Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On The Week In & Around the Middle East

It was a horrific week yet again around the Middle East.  As the War in Syria rages on,  Gaza is under siege, Egypt is under a state of Emergency, Iran continues its'repressive stance and Afghanistan continues to burn--with the killing of the 9 Journalists), , our team decided to do something differently.     We decided to curate a number of selected musical clips from Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan  and Algeria--to help transform the conversation about our World.

We begin with Lebanon that is going to the polls this week: 

This one is from the great Rachid Taha from Algeria: 



The Following two are from Iran:



This one is from Afghanistan: 

As we remember the 9 fallen journalists and honor all journalists imprisoned around the World, we remain hopeful ever more about our World.

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On Our World...

Our World continues to be ever so challenging--yet as our team continues its' on-going journey, we cannot help but be optimistic about our World despite the challenges as we are pleased to present this snapshot courtesy of the team at Global Citizen:

Avicii Donated Millions to End Hunger Before His Death

Following his death, it has emerged that the superstar DJ contributed millions of dollars to help fight hunger around the world. RIP, Avicii.

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Michelle Wolf’s One Line We Should Actually Be Talking About

Forget the smokey eye. The comedian ended her controversial set at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on a defiant note of activism.

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Protests Erupt After 5 Men Cleared of Gang Rape

Thousands marched in Spain after the group known as the “wolfpack” – men who bragged about their assault and recorded videos of the incident – were cleared of the charge.

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Every Village in India Now Has Electricity

Power to the people! Every village on India’s map is now also on its power grid, the government announced this week.

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Plastic May Have Met Its Match

Scientists accidentally created a plastic-eating enzyme – and it could soon be used to combat plastic pollution around the world.

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Ask Canada and the G7 to Prioritize Health for All

Send a tweet to the G7 and ask world leaders to work together and create a shared vision to support health for all.

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Random Thoughts: On Our World.....

It has been quite a weekend as the Home Secretary in the UK resigned (replaced by the first Muslim, Saeed Javid) and as our World continued to be ever so beset by challenges including the tragedy in Afghanistan that some 9 Journalists lost their lives in a new Daesh (ISIL) attack in Kabul.   

Iran--a key focus for us--is also at the forefront in light of the French President's visit and the new US Secretary of State's tour of the region.     All indications are that the President will "nix" the deal which will continue to have profound consequences (as The Israeli Prime Minister made another speech again).     This is as the War in Syria rages on and as Iraq and Lebanon are gearing up for pivotal elections.   This is as we picked this up on the Opoid  Crisis that continues to wreck havoc on the United States courtesy of the team at City Lab: 

 

(Esri)

There’s more to America’s opioid epidemic than death statistics—and even those can be unreliable. The map above shows just how much states may undercount their opioid death rates. The dark shades represent the biggest difference between reported opioid mortality rates in 2014 and corrected rates based on analysis from the University of Virginia.

As those numbers lag, cities and towns are on the front lines of an opioid crisis they don’t fully understand. Some are getting creative with how to gather more data on the problem: One city even has a plan to mine drug-usage data from its sewage. CityLab’s Linda Poon has the story on the experimental, data-driven quest to learn what’s really happening in the opioid crisis.

As this month is before us, please enjoy these "Random Thoughts" from the Grid as our team will continue to keep the daily curation of our Twitter Channel at hand with our key focus areas including The Near East (Middle East), China, India, Technology and Education--Onward!!

Out & About in our Community at Taste of Aliso Niguel 2018 

Out & About in Our World With Images from the Summit of the Koreas 

Out & about in Our World w/this On Donald Trump in Iran in 1977 (Right Before the Revolution)