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Uruguay’s historic forum on August 3 brings together five candidates from the region to present their vision for reforming the United Nations amid global crises and a window of opportunity for the Global South.

For the first time in decades, Latin America and the Caribbean are positioning themselves as serious contenders to lead the United Nations.

Five of the six candidates vying to replace António Guterres as Secretary-General come from the region, a historic concentration that reflects both a geopolitical opportunity and a collective ambition to reshape the multilateral order.

RELATED: UNHCR Agency Marks 75th Anniversary of Refugee Convention

The forum, convened by the Government of Uruguay -which holds the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)- will take place on August 3 in Montevideo. The event is organized in partnership with the Gqual Campaign and the International Strategic Thinking Center (Cepei).

Uruguay será sede del Diálogo Regional sobre el Futuro Liderazgo de las Naciones Unidas, un encuentro inédito que reunirá en Montevideo a las cinco candidaturas de América Latina y el Caribe a la Secretaría General de la ONU para presentar y contrastar sus propuestas.

La… pic.twitter.com/QimT7wxmXm

— Cancillería Uruguay (@CancilleriaUy) July 27, 2026

Text reads: “Uruguay will host the Regional Dialogue on the Future Leadership of the United Nations, an unprecedented meeting that will bring together in Montevideo the five candidates from Latin America and the Caribbean to the UN General Secretariat to present and compare their proposals…”

Participating in person will be former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa, and Costa Rican diplomat Rebeca Grynspan, currently Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). Virtual interventions will come from Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and former Guyanese Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.

The presence of five Latin American and Caribbean candidates is unprecedented. It is bolstered by the traditional principle of geographic rotation that guides the selection of the UN’s top representative. Since the organization’s founding, only one Secretary-General has come from the region: Peruvian diplomat Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who served from 1982 to 1991.

Latin America brings to the table a trajectory of consistent support for international law, multilateral cooperation, and the historic declaration of the region as a Zone of Peace, signed by CELAC member states in 2014. These credentials position the region as a credible voice in a world fractured by armed conflicts, geopolitical divisions, and humanitarian crises.

Challenges Ahead

Despite its diplomatic strengths, the region faces significant internal challenges that could shape the candidates’ platforms. Violent crime, the expansion of transnational criminal networks, persistent inequality, and democratic backsliding in several countries remain pressing issues. Any candidate from the region will need to demonstrate that they can lead global efforts on peace and security while addressing the structural problems at home.

The agenda in Montevideo will include proposals to transform the UN’s institutional structure, confront transnational organized crime, strengthen international law and human rights, promote gender equality and inclusion, and advance sustainable development strategies that tackle both the climate crisis and deepening inequalities.

The selection process is now entering the deliberation phase. The UN Security Council will present a recommendation to the General Assembly, which will appoint the next Secretary-General. The new leader will take office on January 1, 2027, replacing António Guterres after his two-term mandate.

A Regional Opportunity

For Latin America and the Caribbean, the current race represents more than a chance to lead the UN. It is an opportunity to advance a Global South agenda that prioritizes development, equity, and peace over the geopolitical interests that have historically dominated the Security Council. The candidates from the region share a common background in multilateral diplomacy and a track record of advocating for international cooperation.

Uruguay’s role as host underscores the country’s commitment to multilateralism and its leadership within CELAC. By convening this unprecedented dialogue, the Uruguayan government aims to ensure that the voices of Latin America and the Caribbean are heard not only during the campaign but throughout the next Secretary-General’s term.

As the August 3 forum approaches, the world will be watching Montevideo -not just as a stage for candidate presentations, but as a signal of whether the Global South is ready to assume a more decisive role in shaping the future of global governance.

From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

It's like a cross between a bumble bee and a hummingbird, with dragonfly wings. SE WI, USA. I've lived here most my life and never saw it until now

Iran has experienced much the same fate with its groundwater resources.

It is a crisis that has a sad origin, they say: the destruction and abandonment of tens of thousands of ancient tunnels for sustainably tapping underground water, known as qanats, that were once the envy of the arid world. But calls for the Iranian government to restore qanats and recharge the underground water reserves that once sustained them are falling on deaf ears.

After a fifth year of extreme drought, Iran’s long-running water crisis reached unprecedented levels in November. The country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned that Iran had “no choice” but to move its capital away from arid Tehran, which now has a population of about 10 million, to wetter coastal regions — a project that would take decades and has a price estimated by analysts at potentially $100 billion.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/iran-water-drought-dams-qanats

Mexico City is also experiencing a similar thing but forced on it by Europeans into a feedback cycle.

