General News

“Rising from Ashes” a documentary film about the Rwandan cycling team was screened at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Members of the team include survivors of the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists reportedly killed approximately one million people, mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The coach of Team Rwanda is Jock Boyer, the first American to ride in the Tour de France.

UN Radio’s Derrick Mbatha caught with Mr. Boyer just before the screening of “Rising from Ashes” to find out how he got involved with the Rwandan cycling team.

Duration: 3’21”

A preparatory meeting for next year’s Second International Conference on Nutrition began on Wednesday at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy.

Presentations and meetings over the next three days are expected to help set the stage for discussions between high level delegates participating in next year’s event.

International experts and guests across all sectors are coming together to share their thoughts and ideas on what nutrition issues need to be in the spotlight.

The year 2013 is currently on course to be among the 10 warmest years since modern records began in 1850, according to the United Nations weather agency.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued its provisional report on the Status of Global Climate in 2013 to coincide with the conference on climate change taking place in Warsaw, Poland.

WMO points out that the final report will be available in February next year and the provisional report covers the period from the beginning of the year to September.

As aid trickles in to survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, people are doing what they can to survive, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s Representative, Bernard Kerblat.

Tacloban city in Leyte province, one of the hardest-hit places, has no electricity, according to Mr. Kerblat, therefore only military aircrafts can land at the airport, slowing down relief efforts.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Motorola Company have launched an initiative to use information technology to promote human development.

Known as Mobiles for Human Development, it’s aimed at making governments aware of the potential of innovators, particularly in Africa, to use mobile technologies to address development issues.

To find out more about the initiative, UN Radio’s Jorge Mirayes sat down with Raul Zambrano, Senior ICT & Governance Policy Adviser of UNDP.

Duration: 4’57”

Secure access to natural resources like land, water supplies, fisheries and forests, is seen as a key condition to improving food security for the world’s poorest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

For example, 70 per cent of female agricultural workers in developing countries, often have no or very limited access to resources, the agency notes. These women are often vulnerable to having their land seized, even when there are laws that protect them- and they are not alone.

The UN humanitarian community is appealing for $300 million to provide life-saving aid to people of the Philippines affected by typhoon Haiyan.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) made the announcement on Tuesday in the capital, Manila.

According to government figures, an estimated 11.3 million people have been affected by the disaster and close to 700,000 have been forced out of their homes.

Jocelyne Sambira reports.

Duration: 2'52"

Citizens in countries of Latin America don’t feel safe because of crime, including robberies and murder, according to a report issued by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday.

The Regional Human Development Report (HDR) 2013-2014 is titled “Citizen Security with a Human Face: evidence and proposals for Latin America”.

It says insecurity is a shared challenge that obstructs social and economic development of every country in Latin America.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) needs more than $40 million to continue its work for this year.

That’s what Filippo Grandi, the UNRWA Commissioner General says in his annual report to the General Assembly’s Committee that deals with political and decolonization issues.

Mr. Grandi tells UN Radio’s Reem Abaza that he reported about the impact of the Syrian crisis on the situation of Palestinian refugees in the region.

Duration: 4’57”

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and the governments of Kenya and Somalia on Sunday signed an agreement on the return of Somali refugees from Kenya.

Kenya is hosting more than 470,000 Somali refugees, the majority of whom are in the large Dadaab refugee camps complex in the north-east of the country.

According to UNHCR, approximately 60,000 Somali refugees have already spontaneously returned home as the situation continues to stabilize in their country.