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☆ Many culprits stole food aid in north Ethiopia, investigation finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Giulia Paravicini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, June 15 (Reuters) - Regional and federal government officials as well as Eritrean soldiers were involved in the theft of food aid in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, the head of an investigation by the Tigrayan authorities said on Thursday. The U.N. World Food Programme and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paused food distribution last month in war-scarred Tigray because they said significant amounts of aid had been stolen. The two agencies then suspended food aid across all of Ethiopia last week for the same reason. An internal humanitarian memo said USAID believes food has been diverted to Ethiopian military units as part of a scheme orchestrated by federal and regional government entities. Ethiopia's army has denied its forces benefited from any stolen food aid.

Persons: General Fiseha Kidanu, Tigrai, Giulia Paravicini, Aaron Ross, Alex Richardson Organizations: Food, U.S . Agency for International Development, USAID, Ethiopian, WFP, Thomson Locations: NAIROBI, Ethiopia's Tigray, Tigray, Ethiopia

☆ US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it's not reaching needy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Giulia Paravicini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/Pool/File PhotoNAIROBI, June 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. The USAID spokesperson said the agency intended to resume food assistance as soon as it was confident in the integrity of the system. USAID and the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) had already suspended food aid to the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray last month in response to information that large amounts of aid there were being diverted. In the 2022 fiscal year, USAID disbursed nearly $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia, most of it food aid. WFP is also investigating "systemic" food diversion across Ethiopia, according to an email sent last week by the agency's deputy director to staff in Ethiopia.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Sean Jones, Finance Ahmed Shide, Demeke Mekonnen, Blinken, Giulia Paravicini, Doina Chiacu, Christina Fincher, Mark Potter Organizations: Logistics Center, USAID, Ethiopian, Finance, REUTERS, Tiksa, U.S . Agency for International Development, Reuters, Resilience, Spokespeople, The State Department, Food Programme, WFP, Thomson Locations: Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, NAIROBI, United States, Tigray, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopian, Washington

☆ Air strikes hit Khartoum's outskirts as Sudan's war enters sixth week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Smoke rises above buildings after an aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. Air strikes were reported by eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, the two cities that lie across the Nile from Khartoum, forming Sudan's "triple capital." Some of the strikes took place near the state broadcaster in Omdurman, the eyewitnesses said. The RSF is embedded in residential districts, drawing almost continual air strikes by the regular armed forces. In recent days ground fighting has flared once again in the Darfur region, in the cities of Nyala and Zalenjei.

☆ WFP suspends food aid to Ethiopia's Tigray over reported thefts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary WFP, USAID suspend aid distributionTigray government urges rethink, says to investigateNAIROBI, May 4 (Reuters) - The U.N. World Food Programme has paused food distribution in Ethiopia's war-ravaged Tigray region in response to reports that significant amounts of aid were being diverted, the agency said. Neither organisation gave details of the source of the reports and the WFP did not say who was responsible for the diversions or when they had taken place. He said he had set up a task force to investigate, calling the reported theft a crime against children, the elderly and the disabled. A spokesperson for Ethiopia's federal government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government and Tigray forces agreed to end hostilities in November, which has allowed additional aid to reach the region and for some services to be restored.

☆ Afghanistan aid donors struggle with crackdown on women, less money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last month the Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. after stopping most women working for aid groups in December. So far the United States has given the most money to the 2023 U.N. appeal: $75 million. When asked if Gulf countries could do more to help Afghanistan, Power said: "That would be one obvious potential set of partners." The United Nations has been trying to carve out exemptions in some areas for women to deliver aid, particularly in health and education. For the year ending April 5, 2024 it has pledged nearly $180 million in aid funding for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

☆ USAID pauses food assistance to Tigray region of Ethiopia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jasper Ward | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced on Wednesday the temporary suspension of its food assistance to the Tigray region of Ethiopia. While describing the move as a "difficult decision", USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the agency recently discovered that food aid intended for people of the region, who are suffering under famine-like condition, was being diverted and sold on the local market. The agency referred the matter to its Office of the Inspector General, which launched an investigation, and sent leaders from its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to Ethiopia before deciding to on a temporary pause in food aid, she said. The government and Tigray forces agreed to end the hostilities in November, which has allowed additional aid to reach the region and for some services to be restored. "While food aid to the Tigray Region is paused, other vital assistance not implicated in the diversion scheme will continue, including life-saving nutritional supplements, safe drinking water, and support for agricultural activities and development," she said.

