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☆ Pakistan seeks $8 bln in three years for flood recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres attend a summit on climate resilience in Pakistan, months after deadly floods in the country, at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseJan 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan needs $8 billion from its international partners over the next three years to rebuild the country that is reeling from last year's devastating floods, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in Geneva on Monday. The floods, blamed on climate change, dealt a severe blow to Pakistan's strained economy while displacing some 8 million people and killing at least 1,700. Rebuilding efforts are now estimated to cost more than $16 billion. Reporting by Gibran Peshimam and Asif Shahzad, writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.N. extends aid to Syria from Turkey, avoids Russia fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Despite Western animosity toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, the council avoided a usual fight over approval of aid deliveries into Syria from Turkey. The current approval of the U.N. aid operation was due to expire on Tuesday. Russia, which has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that began in 2011, argues that the aid operation violates Syria's sovereignty. The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. Russia says more aid should be delivered from inside Syria, but opponents of Assad fear that food and other aid would fall under government control.

☆ Russia's forces in Ukraine will be 'burned through and exhausted' by the end of winter, ex-NATO commander predicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's forces in Ukraine will be "exhausted" soon, said a former senior NATO leader. Ukraine is seeking to push back Russian forces along a broad front in east Ukraine. In an interview with New York radio station WABC 770, Stavridis said that while Ukraine was winning on the ground, Russia had an advantage in the air. "I don't see either side having a breakthrough moment — at least this winter," Stavridis told WABC host John Catsimatidis. Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along an approximately 600 mile front, with Ukraine forcing Russia into defensive positions in the south and northeast, while Russian forces are seeking to advance around the eastern city of Bakhmut.

☆ Pakistan's finance minister to meet IMF in Geneva, with bailout stalled
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, Jan 8 (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation will meet Pakistan's finance minister on the sidelines of a conference in Geneva beginning on Jan. 9, a spokesperson of the lender said on Sunday, as Pakistan struggles to restart its bailout programme. "The IMF delegation is expected to meet with Finance Minister (Ishaq) Dar on the sidelines of the Geneva conference to discuss outstanding issues and the path forward," a spokesperson of the IMF said in a message to Reuters. The conference in Geneva, co-hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, will look to gather international support for the country in the aftermath of devastating floods last year. Dar has been critical of the IMF lately, publicly saying that the lender was acting "abnormally" in its dealings with Pakistan, which entered the $7 billion bailout programme in 2019. The IMF spokesperson also said its Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva had a "constructive call" with Sharif regarding the Geneva conference and supported Pakistan's efforts to rebuild.

"Right now the war in Ukraine is at a critical point," U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters. Germany would provide Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles, according to a joint statement on Thursday from Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. TRUCE PROPOSALUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected out of hand a Russian order for a truce over Orthodox Christmas starting at noon on Friday and ending at midnight on Saturday. The heaviest fighting of the war continues in eastern Ukraine, with the worst of it near the eastern city of Bakhmut. Ukraine says Russia has lost thousands of troops despite seizing scant ground in months of futile waves of assaults on Bakhmut.

☆ U.N. Security Council members stress Al Aqsa mosque status quo
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Mike SegarUNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council members voiced concern on Thursday and stressed the need to maintain a status quo at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, days after Israel's new far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir briefly visited the site. The decades-old status quo allows only Muslim worship at the compound, a site also revered by Jews, who call it the Temple Mount. "What red line does Israel need to cross for the Security Council to finally say, enough is enough," Mansour told the 15-member council, accusing Israel of showing "absolute contempt." Israel has not harmed the status quo and has no plans to do so." "We note that Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing platform calls for preservation of the status quo with relation to the holy places.

☆ Massive Russian missile barrage pummels cities across Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

After earlier attacks, the Ukrainian military reported shooting down incoming Russian missiles and explosive drones, but some still reached their targets, damaging power and water supplies and increasing the suffering of the population amid freezing temperatures. Ukrainian authorities in several regions said some incoming Russian missiles were intercepted. Efrem Lukatsky / APFragments from downed Russian missiles damaged two private buildings in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, the city administration said. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to give a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine to boost the country’s defense. Russian officials have said that any peace plan can only proceed from Kyiv’s recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over the regions it illegally annexed from Ukraine in September.

☆ Explainer: What is Zelenskiy's 10-point peace plan?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been vigorously promoting his 10-point peace plan, discussing it with U.S. President Joe Biden among others, and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on it. Here is an explainer on the plan and world reaction:WHAT IS ZELENSKIY'S 10-POINT PEACE PLAN? WHAT IS ZELENSKIY'S GLOBAL PEACE SUMMIT PROPOSAL? In December, Zelenskiy urged the leaders of the Group of Seven nations to support his Global Peace Summit idea in winter that would focus on the peace plan "as a whole or some specific points in particular". But response to Zelenskiy's peace plan and his proposed peace summit has been more cautious.

