George Clooney: Deal With South Sudan Now, Not Later

George Clooney is warning the world that it is better for international leaders to end the civil war raging in South Sudan now before it gets worse.

Clooney, an outspoken humanitarian and Democrat along with fellow actor and activist Don Cheadle, in a report titled “War Crims Shouldn’t Pay details the rampant fleecing, exploitation and wholesale bloodbath that implicates South Sudan's president and former vice president, international banks, multinational oil and mineral companies and arms dealers in Africa.

The findings are a result of the investigative efforts of The Sentry. Cofounded by Clooney and Africa humanitarian John Prendergast last summer, The Sentry has tapped former financial forensic investigators to expose top officials in South Sudan connected to mass atrocities. Cheadle, meanwhile, is a founding board member of Not on Our Watch, a global human-rights group that collaborated with The Sentry on the report.

"We have the moral obligation and ability to act," Clooney told the room full of domestic and international journalists assembled for the press conference.. He and Cheadle outlined the highlights of the report, including evidence of complicity in looting and destruction of South Sudan on five different continents, and outlining measures that could be employed to end the corruption.

Nearly 122,000 refugees have fled South Sudan since July 8, according to the UN's refugee agency UNHCR. South Sudan's government agreed to the deployment of an additional 4,000 peacekeepers on behalf of the United Nations Security Council earlier this month.

The Lantern of the Photuris Firefly

THE lantern, or light organ, of a particular Photuris firefly is covered with jagged scales that dramatically enhance the brightness of the light that the insect produces. * Jagged scales Consider: Researchers have found that tiny scales on the lantern surface of some fireflies form a corrugated pattern, somewhat like overlapping shingles or tiles. The scales tilt up at one end by just 3 micrometers —less than one twentieth the thickness of a human hair. Yet this tiny tilt lets the lantern shine almost 50 percent more brightly than it would if the scales formed an even surface!

An Overview of Indonesia

Land Straddling the equator between Australia and continental Asia, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago. Most of its more than 17,500 islands feature rugged mountains and dense tropical forests. With more than 100 active volcanoes, it is also the most active volcanic region on earth.

PORTRAITS FROM THE PASTIgnaz Semmelweis

IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS may not be a household name, yet his work has benefited most modern families. Born in Buda (now Budapest), Hungary, he received his medical degree at the University of Vienna in 1844. On taking up his post as assistant to a professor at the First Maternity Clinic of Vienna’s General Hospital in 1846, Semmelweis faced an appalling reality —more than 13 percent of the women giving birth there died from a disease called childbed fever. Various theories as to the cause of this disease had been proposed, yet no one had solved the mystery. All attempts to reduce the mortality rate proved futile. Troubled by the spectacle of numerous mothers suffering a slow, agonizing death, Semmelweis determined to find the cause of the disease and prevent it.

Rielyn Co

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