Category Archives: Viva!

Photos: Gorgeous New Murals At Reopened 167th Street Station Celebrate Bronx Icons

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The MTA reopened the 167th Street B/D station in the Bronx last week, after five months of major repairs and renovations, including new concrete and metal platforms, stairs, beams and columns; new LED lighting; digital signage for real-time service information; new turnstiles; and brighter lightning. As with other station updates, there’s also new artwork, and the 167th Street station has stunning new murals that pay tribute to figures important to the community. [ more › ]

Six in 10 wild coffee species endangered by habitat loss

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Kew scientists’ analysis of 124 wild species shows 60% facing possible extinction, risking viability of commercial stock

Wild coffee species are under threat, with 60% of them facing possible extinction, including Arabica, the original of the world’s most popular form of coffee, researchers say.

Most coffee species are found in the forests of Africa and Madagascar. They are threatened by climate change and the loss of natural habitat, as well as by the spread of diseases and pests.

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“I had three bottles of wine on election night.  I got in bed…

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“I had three bottles of wine on election night.  I got in bed after Pennsylvania, and stayed there for a week.  I’d only get up to use the bathroom and get more wine.  I’d have left the country by now if it wasn’t for my elderly mother.  I’ve weaned myself off Xanax, but I haven’t recovered.  I still watch MSNBC all the time.  I’ll spend entire days on the couch.  I’ll wake up with Morning Joe and go to sleep with Brian Williams.  I’ll get on Twitter during the commercials and search for any hint that somebody’s going to be indicted.  I know way too much.  I know the name of every congressman.  I know their district.  I know what percentage of the vote they got.  Before 2016, I hadn’t purchased a book in twenty years.  Now I buy all the political ones.  The scarier the better.   I even got the Omarosa book.  Nobody else wanted to read it so I thought I’d take one for the team.  I went to DC for four different protests.  And a few weeks ago I drove down to Mexico to see for myself what was happening on the border.  I’m obsessed.  It’s not healthy.  Recently I was able to cut myself off from politics for about a week.  But then here comes Brett Kavanaugh and I’m back on the couch for three days.”

Indigenous Peoples officially launch the Salween Peace Park

Last month, indigenous Karen communities, the Salween Peace Park Committee, and the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) officially launched the Salween Peace Park in the Mutraw District of Myanmar’s Kayin State. A three-day event in mid-December 2018 that featured traditional Karen ceremonies and performances was held to mark the ratification of Salween Peace […]

Extreme-right wing of Germany’s AfD placed under surveillance

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Domestic intelligence agency to begin monitoring elements of anti-immigration party

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is to begin monitoring elements of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), placing particular focus on Björn Höcke, a nationalist agitator considered one of the driving forces in a move to take the party towards the extreme right.

The BfV said it would also be keeping the party’s youth wing, Young Alternative (JA), under surveillance and would investigate whether the AfD as a whole should be put on its official watchlist, but said it still had insufficient evidence for doing so.

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H.R. 531: To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to provide that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation may only be removed for cause, and for other purposes.

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Anthony Brown [D-MD4]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.