Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries 2026

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Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) lack territorial access to the sea, leaving them dependent on transit neighbors for a route to world markets.

This geographic disadvantage drives up transport costs, introduces avoidable delays, and exposes LLDCs to any political or economic instability along those corridors. The results are stark: Average transport costs are more than twice those of neighboring coastal states. Export opportunities shrink, foreign direct investment falls, and economic growth slows. When a transit country is itself a developing economy—often the case—intraregional trade remains modest. We are at a pivotal moment for the 32 LLDCs across Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Home to over 600 million people, LLDCs face steep development hurdles due to lack of sea access, geographical isolation, and trade costs that are 30% higher than those of coastal countries. To spotlight these challenges, the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution proclaiming August 6 as the International Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries. The first celebration of this Day will take place during the Third Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries in 2025.

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Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries

Ubiquitous Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities driving plasma mixing on the Sun – publication

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These are the highest-resolution images of the Sun's surface, or photosphere, that have ever been captured

NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Enables Major Discovery of a Hidden Solar Process.

Scientists using the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope published the artice ‘Ubiquitous Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities driving plasma mixing on the Sun‘ about a major breakthrough in solar physics, discovering Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability on the surface of the Sun — a finding that could help explain explosive solar activity and other solar phenomena. Using the world’s most powerful solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope near the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā, combined with computer simulations, an international team of scientists from the NSO, NSF NCAR High Altitude Observatory (HAO), and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) found the signature of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI), tiny swirling patterns like small whirlpools, on the Sun’s surface. Researchers suggest that KHI might be a key reason why the Sun’s outer atmosphere gets so hot, and why magnetic energy builds up and moves around on the Sun. Magnetic energy fuels solar flares and eruptions—the kind of solar activity that can send bursts of energy toward Earth and affect satellites, power grids, and other technology. The discovery opens a new window into the fundamental physics of the Sun and other stars while underscoring the unmatched capabilities of the Inouye Solar Telescope.

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See the Sun like never before with most detailed images yet

#WorldPhotographyDay / #WorldPhotographyWeek 2026

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Photocameras

World Photography Day is an annual, worldwide celebration of the art, craft, science and history of photography will take place on Wednesday, August 19th, 2026 and World Photography Week is the annual celebration of photography that takes place from August 12th, to August 26th, 2026.

Be sure to share your best photos on social media and tag using #WorldPhotographyDay. You can participate in World Photography Day and help support photography everywhere, whether or not you have a photo to share! Search for posts using the tag #WorldPhotographyDay on August 19th, on the social medium of your choice, and “Like”, comment and share the photos that resonate with you the most. If you discover a photographer whose work you appreciate, be sure to give them a follow on social media, as well. ​WorldPhotographyDay.com is currently accepting submissions for photos to be featured on World Photography Daily, for the world to appreciate. The World Photography Day 2026 theme is “HOME“.

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World Photography Day

World Photography Week

EFFecting Change Livestream Series: Who the Machine Serves (TV webcast)

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EFFecting Change

Nicole Ozer and Cory Doctorow in conversation on Artificial intelligence (AI), tackling what needs to happen now to ensure AI actually works for everyone, not just those in power.

The important thing about a technology isn’t just what it does: it’s who it does it for and who it does it to. AI can help or harm people, and EFF was created to make sure it helps. We are at a critical juncture to ensure that AI is developed and used in ways that respect fundamental rights and works for those who build it, use it, and are affected by it. Join the livestream online followed by live Q&A.

Links:
Who the Machine Serves

9/11: hoe (on)veilig is de wereld na 25 jaar war on terror? (TV PdZ livecast)

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9/11: hoe (on)veilig is de wereld na 25 jaar war on terror?

Vijfentwintig jaar later blikken we in de Groene Live terug op de erfenis van 9/11 met o.a. Lotfi El Hamidi en Mohamedou Ould Slahi.