In the 1520s, after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, efforts to control flooding in the lacustrine flatlands led to progressive drainage of the lake through canals and dikes. In 1900, the valley of Mexico was entirely drained artificially by the means of a 40 km-long canal to the Northeast of the basin and a tunnel through the mountains. Nowadays, sewage and stormwater are pumped out of the basin through a large canal and tunnel system, while 30% of the city's drinking water is imported through a similar network. The remaining 70% of the city's drinking water comes from groundwater extraction from wells located throughout the basin with an average depth of 600 m and a maximum depth of 3,000 m. The overexploitation of the aquifer system is causing severe land subsidence in the ZMVM, which has been recognized since the early 1900s (Gayol, 1929). Subsidence exacerbates the risk of flooding and damages both the water distribution infrastructure and sewage networks, causing leakage and contamination. As a result, access to drinking water is a major factor in urban segregation of wealth and results in substandard living conditions.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020JB020648

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/67776

Around a quarter of the U.S. food supply is grown in California's Central Valley. Most of its crops, like rice, fruit trees and nut trees, are water-intensive and require extensive groundwater pumping during droughts. Over time, heavy water extraction has contributed to changes in the aquifer systems under the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. Although some of these changes can be reversed, a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that large parts of the Sacramento Valley may have undergone irreversible ground compaction during recent droughts, leading to a permanent loss of groundwater storage.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50647578

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49846070

Sega is the latest publisher to make its views about physical media clear, in the wake of Sony's controversial decision to kill off the manufacture and sale of discs by 2028. The president of the Japanese publisher, Shuji Utsumi, noted that he believes physical media is still important, though digital distribution is "crucial", mostly thanks to the "steadily increasing" number of people playing on PC.

"When it comes to titles we call 'full games' for consoles and PCs, we believe that a digital shift is crucial," he notes in an interview with Japanese publication Famitsu. "Of course, consoles are important, but the proportion of people who play on PCs is steadily increasing. Even in areas where consoles are not widely available, there are many people who say, 'I can play it on PC.

"In order to cultivate that market, we believe it is important to strengthen our digitalisation. We tend to think from a physical perspective, so I think we need to be more digitally conscious and become more global."

He then draws on Sega's own legacy, noting that - once upon a time - the company was in the hardware market itself. It learned some pretty important lessons back then, and since dropping out of the hardware race, Sega has found massive success as a publisher. This seems to colour Utsumi's belief in physical media.

"We were originally a platform provider, and of course, we still value the culture of physical media. Rather than completely abandoning that, we are currently challenging ourselves to shift so that we can think about and act on the important aspects of digital media in parallel."

Given the response to Sony and PlayStation's decision to move away from physical media altogether, this is quite refreshing. Many have outlined how a digital-only future could impact consumer rights, whilst others have begun petitioning Sony in the hopes the company will change its mind. The hardware giant seems immovable in its stance at the moment, however, likely emboldened by the fact that even the EU will be unable to influence its decision.

Other creators have begun weighing in on the matter, too, with the most recent comments coming from the creator of the RPG series, Disgaea. Sohei Niikawa believes that if PlayStation kills physical media, it should "get rid of the hardware" too.

As President Donald Trump's push for artificial intelligence data centers sends demand for natural gas soaring, a report released Tuesday projects that wholesale prices will likely double by the late 2030s if his energy and AI policies continue, driving up household energy bills.

The report from the climate activist group Oil Change International, which argues for an end to reliance on fossil fuels, found that recent surges in wholesale natural gas prices are being driven by Trump's so-called "energy dominance" agenda, which has cranked up natural gas exports.

In his second term, Trump has resumed and accelerated approvals for new natural gas export terminals following a pause on permits under the Biden administration.

Nearly 90 million metric tons of new annual liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity reached a final investment decision as of June, on top of 60 million that had already been under construction, the report found. Combined, the researchers predicted that these projects could double US LNG exports by the early 2030s.

While pursuing energy dominance, Trump is also pursuing "AI dominance," which has included the breakneck development of data centers specifically built to run on fossil fuels, including natural gas.

His administration has fast-tracked federal permits for data center developers, loosened environmental review processes, and directed his agencies to provide incentives to finance the data center boom.

Gas is expected to power much of the near-term energy use from these data centers. The facilities, which operate 24/7, are being constructed faster than transmission lines can keep up, meaning that new gas plants are being proposed as an alternative.

The report finds that the demands of the AI data center boom could increase gas consumption by 17% by the early 2030s. With the cheapest gas being rapidly depleted, more demand will require producers to expand drilling in parts of the country where it's significantly more expensive to operate, like the Haynesville shale region of Louisiana and East Texas.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have gutted federal support for wind power construction and other renewable energy sources, which will further increase dependency on gas.

In addition to pumping more planet-heating greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the report finds that this increased demand will likely cause prices to soar for consumers.

Citing fluctuations in the Henry Hub gas price benchmark, the report projected that between 2026-40, the average wholesale price of gas could be 80% higher than during the past decade of US LNG exports, which it notes was "a decade when energy price volatility was already causing hardship in the US and LNG-importing countries."

"Trump's policies are making everyone's lives more expensive while Big Tech and the fossil fuel industry cash in. Our research shows that the cost-of-living crisis will only escalate in the coming years if Congress and government agencies don’t intervene," said Lorne Stockman, research director at Oil Change International.

"Our leaders must stand up to Trump, phase out LNG exports, stop the reckless data center build-out, and transition the US economy off of fossil fuels to make energy affordable again," he added.

