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Now, according to an internal U.N. estimate obtained by Reuters, 5 million additional people in Sudan will require emergency assistance, half of them children. Even before the latest crisis, U.N. humanitarian appeals for Africa faced a $17-billion funding gap this year, risking leaving millions without lifesaving assistance. Last year, it spent a third of its overseas aid budget housing refugees inside the UK, a British aid watchdog said in March. Sudan was hosting over 1 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Syria, before the outbreak of fighting last month. Aid workers have been killed, food aid looted, and WFP says it's running out of stocks.

☆ UNICEF: More than 1 million polio vaccines destroyed in Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Smoke is seen rise from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan. REUTERS/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File PhotoGENEVA, May 5 (Reuters) - More than 1 million polio vaccines intended for children have been destroyed as a result of looting in Sudan during the upsurge in violence since April, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF told Reuters on Friday. "A number of cold chain facilities have been looted, damaged and destroyed, including over a million polio vaccines in South Darfur," Hazel De Wet, deputy director of the Office of Emergency Programmes, UNICEF told Reuters in an email. Africa was declared free of wild polio in 2020 but Malawi, Mozambique and Sudan have reported imported cases since last year. Numerous humanitarian agencies have reported looting during the Sudan crisis including the World Food Programme, which said it lost $13-$14 million worth of supplies.

☆ Countries set to request emergency session of UN rights body on Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, May 5 (Reuters) - A group of countries is set to request an urgent meeting of the U.N. human rights body on the Sudan crisis next week, a document showed on Friday, in a move that rights activists hope will increase scrutiny of violations by rival military factions. Diplomats told Reuters they had the backing of at least a third of the 47-member council, as required by its rules. The U.N. Human Rights Council, the only body made up of governments to protect human rights worldwide, does not have legally binding powers, but its debates can spur investigations that feed evidence to national and international courts. Last week, a group of over 90 non-governmental organisations wrote an open letter calling for the special session. What remains to be determined is whether members will seek a formal probe into alleged human rights abuses there which include the killings of hundreds of civilians and attacks on hospitals.

However, a number of countries have recently begun lifting their domestic states of emergency, such as the United States. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes to end the international emergency this year. One source close to negotiations said lifting the "public health emergency of international concern", or PHEIC, label could impact global funding or collaboration efforts. "I expect WHO to end the public health emergency of international concern. If WHO does not end it... [this time], then certainly the next time the emergency committee meets."

☆ WHO dismisses lead COVID origins investigator for sexual misconduct
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a response to Reuters, Ben Embarek said he contested the accusation of harassment and was challenging the sanction. "Peter Ben Embarek was dismissed last year following findings of sexual misconduct against him that were substantiated by investigations, and corresponding disciplinary process," said WHO spokesperson Marcia Poole. Ben Embarek said that a single incident in 2017 "was settled immediately in a friendly way." "I am not aware of any other complaints and no other complaints have ever been brought to my attention," Ben Embarek said in a digital message. The agency said that people are more willing to come forward about sexual misconduct and that it is taking action where allegations are substantiated.

☆ Sudan military faction chiefs agree May 4-11 truce in princple -South Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Mohamed Noureldin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The credibility of the reported May 4-11 deal ceasefire deal between Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo was unclear, given the rampant violations that undermined previous agreements running from 24 to 72 hours. "The entire region could be affected," he said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper on Tuesday as an envoy from Sudan's army chief, who leads one of the warring sides, met Egyptian officials in Cairo. United Nations officials had said U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths aimed to visit Sudan on Tuesday but the timing was still to be confirmed. "The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it's going to be a regional crisis," said Michael Dunford, the WFP's East Africa director. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

☆ Labour market 'churn' ahead with a quarter of jobs changing by 2027, survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Some 69 million jobs will be created and 83 million eliminated by 2027, it said, resulting in a net decrease of 2% of current employment, according to the Future of Jobs report. The survey is based on input from some 800 companies employing more than 11 million workers and uses a dataset of 673 million jobs. Technology and digitalisation is both the driver of job creation and of destruction, a summary of the report said. "Advancing technology adoption and increasing digitization will cause significant labour market churn," it said. Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Airstrikes, artillery fire heard in Khartoum as Sudan fighting enters third week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KHARTOUM, April 29 (Reuters) - The sounds of air strikes, anti-aircraft weaponry and artillery could be heard in Khartoum early on Saturday and dark smoke rose over parts of the city, as fighting in Sudan entered a third week. Fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary force continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday, when strikes by air, tanks and artillery rocked Khartoum and the adjacent cities of Bahri and Ombdurman. The fighting has also reawakened a two-decade-old conflict in the western Darfur region where scores have died this week. More than 75,000 people were internally displaced within Sudan just in the first week of the fighting, according to the United Nations. The U.S. said several hundred Americans had departed Sudan by land, sea or air.