Op 11 september 2001 pleegde terreurnetwerk Al Qaida met gekaapte passagiersvliegtuigen aanslagen op de Verenigde Staten die de wereld ingrijpend veranderden. President George W. Bush begon de War on Terror: een wereldwijde strijd tegen terrorisme die leidde tot oorlogen in Afghanistan en Irak. Strengere veiligheidsmaatregelen, verregaande antiterreurwetgeving en de oprichting van het detentiekamp Guantánamo Bay waar ernstige mensenrechtenschendingen plaatsvonden. Terrorisme werd één van de belangrijkste thema’s in de internationale politiek. Er ontstond meer aandacht voor nationale veiligheid, maar ook discussie over het aantasten van privacy en burgerrechten. Ook in Nederland is de antiterreurwet flink opgerekt en nu leeft het plan om verheerlijking van terrorisme te verbieden. Vijfentwintig jaar later blikken we in de Groene Live terug op de erfenis van 9/11 en de War on Terror. Welke politieke, staatsrechtelijke en persoonlijke prijs is er betaald in naam van veiligheid?

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9/11: hoe (on)veilig is de wereld na 25 jaar war on terror?

Aanslagen op 11 september 2001 – herdenking 25 jaar 2026

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Door UpstateNYer - Eigen werk; derivative work of the following:WTC smoking on 9-11.jpegby Michael Foran on FlickrDN-SD-03-11451.JPEGby the United States NavyUA Flight 175 hits WTC south tower 9-11 edit.jpegby TheMachineStops on FlickrWTC-Fireman requests 10 more colleagues.jpgby the US GovernmentFlight93Engine.jpgby the US GovernmentVideo2 flight77 pentagon.pngby the United States Department of Defense, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12722547
Door UpstateNYer – Eigen werk; derivative work of the following:WTC smoking on 9-11.jpegby Michael Foran on Flickr DN-SD-03-11451.JPEG by the United States NavyUA Flight 175 hits WTC south tower 9-11 edit.jpegby TheMachineStops on FlickrWTC-Fireman requests 10 more colleagues.jpgby the US GovernmentFlight93Engine.jpgby the US GovernmentVideo2 flight77 pentagon.pngby the United States Department of Defense, CC BY-SA 3.0

De aanslagen op 11 september 2001, naar de Amerikaanse datumnotatie (maand/dag) vaak aangeduid als 9/11 (en) (nine-eleven), omvatten een viertal terroristische aanslagen die op de ochtend van dinsdag 11 september 2001 door middel van gekaapte passagiersvliegtuigen in het noordoosten van de Verenigde Staten werden uitgevoerd.

Op deze datum boorden zich twee vliegtuigen in de Twin Towers van het World Trade Center, gelegen op de zuidelijke punt van Manhattan in New York, en een ander vliegtuig in het Pentagon, in de buurt van Washington. Een vierde vliegtuig stortte neer in de buurt van Shanksville in de staat Pennsylvania. Alle vier de passagierstoestellen vlogen binnen het normale dienstrooster. Twee toestellen waren eigendom van American Airlines en twee van United Airlines. De Saoedi-Arabische multimiljonair Osama bin Laden en zijn terreurorganisatie Al Qaida worden voor deze aanslagen verantwoordelijk gehouden; de aanslagen werden volgens officiële rapporten uitgevoerd door negentien uit het Midden-Oosten (voornamelijk uit Saoedi-Arabië) afkomstige leden van Al Qaida. Deze terroristische aanslagen worden beschouwd als de grootste uit de geschiedenis. Bij de aanslagen kwamen bijna drieduizend mensen, afkomstig uit 87 landen, om het leven. Van nog 24 vermisten wordt aangenomen dat ze overleden zijn.

Links:
10 redenen om 9/11 nader te onderzoeken

September 11 attacks

US declassifies key name in Saudi-9/11 lawsuit, but WILL NOT release it publicly

RIP to 2976 American who lost their lives on 9/11 RIP to 80,644 Afghans , 1,690,903 Iraqi, 80,000 Pakistani who paid the ultimate price for a crime they didn’t commit

Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” + Livestream Q&A

9/11: hoe (on)veilig is de wereld na 25 jaar war on terror? (TV PdZ livecast)