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☆ France Pledges $150 Million to U.N.'s IFAD Fund for Rural Areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to invest $150 million in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to fight poverty and climate change in rural areas. France decided to host and organise the 13th replenishment of IFAD, and was now launching a call for contributions by making the commitment, Macron said in a video message broadcast during a charity concert organized in New York by non-profit group Global Citizen. IFAD is a Rome-based United Nations agency working to address poverty and hunger in developing countries' rural areas. France also committed to give 40 million euros ($43 million) to the U.N.'s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), during 2023-2026, French Secretary of State for Development and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou said. ($1 = 0.9388 euros)(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Camille Raynaud; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Macron, IFAD, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Sybille de La Hamaide, Camille Raynaud, Emelia Sithole Organizations: PARIS, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Global Citizen, United Nations, State, Development Locations: France, New York, Rome, French

☆ France pledges $150 million to UN's IFAD fund for rural areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the construction site of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, which was damaged in a devastating fire, with his wife Brigitte Macron, Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla in Paris, on the second day of their State visit to France, September 21, 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to invest $150 million in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to fight poverty and climate change in rural areas. IFAD is a Rome-based United Nations agency working to address poverty and hunger in developing countries' rural areas. France also committed to give 40 million euros ($43 million) to the U.N.'s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), during 2023-2026, French Secretary of State for Development and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou said. ($1 = 0.9388 euros)Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Camille Raynaud; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte Macron, Britain's King Charles, Queen Camilla, Hannah McKay, Macron, IFAD, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Sybille de La Hamaide, Camille Raynaud, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Notre, Dame de Paris Cathedral, REUTERS, Rights, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Global Citizen, United Nations, State, Development, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, New York, Rome, French

☆ Dozens of Migrants Die After Boat Sinks in Strait of Sicily
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Emma Bubola | More About Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dozens of migrants died after their boat capsized in the Strait of Sicily, with just a handful rescued, survivors reported on Wednesday, as yet another perilous attempt to cross the Mediterranean in a rickety, unsuitable vessel ended in disaster. Four people, including a child, were saved, according to Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesman with the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, citing the survivors’ own testimony. The migrants were from Guinea and the Ivory Coast, he added, and they had departed from the Tunisian city of Sfax before being spotted and rescued by a commercial boat. They arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily on Wednesday. Survivors told the U.N. migration agency that 41 had drowned out of a total of 45 onboard.

Persons: Flavio di Giacomo, Giacomo Organizations: International Organization for Migration, United, Migrants Locations: Strait, Sicily, United Nations, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Tunisian, Sfax, Lampedusa, Tunisia, Saharan Africa, Europe

☆ Why the World Health Organization's re-branding of aspartame as carcinogenic isn't a threat to soft drink makers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Beverage analysts don't see a threat to diet soda makers from the World Health Organization's recent warning on artificial sweetener aspartame. But giants in the beverage industry that use aspartame, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi , are so far unfazed. Because the WHO didn't change the consumption limit on aspartame products, the new findings aren't likely to threaten soft drink makers, according to Citi analyst Filippo Falorni. For example, the WHO's says an adult weighing around 154 pounds should drink no more than 14 cans of diet soda each day to avoid health concerns. KO PEP YTD mountain Both soda stocks have been little fazed by the World Health Organization's recent concerns over aspartame.

Persons: Filippo Falorni, Falorni, we've, Robert Ottenstein Organizations: Beverage, Health, United Nations, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Pepsi, Cola, WHO, Citi, World Health, Evercore ISI, Coke Locations: U.S

☆ Robin Hood tariff could curb airline emissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Nevertheless, aircraft are responsible for about 4% of global warming from carbon emissions and the vapour trails they leave behind in the sky. A more viable short-term option is to run planes on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). The third option is to tax either the kerosene that airlines burn or the emissions they spew out into the atmosphere. So far only the EU, United Kingdom and some smaller countries are doing this via emissions trading schemes (ETS). To work, the plan would need to channel Robin Hood, the legendary English outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Robin Hood, Peter Thal Larsen, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Aviation, Reuters Graphics Reuters, SAF, European Union, EU, Transport, FLYERS, International Civil Aviation Organisation, United Nations, ICAO, ETS, Airlines, Council, Clean Transportation, Thomson Locations: TINOS, GREECE, Europe, America, China, Greece, United Kingdom, United States

