Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | More than half of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are now living in extreme poverty, and the vast majority live below the poverty line, the UN’s refugee agency said Friday. According to the UN, more than a million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since …
Read More »UN says 11 million Yemen children desperately need aid
Amman, Jordan | AFP | More than 11 million children in war-torn Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations children’s fund warned on Sunday. “Today it is fair to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child,” said Geert …
Read More »Guinea receives $20bn in pledges for development
Paris, France | AFP | Guinea on Thursday won pledges in aid worth $20 billion to fund a five-year development plan at a meeting in Paris with banks, private players and governments. The mineral-rich West African nation is slowly emerging from the Ebola crisis and low commodity price shocks that adversely …
Read More »COMMENT: China’s foreign aid model
It has the opportunity, tools, and experience to lift thousands out of extreme poverty globally COMMENT | ASIT K. BISWAS , KRIS HARTLEY | In September, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released a status report tracking progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data, which were meant to …
Read More »Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez to host telethon for hurricane victims
Miami, United States | AFP | Celebrities including Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Stevie Wonder are set to appear Saturday night at a telethon for those affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Appearing from both Miami and Los Angeles, performers will raise funds to provide food, shelter, medicine, electricity and …
Read More »US House approves $36 bn for disasters including Puerto Rico
Washington, United States | AFP | The US House of Representatives on Thursday easily approved a $36.5 billion disaster relief package for hurricane-affected communities like Puerto Rico, and for areas devastated by wildfires including those in California. The measure outlining “supplemental” disaster spending passed 353 to 69, with all votes in …
Read More »Aid chiefs to access Myanmar’s Rakhine on Thursday: UN
United Nations, United States | AFP | Representatives of UN agencies will be permitted to visit Rakhine state in Myanmar on Thursday for the first time since the start of a massive exodus of minority Rohingya Muslims. “There will be a trip organized by the government, probably tomorrow, to Rakhine,” United …
Read More »Obama: ‘No One Nation’ Can Confront Global Development Challenges
New York, United States | AFP | Former U.S. President Barack Obama said nations must cooperate to confront some of world’s most pressing challenges, including climate change , poverty, disease, and discrimination. “The biggest problems we confront—no one nation is going to be able to solve on its own—not even the …
Read More »Red Cross driver killed in S. Sudan ambush
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Red Cross driver was killed when unknown militants attacked an aid convoy in South Sudan, the organisation said Saturday. Lukudu Kennedy Laki Emmanuel was shot dead Friday when gunmen ambushed the nine-vehicle convoy transporting humanitarian supplies in the war-torn country’s Western Equatoria region. “We are …
Read More »US Senate approves Trump deal on hurricane aid, debt ceiling
Washington, United States | AFP | The US Senate passed a $15.25 billion relief package Thursday for victims of Hurricane Harvey, in an effort to fully fund federal emergency operations as another potentially catastrophic storm bears down on Florida. The package passed 80 to 17 one day after President Donald Trump …
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