☆ Mexico president asks Biden to stop USAID funding opposition groups
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sarah Morland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, May 3 (Reuters) - Mexico's president asked his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to stop the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding groups hostile to his government, according to a letter presented to journalists on Wednesday, echoing previous Mexican criticism of U.S. interventionism. The letter calls for Biden's intervention, saying the U.S. State Department in recent days announced that USAID would increase its funding toward such organizations. Mexico had in 2021 sent a similar letter asking USAID to withdraw funding allocated to non-governmental organizations critical of the government. The State Department, USAID, MCCI and Article 19 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The State Department has said there are credible reports on restrictions on free expression and media in Mexico - the deadliest country for journalists last year.

☆ US to help journalists globally defend against legal threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday launched a program to defend journalists around the world from legal threats aimed at silencing critical voices, a growing tactic that top U.S. aid official Samantha Power described as "lawfare." Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced the Reporters Shield program at an event to mark World Press Freedom Day at the United Nations. USAID said it plans to work with Congress to provide up to $9 million for the Reporters Shield program that will be jointly managed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice. "To withstand lawfare journalists and media outlets need robust protection, they need training in how to avoid lawsuits altogether, they need resources to hire lawyers and cover legal fees," Power said. USAID said Reporters Shield will be a membership program and organizations will pay an annual fee based on factors like the outlet's location and how many stories they produce a year.

☆ U.S. confirms second American death in Sudan, seeks extended ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - A second American has died in Sudan, the White House said on Wednesday, adding that it was helping a small number of U.S. citizens seeking to leave the country amid ongoing clashes even as overall violence appeared significantly down. "We urge both military factions" to abide by the ceasefire "and to further extend it," Kirby told reporters, adding that the violence "levels... generally appear to have gone significantly down." "The levels are down, but we want to see the levels at zero," he added. Some U.S. citizens had arrived at Port Sudan to evacuate and were being supported, and the United States was continuing to support other limited evacuation efforts, he added. USAID has deployed teams in the region and is prepared to help provide humanitarian assistance but any ceasefire would have to remain in place and be extended, Kirby told reporters.

☆ US deploying disaster-response team for Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has deployed a team of disaster response experts for Sudan in the region to coordinate the humanitarian response as fighting rocks the country, USAID head Samantha Power said on Sunday. In a statement, Power said the Disaster Assistance Response Team will operate out of Kenya for the initial phase, adding that the experts are working with the international community and partners to identify priority needs and safely deliver humanitarian assistance. "The United States is mobilizing to ramp up assistance to the people of Sudan ensnared between the warring factions," Power said. "Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan has claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and yet again dashed the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people. "All of this suffering compounds an already dire situation – one-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence."

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - China is "very carefully" watching how Washington and the world respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but has not yet crossed the line of providing lethal aid to Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. "The stakes in Ukraine go well beyond Ukraine. However, he said he did not believe that China has been providing lethal aid to Moscow. "As we speak today, we have not seen them cross that line," Blinken told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, the first of four times he will testify to congressional committees this week. "The post-Cold War world is over, and there is an intense competition under way to determine what comes next," Blinken said.

An Insider review found that his company has sold to foreign governments, including a $228 million dollar contract. What Mills didn't advertise was Pacem's munitions contracts with foreign governments. The company's chief legal officer Joseph Schmitz said all of Pacem's foreign munitions sales are approved by the Department of State. Mills's influence over American military spending while having ties to a munitions company poses the potential for conflicts of interest, an ethics watchdog said. In Congress, Mills sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, which oversee military spending and foreign weapons sales.

☆ World Bank board aims to pick next president by early May, U.S. nominee expected soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A participant stands near a logo of World Bank at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. The bank's executive directors affirmed their commitment to an "open, merit-based and transparent selection process" for the new leader, and said countries could nominate candidates beginning Thursday through March 29. The World Bank board gave a list of criteria and relevant experience for would-be applicants, including "effective communication and diplomatic skills" and also said it "would strongly encourage women candidates to be nominated." The bank has never had a permanent woman president in its 77-year history, although current International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva served as acting president for about two months in early 2019. The United States has historically selected the president of the bank, but some developing countries and civil society groups are challenging that tradition.