Seoul, South Korea CNN —A US national is believed to be in North Korean custody after crossing the border during a tour, a United Nations agency said Tuesday. The individual was detained during a Joint Security Area tour after crossing the Military Demarcation Line separating North and South Korea, the United Nations Command said in a tweet. The prospect of a US national being held in North Korean military custody comes at a time of fraught diplomacy and rising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Under leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has been ramping up tests of potentially nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, something South Korea and its treaty ally the United States are keen to push back on. The NCG is a joint US and South Korean panel set up by the countries’ leaders at a summit in Washington in April.

Persons: “, Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, Kurt Campbell, Joe Biden, Yoon Suk Yeol Organizations: South Korea CNN, United, Security, United Nations Command, U.S, National, Democratic People’s, UNC, Joint Security, North, CNN, Busan –, US National Security Council, Nuclear Consultative, South Korean Locations: Seoul, South Korea, North, United Nations, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK, South, North Korea, United States, Busan, Washington, Pyongyang

CNN —The head of a United Nations agency has called for an investigation into the killing of at least 87 people who were discovered in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur region. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has demanded a “prompt, thorough and independent investigation” into the grim discovery outside the region’s capital El-Geneina. Inside the mass grave were bodies of ethnic Masalit who along with other non-Arab communities are often targeted by Arab militias, supported by the RSF, according to Human Rights Watch. The deceased were allegedly killed last month by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militia. West Darfur remains one of the most conflict-ridden areas in the Sudanese Darfur region, with a long history of severe violence.

Persons: Volker Türk, RSF, Geneina’s, Khamis Abbaker, Türk, ” Türk Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Human, Human Rights Watch, Rapid Support Forces Locations: Sudan’s West Darfur, El, West Darfur, Darfur, Sudanese Darfur

☆ Iraq plants mangrove forest to fight climate disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Essam Al-Sudani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BASRA, Iraq, June 29 (Reuters) - As Aymen al-Rubaye plants mangrove seedlings in the sprawling tidal flats of southern Iraq, the black smoke rising over the skyline behind him shows the ecological damage that he is toiling to undo. Rubaye, an agricultural engineer, is working for a project started by Iraqi government bodies and a United Nations agency to grow up to 4 million mangrove trees in the Khor al-Zubair mudflats region, located near major oil fields. The tidal flats south of Basra are a baking landscape of water, salt, mud and hazy sky, riven by channels that Rubaye and his team navigate by boat. [1/5]Engineer Ayman Al-Rubaie, 47, plants mangrove trees in the wooded areas of the Shatt Al-Arab River, in Basra, Iraq June 21, 2023. Mangrove plants "can resist these harsh conditions we are passing through" without needing irrigation water, Rubaye said.

Persons: pats, Ayman Al, Essam, Rubaye, Ahmed Albaaj, Angus McDowall, Peter Graff Organizations: United, World Bank, REUTERS, United Arab Emirates, Thomson Locations: BASRA, Iraq, United Nations, Khor, Basra, . Southern Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab

☆ A looming El Niño could prompt a spike in global temperatures, UN agency warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

An El Niño climate pattern will likely develop later this year, which could exacerbate global warming and break temperature records around the world, forecasters from the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. The United Nations agency said it cannot yet forecast the strength or duration of the El Niño, but according to its outlook, there is a 60% chance that the El Niño will form between May and July and an 80% chance it will form between July and September. "The development of an El Niño will most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records," Taalas said. An El Niño has the opposite effects on weather and climate patterns than a La Niña. Both weather patterns result from variations in ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific and are part of an intermittent cycle known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.

