General News

A campaign has been launched to totally eradicate a devastating livestock disease that affects small ruminants like sheep and goats.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) made the announcement at a meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which is focusing on the disease known as Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR).

The PPR, which is often referred to as a “goat plague” is a menacing disease for pastoralists and causes global losses of at least US$1.45 billion each year.

Approximately 9.8 million people in Syria need assistance to prevent food insecurity as the conflict continues in the country, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The agency on Tuesday presented an appeal for US$121 million at the Third International Pledging Conference on Syria, which took place in Kuwait City.

FAO says the assistance is urgently needed to strengthen agricultural production in communities across Syria as well as in neighbouring countries.

The deaths of two Iraqi men who were refused entry to Bulgaria and then assaulted has prompted calls for a “independent and transparent” probe into the incident.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that the men who died were with a group of 12 Yazidi Iraqis, the ethnic minority that’s been persecuted by extremists who invaded the Middle East country last June.

A South African high school student says that participating in Model UN activities has helped him to better understand the work of the United Nations.

Victor Asiwe from Potchefstroom was one of eleven South African students who participated in the Model UN Conference held in Washington D.C. in the United States in March this year.

Model UN gets students involved in tackling global issues and challenges by having them simulate the work of government delegates in conferences and debates.

International donors are being urged at a meeting in Kuwait to contribute funds to support humanitarian work to deal with what has been described as the “savagery” of the Syria crisis.

The UN says more than 200,000 people have died in the four year civil war there and millions are in need of aid.

Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian affairs, is in Kuwait for what is the third pledging conference on Syria.

Last year, donors pledged US$2.4 billion.

Daniel Dickinson began by asking Ms Amos about the current situation in Syria.

Boko Haram terrorists continue their violent attacks and human rights abuses against civilians in north-east Nigeria and neighbouring countries, the Security Council was told on Monday.

The terrorists threatened to intensify their activities during general elections that were held over the weekend.

The group recently pledged allegiance to the so-called ISIL extremists who have carried out atrocities in Iraq and Syria.

Stephanie Coutrix reports.

Duration: 3'50"

An apparent airstrike at a camp for people displaced by fighting in Yemen has left 40 people dead, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday.

IOM spokesperson Joel Millman said that the attack near the town of Harad in the north-west of the country had also injured 200 people, 25 of them “severely”.

Humanitarian workers with the UN partner agency working elsewhere in the country have also reported explosions, including in the capital Sanaa, Millman told Daniel Johnson.

An exhibit showcasing photos and messages of people who have benefited from projects to provide water and sanitation services around the world was unveiled on Monday.

The exhibit, entitled “Water for Life Voices” is in the visitors’ lobby of the UN Headquarters in New York.

It highlights progress that has been made in providing water and sanitation, as well as the challenges that persist.

Josefina Maestu, Director of the UN Office to Support the International Decade for Action on “Water for Life” from 2005 to 2015, gave Derrick Mbatha a tour of the exhibit.

Major shifts in the demand for skills are taking place in the global jobs market, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

A recent study by the ILO highlights how jobs considered “middle-skilled”, like accounting or clerical work, are declining.

This is reportedly due to many of these jobs being done by computers.

Carla Drysdale spoke with ILO Economist Christian Viegelahn and filed the following report.

Duration: 2’26”

The clean-up operation is continuing in Vanuatu following the cyclone that devastated the country earlier in the month.

The United Nations has launched a near $30 million appeal to support the Pacific island nation as it recovers from the disaster.

Daniel Dickinson reports.

Duration: 2'34"