May 21, 2024 No comments
Gaza: WHO chief calls for end to latest hospital siege
INTERNATIONAL, 21 May 2024, Peace and Security - As bombardments by the Israeli military reportedly continued overnight across Gaza, along with ground incursions and heavy fighting, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on Tuesday for staff and patients at besieged Al-Awda Hospital in the north of the enclave. “Medical staff inside the hospital reported an attack on 20 May, with snipers aiming at the building and an artillery rocket hitting the fifth floor,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. Some 148 staff and 22 patients and their companions have remained “trapped inside” the hospital since Sunday, the WHO Director-General added, before issuing an appeal for their protection. Evacuation order impact According to the WHO, only around one third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals still function, leaving critical...
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May 21, 2024 No comments
INTERVIEW: Developing countries risk missing out on net-zero benefits, but fairer future is possible
INTERNATIONAL, 21 May 2024, Climate and Environment - Inflation fears are subsiding, the “net-zero transition” to a clean economy could spell good news with the right policies in place, and we are still dealing with a “COVID hangover”, according to the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The lead author of the World Economic Situations and Prospects mid-year update, the flagship report from DESA released on 16 May, outlines the main findings in an interview with UN News. Hamid Rashid Inflation has come down significantly from the 2022 peak, but not to the extent that central banks can say that they have won the war. There's still room for improvement. At the launch of the report, we mentioned that the US Federal Reserve targets “personal consumption...
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May 20, 2024 No comments
With Gaza on the brink, hostage talks must resume, Security Council hears
INTERNATIONAL, 20 May 2024, Peace and Security - Gaza stands at “yet another precipice of further catastrophe” as the latest round of hostage negotiations in Cairo failed to reach an agreement, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday. Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, underscored the need for continuing the vital discussions, which have been supported by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. “If talks do not resume, I fear for the worst for the beleaguered and terrified civilians in Rafah, for the hostages held in unimaginable conditions for more than 225 days, and for an overstretched humanitarian operation that remains on the brink in the Gaza Strip,” he said. ‘Immediate priority, saving lives’ Over 1.2 million Palestinians displaced...
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May 20, 2024 No comments
World News in Brief: Myanmar violence intensifies, praise for Brazil refugee response, Baháí detainees in Yemen
INTERNATIONAL, 20 May 2024, Human Rights - The UN is continuing to closely follow the deteriorating situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state where intercommunal tensions are being stoked by the military. “Our team on the ground is deeply alarmed by the latest reports of further escalating violence and destruction taking place in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, briefing reporters at UN Headquarters on Monday. Renewed violence and the destruction of property in Buthidaung has resulted in the displacement of potentially tens of thousands of civilians, mostly Rohingya. The Myanmar military has stoked tensions between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine, said UN rights chief Volker Türk in a statement on Sunday. “This is a critical period when the risk of yet further atrocity crimes is particularly acute,”...
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May 20, 2024 No comments
UN chief mourns loss of Iranian President in helicopter crash
INTERNATIONAL, 20 May 2024, UN Affairs - UN Secretary-General António Guterres, alongside members of the Security Council, has extended heartfelt condolences to the people and Government of Iran following the death of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter accident on Sunday. The crash, which occurred in a mountainous region of northwestern Iran, also claimed the lives of Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other passengers. “The Secretary-General expresses his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mr. Guterres’ Spokesperson said in a statement released in New York on Monday. The members of the Security Council joined the Secretary-General in expressing condolences as they convened on Monday. Led by Pedro Comissário Afonso, Permanent Representative of Mozambique and Council...
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