☆ Civilians Flee Fighting in Sudan for Troubled Neighboring Countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | Lynsey Chutel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Civilians fleeing the fighting between two rival generals in Sudan streamed into neighboring countries on Monday, raising concerns about a humanitarian crisis spreading to countries already grappling with conflict, hunger and dire economic straits. The heavy gunfire, shelling and airstrikes that have rocked Sudan for 10 days prompted foreign countries to begin evacuating diplomatic staff and nationals over the weekend. It also has driven thousands of Sudanese and other people across borders into Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, aid workers said. Sudan, a country of 45 million people and the third-largest by area in Africa, is surrounded by seven countries racked by poverty and instability. Most of those were South Sudanese returning home after having fled Khartoum in cars and on the backs of trucks, carrying whatever they could on the 280-mile journey south.

☆ Over 400 migrants died crossing Mediterranean early in 2023 -UN agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented 441 migrant deaths between January and March on the world's deadliest migration route, in what it said was likely an undercount. Around half of those deaths were linked to delays in state-led rescue efforts and, in one case, the absence of any rescue mission, it said. "The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable," said IOM Director General António Vitorino. "With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalized. This "central" route is distinct from the Western crossing from Morocco to Spain.

☆ The World Faces an Imminent Water Crisis, U.N. Warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People collect water from a mountain runoff to take home in Caracas, Venezuela. The world is facing an imminent risk of a global water crisis, a United Nations agency warned in a report that casts a dim view of government cooperation on the issue. Around two billion people, roughly 26% of the world population, don’t have access to safe drinking water, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization report published Wednesday. An additional 3.6 billion people, or 46%, lack access to safely managed sanitation, it said.

☆ A nuclear watchdog says it found uranium in Iran that's less than 7% away from bomb-making levels in enrichment purity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A UN nuclear watchdog has found uranium enriched to 83.7% purity at Iran's nuclear plants. The new findings come as Iran continually breaches its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. On February 19, Bloomberg reported that the highly enriched uranium had been discovered, citing two senior diplomats. That means it's been breaching its 2015 nuclear deal with Western powers, China, and Russia. Iran has in turned continually breached the deal, raising the level of its uranium enrichment and stockpiling more material.

[1/2] Palestinian kids pass a pile of garbage in Al Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File PhotoRAMALLAH, West Bank Jan 25 (Reuters) - Schools, clinics and some municipal services in the West Bank were closed on Wednesday as workers went on strike for a third day amid an escalating funding squeeze on the United Nations agency that pays their wages. Around 3,700 workers in the West Bank joined the strike, demanding an across-the-board pay increase of 200 Jordanian dinars ($281.81) a month from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "The strike will go on until UNWRA accepts our demands," said Jamal Abdullah, head of the union representing workers paid by the agency in the West Bank. "All indications point out that it is going to be a difficult year," said Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza City.

☆ U.N. agency: Arabs' Israel ties no impediment to aiding Palestinian refugees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said he saw no contradiction between supporting Palestinian refugees and building ties with Israel. "You can have strong bilateral relations with Israel and be a strong supporter of the agency," Lazzarini told Reuters. "Whatever rapprochement or ties (with Israel) should not have the slightest impact on your commitment and your solidarity with the Palestine refugees and your support to an agency like UNRWA. "We have normal access when it comes to delivering our services in Gaza and the West Bank, but we are very concerned about the increased violence impacting this community," he said. Last year saw the worst levels of violence in the West Bank in more than a decade after Israel launched a crackdown on militants in response to fatal Palestinian street attacks.

☆ 'Not right' for us to be key global health funder -Gates CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during an interview with Reuters at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Emilie MadiCompanies Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust FollowLONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - It is not right for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to play such a big role in global health funding, but the group will not back away until others step up, its chief executive said. The Gates Foundation has faced criticism that it has too much power and influence in the global health realm, including within the World Health Organization, without the requisite accountability. "It's not right for a private philanthropy to be one of the largest funders of multinational global health efforts," he said, adding that countries ought to be leading the charge. Suzman said the aim of the fund was not to set the agenda for the WHO or other global health groups, but to provide them with better options and data as they make key decisions.

