Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, became chairperson of the World Movement for Democracy Steering Committee in 2022. Rappler is the top digital news site leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. Maria’s courage and work on disinformation and ‘fake news’ culminated in being awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

Washington DC, Oct. 1.– The World Movement for Democracy is pleased to welcome Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, as new chairperson of its Steering Committee. Rappler is the top digital news site leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. As Chair, Ressa will guide the World Movement’s Steering Committee, which advises and helps mobilize a global network of civil society activists, scholars, parliamentarians, thought leaders, journalists, and funders committed to advancing democracy. Ressa succeeds Jose Ramos-Horta, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner who served as Chairperson for two years before being elected President of Timor Leste for the second time in March this year.

 NATO Parliamentary Assembly.– After thorough debates across their whole societies and with large parliamentary majorities supporting the decision, Finland and Sweden simultaneously handed their official letters of application to join NATO over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 18 May 2022. NATO Heads of State and Government extended an invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the Alliance at the Madrid Summit on 29 June. The accession protocols for both countries were signed on 5 July after completion of accession talks. The protocols must now be ratified by all Allies, according to their national procedures.

As it has done with past accessions, the NATO PA is monitoring and encouraging prompt ratification of Sweden and Finland’s accession to Allied parliaments.

As soon as Finland and Sweden join NATO, they will also become full members of the NATO PA.

Note: the timeline below indicates the date of the end of the parliamentary procedures. This may not be the end of the ratification process in a nation. Moreover, to take effect, ratification instruments must be deposited with the United States government:

 How to fix New York’s elections: Lessons from NY-10

Democratic countries that use this procedure, such as Belgium, Australia, and Luxembourg, have been doing so for many years, and have a robust participatory democracy.

New York, Sept. 10.– The dust having finally settled on New York’s congressional primaries, there are several important takeaways for voting rights advocates. Let’s look specifically at the lower Manhattan-Brooklyn race in which Daniel Goldman won the Democratic nomination. He received approximately 16,000 votes in the primary out of 302,000 enrolled Democrats in the district, a mere 5%. Of the only 65,000 who voted (about 20% of those eligible), 75% voted against him. Daniel Goldman

It isn’t Goldman’s fault, but there is something wrong with this picture. Perhaps he will use his own experience to address this strange state of affairs. We offer three suggestions for him.

Régimen cubano arriesga embargo por intereses moratorios y cesación de pagos en un juicio en Londres

Londres, Sept. 9.– Las Cortes Reales de Justicia de Londres han convocado un juicio presencial para enero de 2023 para analizar las pretensiones de los acreedores por la deuda del gobierno de Cubaun caso que, de progresar, podría asestarle un golpe devastador al régimen de La Habana.

El Commercial Court de los Royal Courts of Justice de Londres ha llamado a peritos para avanzar en la valoración de una demanda iniciada en mayo de 2020 ante esta institución, que podría convertirse en el caso legal más importante para resolver la deuda cubana impaga o default indicó el sitio Acciones infravaloradas especializada en información sobre oportunidades de inversión.