☆ Over 200 people evacuated from Sudan to Chad, UN agency says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, April 28 (Reuters) - Chad conducted its first evacuation flights from Sudan carrying more than 200 people, including dozens of children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. The U.N. agency, which is assisting Chadian authorities with the arrivals, said in a statement that 226 people were on board two charter flights, including 39 children. IOM spokesperson Safa Msehli told Reuters that two more flights were arriving on Friday. She said the flights that landed in Chad on Thursday had students, elderly people, individuals with medical conditions and "extremely vulnerable families" on board. Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Gabrielle Tétrault-FarberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ WHO says 'high risk of biological hazard' after Sudan laboratory seized
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Sudan said on Tuesday there was a "high risk of biological hazard" after one of the sides in the Sudan fighting seized a laboratory. Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link, Nima Saeed Abid said that at least 459 people had been killed in fighting in Sudan and 4,072 injured. Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Emma FargeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) - There is a "high risk of biological hazard" in Sudan's capital Khartoum after one of the warring parties seized a laboratory holding measles and cholera pathogens and other hazardous materials, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Sudan, the WHO's representative in the country, Nima Saeed Abid, said technicians were unable to gain access to the National Public Health Laboratory to secure the materials. Fighting erupted between the Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries on April 15 and has killed at least 459 people and injured 4,072, according to the WHO's latest figures. The WHO has reported 14 attacks on health facilities since the clashes began and is relocating its staff to safety. Smoke is seen rise from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan.

☆ Sudan fighting resurges as UN envoy says ceasefire partly holding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire beginning on Tuesday after negotiations mediated by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. U.N. special envoy on Sudan Volker Perthes told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the ceasefire "seems to be holding in some parts so far." The fighting has paralysed hospitals and other essential services, and left many people stranded in their homes with dwindling supplies of food and water. The U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said shortages of food, water, medicines and fuel were becoming "extremely acute", prices were surging and it had cut back operations for safety reasons. Since the fighting erupted, tens of thousands have left for neighbouring Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

☆ Guantanamo inmates showing signs of 'accelerated ageing' - ICRC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, April 21 (Reuters) - Inmates who have been held for years in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention facility in Cuba are showing signs of "accelerated ageing", a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday. Hamilton's comments came after a visit to the facility in March following a 20-year hiatus. There were 40 detainees when President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. Hamilton also urged Washington to resolve the fate of the detainees, urging action to transfer those out who were eligible. Reporting by Emma Farge and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pace of rise in global sea level has doubled, UN climate report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The remains of houses are pictured as rising sea levels destroy homes built along the shoreline, forcing villagers to relocate, in El Bosque, Mexico, November 7, 2022. Extreme glacier melt and record ocean heat levels - which cause water to expand - contributed to an average rise in sea levels of 4.62mm a year between 2013-2022, the U.N. agency said in a major report detailing the havoc of climate change. "We have already lost this melting of glaciers game and sea level rise game so that's bad news," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told a press conference. Rising sea levels threaten some coastal cities and the very existence of low-lying states such as the island of Tuvalu - which plans to build a digital version of itself in case it is submerged. Climate scientists have warned that the world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of warming El Niño conditions.

REUTERS/Lindsey WassonLONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - People all over the world lost confidence in the importance of routine childhood vaccines against killer diseases like measles and polio during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from UNICEF. In 52 of the 55 countries surveyed, the public perception of vaccines for children declined between 2019 and 2021, the UN agency said. The picture on vaccine confidence varied globally, according to the UNICEF report, its flagship annual State of the World's Children. The report stressed that vaccine confidence can easily shift and the results may not indicate a long-term trend. The data was collected by the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

☆ Switzerland indicts former Gambian minister for crimes against humanity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, April 18 (Reuters) - Switzerland's attorney general has filed an indictment against Gambia's former interior minister for crimes against humanity committed under former authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Sonko was interior minister from 2006 to 2016, when he fled to Sweden and from there to Switzerland, where he applied for asylum. It will be the country's second ever crimes against humanity trial. "We hope this will generate momentum and that the trial will put pressure on Equatorial Guinea to eventually extradite Jammeh," he added. Gambia, a tiny West African country of 2.5 million, is still reeling from over two decades under former president Jammeh marked by authoritarianism and alleged abuses.

