full article (Guardian, Christopher Stephen, 7/25/12)
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Controversial Song Banned in Osh for 'Inciting Ethnic Hatred'
The regional court in Kyrgyzstan's southern province of Osh has banned a controversial rap song because it allegedly incites "ethnic hatred" between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz residents. The song started circulating over the Internet last month, around the second anniversary of the violent clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Osh. More than 400 people were killed and thousands were displaced in the June, 2010, clashes in Osh and the neighboring region of Jalal-Abad.
See the full article (RFE/RL, 7/25/12)
Click to read "Real Life TV for Real Life Change," a USIP Olive Branch Post by Alexis Toriello.
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More Press Freedom for Burma's Media
Cautious reforms being introduced by Burma's President Thein Sein are freeing up the rigid controls on the media. Although repressive laws remain technically in force, practical guidelines have given print, television and internet journalists considerable leeway to report on everything including controversial political questions. Information Minister Kyaw Hsan says a new media law is being drafted that will abolish censorship and replace it with a self-regulating Press Council.
See the full article (BBC, Lewis Macleod, 7/23/12)
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Liberia's Sirleaf Moves to Boost Press Freedom
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday signed a pledge drawn up by global media rights bodies to boost press freedom and stop the criminal prosecution of journalists. One of the main aims of the declaration is to abolish insult and criminal laws against journalists, who could however still be sued in civil court. She urged the press to establish self-regulating measures and act responsibly, adding some journalists continue to "let the profession down" by failing to meet ethical standards.
See the full article (AFP, 7/23/12)
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Why Reporters are in the Firing Line
It has been a bad year for journalists. Autocrats and anti-democracy forces around the world are learning how to be nimbler and more efficient in suppressing populations, and one way to do this is control of news reporting in spots where abuses are taking place. This is one major reason the world is becoming more dangerous for news reporters - who used to be protected by an unspoken convention that they were above the conflict.
See the full article (Guardian, Naomi Wolf, 7/20/12)
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Internet and Social Media

Syria's Cyberwars: Using Social Media Against Dissent
For years, average Syrians were blocked from Facebook, YouTube and other social media by Bashar al-Assad's repressive police-state government. Early last year, however, as the Arab Spring swept through the region, something odd happened: the social media sites that were pivotal to uprisings in other Arab nations were suddenly switched back on. Now we know why: It's easier to track people - and find out who is against you - if you can monitor computer traffic to such sites.
See the full article(Christian Science Monitor, Mark Clayton, 7/25/12)
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Hillary Clinton Talks #genocideprevention through Social Media
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested Tuesday that potential developments in technology and social media could help prevent genocide in the 21st century. The symposium's two panels discussed the ways the United States could use technology to find and respond to atrocities. But in the high-profile use of social media during the Arab Spring, individuals in volatile political situations used their cellphones, the Internet and social media to highlight violence in their countries.
See the full article (McClatchy, Kaz Komolafe, 7/24/12)
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How a Salesman-Turned-Citizen Journalist Covers Conflict in Syria
Blockades and attacks on foreign journalists in Syria have made real-time information about the conflict more and more scarce. Hussein, a pro-revolution activist who asked not to use his last name for fear of retribution, began taking pictures and videos of the violence and sending them to TV stations, free of charge, filling the void for media footage of the conflict and showing the effects of conflict on daily life in Syria.
See the full article (PBS, Alex Ragir, 7/23/12)
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Turks Turn to Twitter as Erdogan Muzzles Traditional Media
It was more than 12 hours before mainstream media reported the news that Turkey's military had killed 34 of its own civilians in a botched airstrike. By the time the first reports aired, [Serdar] Akinan, a newspaper columnist, had flown to Uludere and was tweeting images of the funerals to his 80,000 followers. With Turkey mulling further curbs on already limited press freedom, Akinan's story illustrates how Twitter is emerging as a powerful tool to bypass - and discredit - the country's muzzled news outlets.
See the full article (Christian Science Monitor, Alexander Christie-Miller, 7/23/12)
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Afghan Social Media War Steps Up with New Campaign
Afghanistan's war by social media has stepped up a notch, with free-speech activists launching a campaign using Twitter and Facebook to fight wide confusion over competing NATO and Taliban claims, as well as looming government media curbs. Foreign troops and insurgents have for years sparred on Twitter over the extent of victories against one another, while Afghan journalists are locked in a row with their government over press freedoms and new media laws.
See the full article (Reuters, Miriam Arghandiwal, 7/22/12)
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How Iran Silences Its Citizens on the Web
Imagine you live in a country where there is heavily restricted access to the Internet. Websites deemed objectionable are blocked. Even when government censors don't directly vet content, writers practice a high degree of self censorship. This is the daily reality for citizens of Iran, where access to the Internet has been limited since the presidential elections in 2009, when Twitter and YouTube users informed the world about what was happening on the ground in Tehran.
See the full article (Mashable, Chris DeVito, 7/23/12)
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What's New from PeaceMedia

"An Animated Introduction to the UN's Global Pulse Initiative" - United Nations
Global Pulse is an innovation initiative of the UN Secretary-General, harnessing today's new world of digital data and real-time analytics to gain a better understanding of changes in human well-being.
See the full video
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