☆ Potential China wave is 'wild card' for ending COVID emergency - WHO advisors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"It's clear that we are in a very different phase [of the pandemic], but in my mind, that pending wave in China is a wild card." Last week, he told reporters in Geneva that he was "hopeful" of an end to the emergency some time next year. Tedros's earlier comments spurred hopes that the United Nations agency could soon remove the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) designation for COVID, which has been in place since January 2020. Some global health experts had expected China to wait for the WHO to lift the emergency status before easing its own pandemic response measures. WHO member states are currently working on re-designing the rules that govern global health emergencies to potentially address issues like this.

☆ UN agency says Israel is delaying new visas for its staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Jerusalem CNN —A United Nations agency that operates in the West Bank and Gaza says Israel is not processing visas for its newly recruited staff, while Israeli officials accuse the agency of “ignoring Israeli victims of terror” in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, a charge the agency denies. The UN considers East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be occupied territory, and Israelis living there to be living in illegal settlements. Erdan said when OCHA is asked why they don’t count Israeli victims, they are told the agency does not have reliable data. “Of course you don’t, you don’t employ Hebrew speakers, and the senior manager of the agency is Palestinian,” Erdan said. OCHA’s latest report does record some instances of Israelis being injured by stones thrown at civilian vehicles traveling in the West Bank.

☆ Malaria deaths dip in 2021 after rising in first year of COVID, says WHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Pratik Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Estimated deaths from malaria globally declined to 619,000 last year from 625,000 in 2020 as healthcare services stabilized after pandemic-led disruptions, especially in Africa where the disease is most prevalent, the WHO stated in its World Malaria Report 2022. Four countries - Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Niger and Tanzania - accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2021. The decline in deaths comes even as the number of malaria infections continued to rise, albeit at a slower pace, to an estimated 247 million in 2021. The WHO also highlighted that lower funding due to the pandemic and rising costs have increased pressure on national malaria programmes. Funding in 2021 came in at nearly $3.5 billion, the report said, compared with a required investment of $7.3 billion.

☆ Nearly half of world population suffers from oral diseases - WHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Nearly half of the world's population, or 3.5 billion people, suffer from oral diseases, the majority of them in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The most common oral illnesses are tooth decay, severe gum disease, tooth loss and oral cancers, with untreated tooth decay affecting nearly 2.5 billion people, the United Nations agency said. About 380,000 new cases of oral cancers are diagnosed every year, it said. "Oral health has long been neglected in global health, but many oral diseases can be prevented," said WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The agency suggested countries include equitable oral health services as part of their national planning and integrate oral health services into their primary health care models, while also improving access to affordable fluoride toothpaste, among other measures.

☆ The econ Nobel offers a timely warning about central banks’ power
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN Business —The Nobel in economics is sort of the step-cousin of the Nobel family. Some scholars really dislike the economics prize, including one of Nobel’s own descendants, who dismissed it as a “PR coup by economists.”But hey, it still comes with a cash prize. In short, his work demonstrates that banks’ failures are often a cause, not merely a consequence, of financial crises. The Nobel committee has been known to play politics (see: that time Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after being in office for just eight months). And right now, it is using its spotlight to call attention to the high-stakes gamble playing out at central banks around the world, most notably the Fed.

Hong Kong/Tokyo CNN Business —A quarter of a century ago, a major financial crisis ripped through Asia, shaking its economies to the core. “I do not expect a repeat of the [1997] Asian Financial Crisis this time,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ Research. “Importantly, there is not the same build up of foreign denominated debt in recent years, which was one of the triggers of the Asian Financial Crisis,” Goh added. China and Japan have the world’s two biggest foreign exchange reserves, holding $3 trillion and $1.3 trillion respectively. “Asia’s resilience in the face of the current global storm is partly the result of reform that the Asian Financial Crisis prompted,” Neumann from HSBC said.

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