☆ Ukraine aims for a peace summit by the end of February, foreign minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war. But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have a peace summit by the end of February. So we would welcome his active participation.”The foreign minister again downplayed comments by Russian authorities that they are ready for talks.

☆ The world's in a 'polycrisis' — and these countries want to quash it by looking beyond GDP
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Mostly led by women, Finland, Iceland, Scotland, Wales and New Zealand are all members of the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership. "Which I think is why we're seeing such growing interest in the well-being economy approach, both here in Scotland and around the world." A post-growth society is one that resists the demand for constant economic growth. Mostly led by women, Finland, Iceland, Scotland, Wales and New Zealand are all members of the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership. 'GDP is not a way to measure richness'The push to look beyond economic growth comes at a time of growing calls to end fossil fuel production worldwide.

But the visit also leaves several key questions unanswered, including how U.S. military support could evolve, whether Congressional support for the war will endure and - crucially - how the war will end. Biden announced that the United States would provide another $1.85 billion in military aid, including a Patriot missile defense system. The United States and its allies have been unwilling to provide other advanced weapons Ukraine has pleaded for. The next steps for Kyiv, the officials added, would be to receive additional air defense systems from the United States and other western countries along with better integrating them. "No more blank checks to Ukraine," Republican Representative Andy Biggs wrote on Twitter hours before Zelenskiy's visit to Washington.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief urges countries to send armed force to Haiti
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Now is certainly not the time for the world to turn away from Haiti," she told the U.N. Security Council. Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that Washington continues "to advocate for international security support, including a non-U.N. multinational force, as requested by the Haitian government." "The United States has provided more than $90 million in security support to Haiti in the past 18 months and will continue to provide critical support bilaterally," Wood said. Russia requested the Security Council meeting on Haiti on Wednesday. A council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia.

☆ U.S. accuses U.N. of yielding to Russian threats over Iran drone inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Iran has acknowledged it had supplied Moscow with drones, but said they were sent before Russia invaded its neighbor in February. Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Ukraine say the supply of Iranian-made drones to Russia violates a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal. Ambassador Robert Wood told a Security Council meeting on Monday on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal resolution. "We are disappointed that the Secretariat, apparently yielding to Russian threats, has not carried out the investigatory mandate this council has given it," Wood said. Iran's U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Iran has not transferred to Russia any items prohibited by the Security Council.

☆ Putin's ludicrously long table was an anti-COVID-19 measure to ensure 15ft between him and others, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vladimir Putin's long table was meant to protect him from COVID-19, The New York Times said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poked fun at Putin's table during an interview with David Letterman that aired in December. "He even chooses to sit at that ridiculously long table. It was long speculated that the long table was a COVID precaution, and the Times reporting appears to confirm it. According to The New York Times, earlier in the pandemic Putin did not meet a single Western leader in person for 16 months.

☆ Honduras to sign agreement for U.N. anti-corruption mission
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Gustavo Palencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Honduras will sign an agreement Thursday to install a United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission in the country, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, making good on a key campaign pledge of President Xiomara Castro to root out graft. The foreign ministry tweeted that the agreement will be signed Thursday, but later took down the post. Hernandez was extradited to the United States earlier this year on drug-trafficking charges. A similar mission supported by the Organization of the American States (OAS) operated in Honduras until January 2020, but disbanded after then-President Hernandez let its mandate expire. The OAS mission, called the Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), was created in 2016 and led corruption investigations into officials, legislators and Hernandez himself.

☆ Irish soldier killed on U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - An Irish soldier was killed on a U.N. peackeeping mission in Lebanon late on Wednesday when a convoy of two armoured utility vehicles travelling to Beirut came under small arms fire, Ireland's defence forces said in a statement. Another Irish member of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is in a serious condition having undergone surgery following the incident, the statement said. "It is with deep regret that Óglaigh na hÉireann (the Irish defence forces) can confirm the death of one of our peacekeepers in a serious incident in Lebanon last night," the defence forces said, adding that a full investigation will commence. Irish Defence Minister Simon Coveney, who is in New York for a U.N. Security Council meeting, said he will meet U.N. Secretary General António Guterres later on Thursday to discuss the incident. "As a people, we take great pride in our unbroken record of peacekeeping with the United Nations.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest news: Putin cautions about challenges in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

* Speaking on Security Services Day, widely celebrated in Russia, Putin ordered the strengthening of Russia's borders as Moscow tries to regain momentum in its war against Ukraine. * Putin and his Belarusian counterpart President Alexander extolled the benefits of cooperation, but they hardly mentioned the Ukraine war at their joint news conference. [1/11] A local resident Mykola Kobzarenko inspects the remains of his garage, destroyed during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Stari Bezradychi, in Kyiv region, Ukraine December 19, 2022. * Ukraine's atomic energy agency accused Russia of sending a "kamikaze" drone over part of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the Mykolaiv region overnight. * Washington and its allies need do more to help Ukraine keep the power on, a senior U.S. diplomat said.