☆ WTO panel rules against India in IT tariffs dispute with EU, others
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, April 17 (Reuters) - A World Trade Organization panel said on Monday that India had violated global trading rules in a dispute with the European Union, Japan and Taiwan over import duties on IT products. "We recommend that India bring such measures into conformity with its obligations," the WTO panel's report said. The EU is India's third largest trading partner, accounting for 10.8% of total Indian trade in 2021, according to the European Commission. The WTO panel said that India had already brought some of the challenged tariffs into line with global trading rules since last year. While the panel broadly backed the complaints against India, it rejected one of Japan's claims that New Delhi's customs notification lacked "predictability".

☆ 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.

☆ China holds the key to understanding COVID-19 origins: WHO chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Without full access to the information that China has, you cannot say this or that," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to a question about the origin of the virus. That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this." Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database last month. The WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19, said the latest Chinese information offered some "clues" on origins but no answers. She added WHO still did not know whether some of the research required had been undertaken in China.

☆ Beny Steinmetz to appeal Swiss court's corruption ruling - statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

GENEVA, April 4 (Reuters) - Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz said he would appeal against a guilty verdict for corruption upheld by a Swiss appeals court on Tuesday, saying the decision was "unfair and politically motivated". The Geneva court upheld a guilty verdict for corruption made by a lower court in 2021. But it acquitted him of forgery and reduced his sentence to three years' imprisonment of which 18 months must be served. "Beny Steinmetz considers that the Geneva justice system turned a blind eye to procedural flaws, stretched the rules of jurisdiction, compensated for the lack of evidence, and misusedthe penal code to save a conviction that it did not dare to dismiss," he said in a statement. Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Swiss court upholds corruption ruling against mining magnate Steinmetz
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, April 4 (Reuters) - A Swiss appeals court on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict for corruption for mining magnate Beny Steinmetz, who was sentenced in Geneva two years ago in one of the mining world's most high-profile legal disputes. However, it acquitted him of an earlier sentence for forgery. Steinmetz can appeal the verdict. The higher court's three judges sentenced Steinmetz to three years' imprisonment of which 18 months must be served. Reporting by Emma Farge and Clara Denina, Editing by Friederike Heine and Rachel MoreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elderly Swiss women bring European court's first climate case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

STRASBOURG, March 29 (Reuters) - Thousands of elderly Swiss women have joined forces in a groundbreaking case heard on Wednesday at the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that their government's "woefully inadequate" efforts to fight global warming violate their human rights. More than 100 supporters and climate activists from Greenpeace gathered outside the courtroom, holding banners and flowers. Stefanie Brander, a member of the association Senior Women for Climate Protection, said that she felt the government had underestimated the group until now. [1/8] A group from the Senior Women for Climate Protection association hold banners outside the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France March 29, 2023. The Swiss government, which twice won in domestic courts in a six-year legal battle, has argued that the case is inadmissible.

☆ 'Climate lockdown' anger drives Swiss grandmother to sue Bern at EU court
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Her frustration with what she calls "climate lockdown" is part of her motivation for suing the Swiss government alongside more than 2,000 other elderly women in the first ever climate case before the European Court of Human Rights this week. Some of the other women in the case described shortness of breath, nausea and even loss of consciousness during heatwaves which are becoming more frequent due to climate change. More broadly, Switzerland said it recognises that climate change is a problem for the country where temperatures are rising about twice the global rate. Observers acknowledge that it may be difficult to prove the women's suffering is the result of climate change, rather than something else. But due to the advanced age of the Swiss women (73 on average), several dozen of them have already died.

☆ Thousands of civilians 'at the limit of existence' in Ukraine's Bakhmut, Red Cross says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, March 24 (Reuters) - Some 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many elderly and with disabilities, are clinging on to existence in horrific circumstances in and around the besieged city of Bakhmut, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday. Russian forces have been trying for months to capture the city in Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two. "All you see is people pushed to the very limits of their existence and survival and resilience." Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a "special military operation", saying Kyiv's ties to the West were a security threat. Since then, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides have been killed.

☆ Ethiopia scraps bid to end UN-ordered Tigray abuses probe early - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 23 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has dropped a draft motion that sought to bring an early end to a U.N. mandated investigative probe into the Tigray war, diplomats and observers told Reuters, after pressure from Western countries. The International Commission on Ethiopia, the only independent probe into the two-year conflict which pitted Ethiopia's army against forces in the northern Tigray region, has already found reasonable grounds to believe that all parties have committed war crimes. The U.S. also determined this week that all sides including the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies had committed war crimes - allegations they both reject. But five diplomats and human rights sources said Ethiopia had since backed off amid pressure. Ethiopia has opposed the investigation from the outset, calling it politically-motivated and trying to block its funding, preferring national accountability efforts.

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