☆ U.S. declares Russia committed 'crimes against humanity' in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUNICH, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The Biden administration formally concluded that Russia has committed "crimes against humanity" during its nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday. The U.N.-backed Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has not yet concluded that the war crimes it says it has identified amount to crimes against humanity. Russia, which says it is conducting a "special military operation" in Ukraine to eliminate threats to its security and protect Russian-speakers, has denied intentionally targeting civilians or committing war crimes. The Biden administration has sought to bring alleged war criminals to justice, including training Ukrainian investigators, imposing sanctions, blocking visas and hiking penalties under U.S. war crimes laws. Kyiv has been pushing for a new international war crimes organization to focus on the Russian invasion, which Moscow has opposed.

[1/5] David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group, arrives for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (not in picture) at Kishida's official residence in Tokyo, Japan September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/PoolWASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - David Malpass, president of the World Bank, unexpectedly said he would resign in June on Wednesday, leaving open a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding and has a direct impact on poverty, climate change preparation, emergency aid and other issues in developing countries around the globe. RAJIV SHAShah is the former USAID administrator under Obama and currently president of the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic group that says it aims to "promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world." The foundation recently partnered with the U.S. State Department on a carbon offset program at COP27, the international climate conference. MINOUCHE SHAFIKShafik is an Egypt-born, British American economist who is currently president of the London School of Economics and has served as deputy governor of the Bank of England and deputy managing director of the IMF.

☆ Fears grow for untold numbers buried by Turkey earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But there was also widespread despair and growing anger at the slow pace of rescue efforts in some areas. People sitting on the rubble react in the aftermath of an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria February 7, 2023. Muhammet Ruzgar, 5, is carried out by rescuers from the site of a damaged building, following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 7, 2023. Vice President Fuat Oktoy said at least 5,894 people have died from the earthquake in Turkey, with another 34,810 injured. An aerial view shows damaged and collapsed buildings following an earthquake, in Hatay, Turkey February 7, 2023.

☆ Russia’s war in Ukraine sparked a historic food crisis. It’s not over
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“All the major causes of the food crisis are still with us — conflict, Covid, climate change, high fuel prices,” Cary Fowler, the US special envoy for global food security, told CNN. But high food prices mean that funding can’t go as far, and Russia’s war continues to generate volatility. “The Ukraine crisis has had this ongoing negative impact on world food prices and [added] even more volatility,” said Abby Maxman, CEO of Oxfam America. Russia “is not assisting in alleviating the food crisis in slowing down the grain inspections,” Fowler said. Oxfam’s Maxman, who traveled there in September, said disruptions to food supplies were obvious in markets.

☆ Hit by climate change, farmers in Cambodia are risking everything on microfinance loans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The loans are also seeing farmers put assets including their land up as collateral, even when the loans are high-interest and have short repayment windows. Taylor Weidman | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNGOs estimate around 167,000 Cambodians have sold their land to pay microfinance loans over the last five years. A 2016 book published by the World Bank argued microfinance loans had reduced poverty and increased incomes in Bangladesh, and banking giant HSBC still promotes its funding of microfinance in the country. But the World Bank, an early and longstanding advocate of microfinance, has also been warning for years of risks including overindebtedness and the growing commercialization of the industry. In the capital Phnom Penh, she added, she commonly meets people working seven days a week to pay off spiraling MFI loans.