Bill McKibben, the co-founder of 350.org, argued in an op-ed for Common Dreams on Tuesday that Oil Change's report, as well as another recent report demonstrating how the fossil fuel industry had hidden the climate damage caused by natural gas from the public for more than half a century, showed that it's long past time to "make gas a dirty word" in a similar fashion to oil.

"Politicians locking us into natural gas are guaranteeing that our kids will spend much of their lives paying far more for energy than they should—and far more than people in the rest of the world will be spending," he wrote.

McKibben noted recent reporting in The New York Times detailing how, in the wake of Trump's war in Iran, which has caused LNG prices to soar across Europe and Asia, nations are beginning to "unshackle" themselves from it as an alternative fuel source. Not so in the US.

"The natural gas industry," he wrote, "is destroying the climate, and destroying people’s lungs, and it’s trying to lock us into this expensive practice for decades to come."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/games@lemmy.world/p/869515/game-pass-was-supposed-to-save-xbox-instead-its-killing-the-company

"Netflix for games" has proven to be far from the ideal solution.

Over one transformative summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, 14-year-old Sid (Ani Palmer) discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by.

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1477963-big-girls-don-t-cry

From the Atlanta Community Press Collective

Despite an eightfold increase in the number of cameras integrated into the city’s Connect Atlanta surveillance program, crime clearance rates have not meaningfully increased, according to data collected by the FBI. You can support stories like these at https://atlpresscollective.com/support-us.

#Atlanta #AtlantaPressCollective

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/70241850

Wasn’t quite sure what community to post this..

A recent EnhancV survey of 1,000 full-time U.S. workers subject to new or stricter return-to-office policies found that 72 percent suspect these mandates are really a voluntary attrition strategy — a strategy by their own employers to make them quit their jobs.

The damage is strategic, not merely emotional. Baylor University’s reporting on office mandates and brain drain found that firms with mandates faced greater turnover among women, senior employees, managers and high-skilled workers, while job vacancy duration increased and hiring rates declined. In other words, the people with the most options are often the first to leave. The employees who remain may not be the most committed — they may simply be the least mobile.

As with his proposals for government-run grocery stores and a tax on the second homes owned by rich New Yorkers, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's recent call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an accused war criminal, to be arrested on US soil sparked outrage among Trump administration officials and others on the right.

And just like his other proposals, despite the claims that the mayor's comments displayed "extreme views" and were dangerous and divisive, Mamdani's demand that the US execute the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant for Netanyahu is broadly supported by the public.

A poll taken by The Economist/YouGov between July 25-27 found that 49% of Americans believe the US should arrest Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington, DC on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump and attend the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) funeral.

Just 27% of respondents said the US should not execute the warrant, while 23% were unsure, according to the poll released Tuesday.

Nearly a quarter of people who voted for Trump in 2024 agreed with Mamdani, as well as 21% of people who identified themselves as supporters of Trump's MAGA political movement. The view was also held by 68% of Democrats and 55% of Independents, as well as 24% of Republican voters.

Forty-seven percent of respondents also said they believed Netanyahu was guilty of war crimes.

With Americans increasingly disapproving of Israel and the powerful pro-Israel lobby, sympathizing with Palestinians, and now backing the arrest of Netanyahu by an "overwhelming margin," said the Institute for Middle East Understanding, Trump is nevertheless "welcoming him back into the White House to lobby for more impunity, more war, and more of our tax dollars going to Israel."

Columbia University professor Anthony Zenkus wrote that while nearly half of Americans believe the US should execute the ICC warrant, "we've got prominent Democrats and Republicans and their online supporters calling Mamdani a terrorist for wanting to do that very thing."

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, are among those who have condemned Mamdani's demand for Netanyahu's arrest. Waltz said the US would not execute the warrant because the country, like Israel, is not party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and does not recognize the court's authority. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has threatened to "dismantle" the court.

On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) denounced the White House for hosting the Israeli prime minister while Israel is "wrongfully detaining an American citizen," 20-year-old student Sama Safi, who was detained in the West Bank on June 2.

"As I speak, we've not been able to get justice for American citizens killed by violent Israeli settlers or by the IDF," Van Hollen continued, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. "As I speak, Palestinians in the West Bank are under violent assault by Israeli terrorists who are terrorizing Palestinian villages, lighting mosques on fire, torching cars, pushing Palestinians off their lands, killing innocent Palestinians."

"When Donald Trump meets with Bibi Netanyahu, things don't go well for the United States of America," said the senator, noting that five months after Israel convinced the administration to launch an "illegal war against Iran," American soldiers are being killed and injured in the region.

"On top of all that," said Van Hollen, "Prime Minister Netanyahu has a warrant out for his arrest for committing war crimes. He should be nowhere close to the Oval Office of the president of the United States."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/68533658

Swift backlash from 2SLGBTQ+ community over series author J.K. Rowling

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News · Posted: Jul 28, 2026 1:10 PM EDT

Inspirational credit to @Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone

Nearly half of Americans think that the U.S. should carry out the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the country, new polling finds, outnumbering those who say the U.S. shouldn’t arrest him by nearly two to one. Polling conducted by The Economist/YouGov ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Tuesday finds that 49…

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