General News

The situation for people living in the Yemeni port city of Aden has been described as “harrowing” by the top United Nations relief official in the country.

An intensification of violence and conflict over the past four months has devastated the city and destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the majority of its people.

Johannes van der Klaauw, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, has just visited Aden.

Isabelle Dupuis asked him for an update.

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The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities have set a positive tone for full-fledged reunification talks, according to a senior UN official.

The United Nations has been working to bridge differences on the divided island of Cyprus since 1964.

For nearly 40 years, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been monitoring cessation of hostilities between that country and Israel.

The force’s mandate was expanded under Security Council resolution 1701 in the wake of the 2006 war between Israel and the outlawed group Hizbollah.

Major General Luciano Portolano of Italy is the chief and commander of the more than 10,000 troops serving with UNIFIL.

The gender gap is closing in Maldives, albeit slowly, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The Indian Ocean country has achieved gender parity in primary education while more girls are enrolling in higher levels of schooling.

However, women’s political participation remains a challenge as they make up only six per cent of politicians.

Dianne Penn spoke to Shoko Noda, UNDP Resident Coordinator in Maldives, to find out how the UN is supporting women’s empowerment there.

As an Indian living in Haiti, Prasad Ranganath feels it is very important that he preserve some of the traditions from back home.

When he arrived three and half years ago to work for the UN’s local radio station as a broadcast technician, he says he had no idea what to expect about his new life in the Caribbean.

But he did know he would try and keep ties with the several hundred other Indians in the country to make the transition far from his family a little easier.

When Ahmed Fahad left Iraq two years ago to pursue a PhD in the United States, he had what he described as “scary expectations.”

However, strong English language skills and a belief in what he called “the multicultural sense of communication” helped the father of three to survive.

Ahmed was one of 70 students from 42 countries who were winners of a UN-backed international essay contest promoting multilingualism.

Former Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio has been honoured by the United Nations for his decades of public service to the international community.

Mr Sampaio is one of the recipients of the first UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize, named after the first democratically elected leader of South Africa.

Also receiving the award is Dr Helena Ndume, a Namibian eye doctor who helped thousands of people avoid blindness.

South Sudan’s leaders have been urged by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief to pursue peace and to allow aid workers to perform their tasks in safety.

Stephen O’Brien on Friday visited a UN-run camp in the town of Bentiu, in Unity State, where up to 1,000 people are arriving each day to escape ongoing violence.

Nearly two years of fighting between government forces and those loyal to the former vice president has forced more than two million people in South Sudan to flee their homes.

Around 1.8 million children have had their schooling interrupted by fighting in Yemen and some youngsters are trying to write on the ground amid shortages, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Friday.

Citing months of intensive bombardment and street fighting in the Arabian peninsula country that have killed 365 children since late March, the humanitarian agency also says more than 3,600 school have closed so far.

Approximately 20,000 foreign combatants are fighting for extremist groups in conflicts such as the ongoing crisis in Syria.

That’s according to the Counter-Terrorism Committee which was established by the UN Security Council.

The Committee is meeting on Monday in Madrid, Spain, on strategies to address the threat presented by foreign terrorist fighters.

Carlota Fluxa spoke to Jean-Paul Laborde, its Executive Director, who says international efforts to halt their recruitment are “not quick enough.”