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UN News/Matt Wells

Leading Palestinian legislator calls for ‘new international engagement’ in two-state solution

Describing a viable two-state solution to peace in the Middle East as “very much in doubt”, a leading Palestinian legislator called on Wednesday for “new international engagement” to move the process forward.

Executive Committee Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, described the deaths and injuries of Palestinians at the Gaza border on Monday as a “massacre”, adding that Palestinians everywhere were one people, who “share the same pain, the same sorrows, the same aspirations, the same hopes”.

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7'50"
Bloomberg Philanthropies/Kuni Takahashi

WHO announces $350 billion ‘reward’ for tackling chronic killers

Eight million lives or more could be saved between now and 2030 if the planet’s poorest countries spent a little over $1 dollar a day per person to combat chronic diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

For the first time, the economic rewards of such funding have been calculated and shared with these nations' health authorities — $350 billion if they scale up prevention measures and treatment of common killers, including heart disease and cancer.

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4'4"

Obese people more likely to smoke, says new gene research: WHO

New research indicates that people who are genetically prone to being overweight have a higher risk of being a smoker, and they are likely to smoke more than average, according to a World Health Organization agency whose study has identified for the first time around 70 genes that could explain this behaviour.

Dr. Paul Brennan from the International Agency for Research on Cancer spoke to Daniel Johnson.

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3'58"
OCHA/Mustafa El Halabi

Gaza hospitals, already under pressure, struggle to absorb wounded demonstrators

UN agencies and their partners are supporting hospitals and health centres in Gaza as they struggle to treat scores of people injured on Monday during demonstrations at the border with Israel.

Jamie McGoldrick, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who spent most of that day at a major hospital, told Dianne Penn that hospitals were “overwhelmed” by the numbers in need of emergency treatment.

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7'9"