General News

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expects there will be less volatility in the price of commodities such as wheat and rice.

An FAO report released on Thursday finds that food commodity markets are set to be more balanced this year and also in 2014, as compared to recent years.

The report says the prices for most basic food commodities have declined over the past months, and that there will be more abundant supplies and higher stocks in the current season.

For most of the year, the water in Bangladesh is undrinkable or even suitable for crops, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The agency reports that when it is not raining, rivers in the coastal region become full of sea water and the ground water is also heavily saline.

UNICEF has teamed up with scientists from the country and the Netherlands to find a solution.

Dianne Penn has the story.

Duration: 3’42"

The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, according to the United Nations weather agency.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin says between 1990 and 2012 there was a 32 per cent increase in the warming effect of global climate.

It says this is due to emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping gases such as methane and nitrate oxide.

Derrick Mbatha reports.

Duration: 3'53"

Only a few years ago, the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India was plagued with high infant and maternal mortality rates.

Thanks to innovative health centres, neo-natal care units, call centres and ambulances, the statistics have turned around.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that today, eight out of 10 women in Madhya Pradesh are delivering at hospital.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 2’55”

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay is alarmed at the death sentences imposed on 152 paramilitary officers in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The officers of the Bangladesh Border Guards were convicted of crimes including murder and sexual assault during a mutiny in February 2009. Another 150 were given life sentences.

Although the crimes committed during the mutiny were “utterly reprehensible and heinous,” Ms. Pillay is concerned about justice being carried out during the mass trials.

Workers who survived the deadly Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh in April are being trained so that they can find new jobs.

The project, which is sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) is one of the initiatives stemming from the tragedy in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 3'50"

In 2003, African leaders established the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to improve their performance by voluntarily allowing monitoring of how they are governing.

Its thematic areas are democracy and good political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio economic development.

Chenor Bah, Campaign Coordinator for Youth Engagement at the Global Business Coalition for Education, attended a recent event at UN Headquarters in New York to mark the 10th anniversary of the APRM.

The African Diaspora can provide resources to help Africa as it works to improve good governance, according to Dr. James Braxton Peterson, Director, Africana Studies at Lehigh University in the United States told UN Radio recently.

Dr. Peterson participated in a recent United Nations meeting on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), adopted by African leaders in 2003.

The main objective of the APRM is to enhance implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development by good governance standards including in the economic and political fields.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working to return approximately 40,000 South Sudanese nationals who have been stranded in transit camps in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, for nearly three years.

IOM is appealing for $20 million to cover the cost of flights for these people who have been living in makeshift squalid conditions with no access to water and sanitation and decent shelter.

The importance of establishing effective security in countries recovering from conflict was discussed at a special event on “Security Sector Reform” held at the United Nations headquarters on Monday.

The event was co-organized by the missions of Slovakia and South Africa the co-chairs of the Group of Friends of Security Sector Reform as well as the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Participants considered the report of the UN Secretary-General on security sector reform.