☆ Nigerian government rejects Reuters report on abortion programme
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ABUJA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Nigerian government rejects a Reuters report published last week about a secret programme of abortions run by the military in the country's northeast, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Monday. The Reuters investigation found that since 2013, a secret military programme has involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants. "We also hereby reject the accusation of running an abortion programme levelled at our military," he said. Mohammed's comments were the first by a Nigerian government official since the report was published last week. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called on Nigerian authorities to investigate the allegations, U.N spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

☆ Abalone and Dugongs threatened with extinction, warns IUCN Red List
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are “devastating” marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday. “It shows that we are having quite a devastating impact on marine species,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List, said. Linda Lombardi/AP/FILEHilton-Taylor said the portion of marine species facing extinction was likely much higher than current data shows because those analyzed so far have tended to be widespread fish species, not currently under threat. The latest list reviews abalone species, a type of mollusc sold as a luxury seafood item, for the first time and found that around 44% of them face extinction. “The awful status of these species should shock us and engage us for urgent action,” said Amanda Vincent, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Marine Conservation Committee.

☆ Russia appears to have restocked its supply of Iranian-made suicide drones as it unleashes fresh wave of attacks, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has unleashed a fresh wave of Iranian suicide drone attacks on Ukraine, suggesting a restock. This follows a three-week hiatus in the attacks, and it was suspected that their drone supply was low. It also appears that Russia has resolved issues that prevented the drones from working in cold weather. Reports suggested that Russia appeared to be running out of its supply of the deadly drones. The United Nations is looking into accusations that Iran supplied Russia with drones, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week.

☆ Animals Are Running Out of Places to Live
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Catrin Einhorn | Lauren Leatherby | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

In many places, poverty, powerful interests and a lack of law enforcement make habitat loss especially hard to address. Because animals there often have smaller ranges to begin with, habitat loss hits them especially hard. “That's the ultimate challenge of forest conservation globally.”Source: Map of Life | Photo: Chien C. Lee MOZAMBIQUE Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Est. habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE Estimated habitat in 2001 MADAGASCAR Source: Map of Life | Photo: Chien C. Lee MOZAMBIQUE Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE Habitat loss in 2021 MADAGASCARThis is the 2001 habitat of the white-headed lemur, a primate that eats fruit and flowers. Of the many targets being negotiated, the one that has gotten the most attention seeks to address habitat loss head on.

☆ Belarus to allow transit of Ukraine grain for export from Lithuania - U.N.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Belarus told the United Nations on Friday that it would accept, without preconditions, the transit of Ukrainian grains through its territory for export from Lithuanian ports, a U.N. spokesman said. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Belarus Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Ambrazevich in New York on Friday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement after the meeting. Ambrazevich also "reiterated the requests from his government to be able export its own fertilizer products, which are currently subject to sanctions," Dujarric said. Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Kanishka SinghOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nearly 10% of marine life threatened with extinction -Red List
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary IUCN releases biodiversity barometer during U.N. talksClimate change, pollution 'devastating' marine speciesDugongs number in just the hundreds in some regionsGENEVA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are "devastating" marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday. "It shows that we are having quite a devastating impact on marine species," Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List, told Reuters. Hilton-Taylor said the portion of marine species facing extinction was likely much higher than current data shows because those analysed so far have tended to be widespread fish species, not currently under threat. The latest list reviews abalone species, a type of mollusc sold as a luxury seafood item, for the first time and found that around 44% of them face extinction. "The awful status of these species should shock us and engage us for urgent action," said Amanda Vincent, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Marine Conservation Committee.

☆ Russia trying to get ballistic missiles from Iran, says Britain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, and offering Tehran an unprecedented level of military and technical support in return, Britain's U.N. "Russia is now attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles," Woodward told reporters. We're concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen their weapons capability," she said. Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to more drones, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters in October. The United States said on Wednesday that it has seen the continued provision of Iranian drones to Russia, but that Washington had not seen evidence that Iran has transferred ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine.

☆ UN Secretary-General calls on Nigeria to investigate report of forced abortions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

To match Special Report NIGERIA-MILITARY/ABORTIONS REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS, THIS PICTURE WAS DIGITALLY MASKED BY REUTERS TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THE WOMAN. Dec 9 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Nigerian authorities to investigate allegations of systemic and coerced abortions reportedly perpetrated by the Nigerian army, U.N spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country's northeast since at least 2013. "We call on the Nigerian authorities to fully investigate these allegations and make sure there's accountability," Dujarric told reporters later on Friday. Nigeria's defence chief said on Thursday the military will not investigate the report, saying it was not true.

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