☆ Donetsk: Ukraine launches 'most massive strike' on occupied region since 2014, Russia-installed mayor says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Olga Voitovych Anna Chernova Zahid Mahmood Josh Pennington Sana Noor Haq | Olga Voitovych | Anna Chernova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“At exactly 7 a.m. the (Ukrainians) subjected the center of Donetsk (city) to the most massive strike since 2014,” the Moscow-appointed mayor, Aleksey Kulemzin, posted on Telegram. “Forty rockets from BM-21 ‘Grad’ MLRS were fired at civilians in our city,” he said Thursday, adding that a key intersection in Donetsk city center had come under fire. A firefighter works inside a destroyed apartment of a residential building hit by shelling in Donetsk on December 15. Men insert wooden boards in the window of a bank next to the building of the State Administration of Kherson after a rocket attack in Kherson city on Wednesday. “And these realities indicate that the Russian Federation has new subjects,” he said, referring to four areas Russia has claimed to have annexed, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

☆ Ukraine keeps patching up its power grid. But Russia’s barrage could force more Ukrainians to flee as winter bites
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Tim Lister Olga Voitovych Victoria Butenko | Tim Lister | Olga Voitovych | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The result is a grinding battle of attrition: Barrages of Russian missiles fly across Ukraine, and Ukrainian power engineers work for days in freezing temperatures to restore power. “By the nature of the attacks we see that Russian missiles are directed by Russian power engineers,” says Tymoshenko. 15 gigawatts of Ukraine’s power capacity have been taken out, compared to the pre-war capacity of 56 gigawatts (GW) of power, according to Ukrenergo. Tymoshenko told CNN that Ukraine’s power system has been part of the continental network since March after synchronization of the systems. “And this, of course, will encourage us to further technological development of the power system after victory,” he says.

☆ Ukraine's Naftogaz asks USAID for help with gas for heating
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies NAK Naftohaz Ukrainy PAT FollowNov 29 (Reuters) - Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz has asked the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help with additional natural gas volumes for the heating season, Oleksiy Chernyshov, the company's chief executive said on Monday. read more"The key is the additional volume of gas needed to get through this heating season," Chernyshov wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with Elizabeth McKee, the assistant administrator of the USAID for Europe and Eurasia. "We are talking, in particular, about methanol, gas compressors, diesel generators and equipment for gas production," Chernyshov said. In October, USAID said it would invest $55 million in Ukraine's heating infrastructure to aid the country's preparations for winter, according to a statement on the Agency's website. Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Democratic Rep. Andy Kim faces off against Republican Bob Healey in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Andy Kim is running against Republican Bob Healey in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District. The 3rd District includes Hamilton, a swing town and one of the state's most populous municipalities. New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District candidatesKim, first elected in 2018, is bidding for a third term. Voting history for New Jersey's 3rd Congressional DistrictNew Jersey's 3rd Congressional District covers parts of Monmouth and Mercer counties, including Hamilton, a swing town and one of the state's most populous municipalities. His challenger, Healey, has raised $4 million, spent $3.8 million, and has $228,000 in cash still left to spend, as of October 19.

“If I won the lottery, I’d do this for free because I have a passion for public health,” Bernstein said. I had to put other projects on hold to do pro bono work for the CDC. “If we want CDC to get better at fighting diseases, we need to stop tying their hands behind their back,” he said. A senior CDC official called it an “antiquated” system that “has not evolved over time.” The official spoke on the on the condition of anonymity so she could speak freely on the matter. ‘A real challenge to solve’The CDC is preparing a presentation to urge Congress it to fix this, Walensky said.

☆ With a possible surge of Haitian migrants ahead, the Biden admin weighs holding them in a third country or Guantanamo
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

For more than 30 years, Guantanamo Bay has had a Migrant Operations Center that houses migrants picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Caribbean. Planning now under consideration would roughly double the capacity at the Migrant Operations Center to 400 beds, according to the document. The Biden administration received bipartisan criticism for its handling of a massive flood of Haitian migrants in September 2021, which led to more than 12,000 massing under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The Biden administration ramped up deportation flights to deal with the influx, but so far those flights have halted since August 2022. A spokesperson for the NSC said, “The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Haiti.

☆ United States pledges further $30 million in aid to flood-hit Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The United States will give Pakistan a further $30 million in aid to help millions of people whose lives were disrupted by severe flooding in recent months, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said on Thursday. The funding would take the total in disaster-related assistance from the U.S. to Pakistan this year to $97 million. Pakistani officials have estimated damage from torrential monsoon rains that killed over 1,000 people and displaced tens of millions at more than $40 billion. This month, the United Nations revised up its humanitarian aid appeal for Pakistan five-fold to $816 million from $160 million, as a surge of water-borne diseases and fear of growing hunger posed new dangers after weeks of unprecedented flooding. Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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