October 15, 2018 No comments
Investing in rural women and girls, ‘essential’ for everyone’s future: UN chief
INTERNATIONAL, 15 October 2018 - Women - Marking International Day of Rural Women, on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to ensure that women and girls living in rural areas can enioy their human rights as this would enable making “progress for all”. “The empowerment of rural women and girls is essential to building a prosperous, equitable and peaceful future for all on a healthy planet,” he said, stressing that “it is needed for achieving gender equality, ensuring decent work for all, eradicating poverty and hunger and taking climate action”. Rural women make up 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, in work that is often informal and poorly paid, offering little access to social protection or income security. As...
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October 15, 2018 No comments
World Health Organization calls crisis meeting over deadly Ebola outbreak in DR Congo
INTERNATIONAL, 15 October 2018, Health - World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called an Emergency Committee meeting on the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has already claimed around 130 lives. The WHO has assessed the national and regional risk of the current Ebola outbreak in DRC as “very high,” although the global risk remains low and, so far, the UN’s health watchdog has not called for any trade or travel restrictions to be imposed. The Emergency Committee, scheduled for Wednesday at WHO headquarters in Geneva, will decide whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, and what recommendations should be made to manage the spread of the disease. This outbreak, the...
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October 15, 2018 No comments
Overseas investment falling, developing countries largely unscathed: UN trade agency
INTERNATIONAL, 15 October 2018, Economic Development - Foreign direct investment (FDI) has dropped 40 per cent year-on-year so far, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Monday, but the $470 million decline is happening mainly in wealthy, industrialized nations, especially in North America and Western Europe. Overall, the global financial picture is “gloomy”, said UNCTAD’s James Zhan, Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise. He explained that foreign direct investment is important because it gives countries access to external capital, technology, market access and tax contributions. According to UNCTAD, the development is mainly owing to recent tax reforms in the U.S. which have encouraged big firms there to bring home earnings from abroad – principally from Western European countries. He said that the...
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October 15, 2018 No comments
Benefits of rural migration effect often overlooked, new UN report suggests
INTERNATIONAL, 15 October 2018, Economic Development - Agricultural policies should work to maximize the contributions of rural migration to economic and social development, while minimizing the costs, says a major new report released on Monday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The agency’s annual report titled, The State of Food and Agriculture 2018 (SOFA), points to migration as a choice, its costs and benefits, and lays out the implications arising from important investment decisions surrounding rural development. The objective must be to make migration a choice, not a necessity, and to maximize the positive impacts while minimizing the negative ones- FAO chief Jose Graziano da Silva FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said in his forward to the report, that “the objective must be to make...
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October 14, 2018 No comments
Violence will not deter Somali people in their pursuit of peace, says UN chief, in wake of lethal attacks
INTERNATIONAL, 14 October 2018, Peace and Security - Strongly condemning twin suicide attacks in Baidoa, southwestern Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated the Organization’s support and solidarity with the country’s people and Government. In a statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Guterres expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured. “He is convinced that indiscriminate violence and attacks will not deter the Somali people in their pursuit of peace and stability,” added the statement. According to media reports, at least 16 people died and 50 wounded after two suicide bombers attacked a restaurant and a hotel in the town of Baidoa on Saturday. Baidoa is located about 220 kilometres (130 miles) west of capital Mogadishu. The blasts...
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