G20’s legitimacy depends on treatment of world’s poorest, UNDP chief says
Sao Paulo, Brazil Reuters The legitimacy of the Group of 20 economic powers depends on its impact on the world’s poorest people, not just controlling inflation, the head of the United Nations Development Programme said on Tuesday. Finance ministers from the G20 are meeting in Brazil this week with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva […]
UN agency calls for debt pause option as poverty rates rise
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters A United Nations agency urged global finance ministers to give poor countries debt repayment breaks, estimating the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent surge in inflation and borrowing costs had pushed an extra 165 million people into poverty. The UN Development Programme said the jump meant more than 20 per cent of the world’s population – around […]
Gender biases not improved over past decade, UN says
Reuters Gender inequality has remained stagnant for a decade, according to research by the United Nations released on Monday, as cultural biases and pressures continue to hinder women’s empowerment and leave the world unlikely to meet the UN’s goal of gender parity by 2030. Despite a surge in women’s rights groups and social movements like Time’s Up and […]
Turkey faces challenge “beyond comprehension” to clear earthquake rubble
Antakya, Turkey Reuters After the deadliest earthquake in its modern history, Turkey faces the daunting task of disposing of hundreds of millions of tonnes of rubble, some of it potentially harmful. The 6th February earthquake and aftershocks left at least 156,000 buildings either completely collapsed or damaged to the point where they require demolition, Turkish […]
Turkey begins to rebuild for 1.5 million left homeless by earthquakes as toll tops 50,000
Antakya/Ankara, TurkeyReuters Turkey has begun work to rebuild homes following this month’s devastating earthquakes, a government official said on Friday, as the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 50,000. More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the 6th February earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkey […]
Six killed after latest earthquake shakes Turkey-Syria border
Antakya, Turkey Reuters Six people were killed in the latest earthquake to strike the border region of Turkey and Syria, authorities said on Tuesday, two weeks after a massive quake killed more than 47,000 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. Monday’s quake, which struck just as the rescue work from the […]
Hope for jobs drives recruitment by militant groups in Africa – report
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters Hope of employment more than religious belief is driving people to join fast-growing extremist groups in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report by the UN Development Programme based on interviews with hundreds of former fighters. While worldwide deaths from terrorism have declined in the last five years, deaths in sub-Saharan Africa have […]
Serious debt crisis unfolding across developing countries – UNDP
London Reuters The United Nations’ Development Programme joined on Tuesday the chorus of institutions and charities warning that a serious debt crisis is now taking hold in the poorest parts of the world. In a new report, the UNDP estimated that 54 countries, accounting for more than half of the world’s poorest people, now needed […]
Cost-of-living crisis driving “breathtaking” surge in extreme poverty – UNDP
London, UKReuters The global cost-of-living crisis is pushing an additional 71 million people in the world’s poorest countries into extreme poverty, a new report published by the UN Development Programme on Thursday has warned. Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator, said an analysis of 159 developing countries showed that the surge in key commodity prices this year […]
Postcards: Egypt erects sand barriers as rising sea swallows the Nile Delta
MENNA A FAROUK, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on hopes low-cost sand dykes can help hold back the Mediterranean Sea and protect the homes and incomes of people in Egypt’s breadbasket…