News about the Nobel Prize left me speechless: Dylan

Oct 29, 2016, at 01:40 pm

London, Oct 29 (IBNS): Breaking his silence American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan has said the news that he was to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature left him 'speechless'.

UN agricultural agency launches programme to eradicate deadly goat disease

Oct 29, 2016, at 05:07 am

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): The United Nations agricultural agency on Friday launched the first phase of a new, 15-year global programme to eradicate a highly contagious viral animal disease affecting more than 70 countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia, which account for about 80 per cent of the world’s sheep and goats and where millions of families depend heavily on these animals for nutrition and livelihoods.

Landmark accord agreed on world's largest marine sanctuary for Antarctica's Ross Sea – UN

Oct 29, 2016, at 05:06 am

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) welcomed a unanimous decision on Friday from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to create the world's largest protected area – land or marine – in the Antarctic's Ross Sea.

UN expert panel cites crimes against humanity committed by Eritrean authorities dating back 25 years

Oct 29, 2016, at 05:05 am

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Eritrean officials have committed crimes against humanity since 1991, including enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder, a member of the former United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the country reported to UN Member States.

INTERVIEW: New global compact “should make a difference” in lives of refugees and migrants – outgoing UN Special Adviser

Oct 29, 2016, at 05:04 am

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): The adoption of what has been dubbed the “New York Declaration” should make a difference in the lives of refugees and migrants, an outgoing UN Special Adviser has underscored.

Nearly 8,000 families abducted by ISIL from Mosul vicinity – UN rights office

Oct 29, 2016, at 05:03 am

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Credible reports suggest that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) has been forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in sub-districts around Mosul, including nearly 8,000 families the group abducted, since the operations to restore Iraqi Government control over Mosul began on 17 October, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday.

Global treaties provide blueprint to ‘seal cracks’ in legal regime on human trafficking – UN anti-crime chief

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:49 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Tackling human trafficking is not a simple or trivial pursuit, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Thursday, urging States to implement all provisions of the so-called ‘Palermo protocol,’ the nearly universal UN treaty that contains a ‘blueprint’ for successfully preventing and supressing the scourge while punishing perpetrators.

‘We are not giving up,’ despite evacuation failure – UN envoys on Syria

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:48 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Expressing their disappointment that the sick and wounded were not evacuated from Syria’s war-torn eastern Aleppo, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria and his Senior Advisor on Thursday vowed to press on with their efforts to extract those with medical emergencies and get assistance to those with desperate needs inside the city.

Persons with disabilities must benefit from – and contribute to – development, says UN expert

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:47 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Persons with disabilities should have a leading say on the policies that impact them, a United Nations human rights expert told the General Assembly, while stressing the important role that member states play to ensure those disabled benefit from and contribute to development.

As fires burn through Calais ‘Jungle,’ UNICEF urges protection of children remaining in the camp

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:46 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): “Deeply troubled” that last night, while fires burned in parts of the Calais refugee and migrant camp that has become known as “the Jungle” burned, many children were forced to sleep out in the cold, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday underscored that authorities on the ground must guarantee their protection.

UN health strategy making access to new, revolutionary hepatitis C treatment possible

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:45 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): According to the United Nations heath agency, since the approval of new medicines for hepatitis C – offering a cure rate of over 95 per cent, fewer side effects and complete cure within three months – about two years back, more than one million patients in low- and middle-income countries have been treated.

Destruction of cultural heritage is an attack on people and their fundamental rights – UN expert

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:44 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): When cultural heritage is under attack, it is also the people and their fundamental human rights that are under attack, a United Nations expert warned the UN General Assembly, issuing an urgent call to step up international action against the destruction of heritage such as monuments, historic sites and sacred places.

ISIL’s ‘scorched earth policy’ creating environmental and health havoc in Mosul, warns UN

Oct 28, 2016, at 01:43 pm

New York, Oct 28 (Just Earth News): Environmental pollution is adding “complexity and danger” to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the military offensive in Mosul, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Thursday, warning that fumes from burning stockpiles of sulphur dioxide, and oil wells that have been set ablaze, have led to further suffering for civilians in northern Iraq.

‘It’s your story – don’t lose it,’ UNESCO says marking World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

Oct 28, 2016, at 04:26 am

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): Archives are humanity’s collective memory bank, maintained in many public and private organizations, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said on Thursday, urging all public and private entities as well as relevant professionals to take urgent action to safeguard audiovisual works and records ‘as an integral part of our shared heritage.”

Severe hunger in southern Madagascar likely persist into 2017 due to drought-hit crops, UN warns

Oct 28, 2016, at 04:24 am

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): The impact of severe El Niño-induced drought on crop production in southern Madagascar, where nearly 850,000 people are acutely food insecure, is likely to persist into 2017 and requires an intensified humanitarian response, the United Nations agriculture agency said on Thursday.

Syria: Latest school attack in Idlib 'an outrage' and 'one more scar on future' – UNICEF chief

Oct 28, 2016, at 04:15 am

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday that the latest school attack in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib may be “the deadliest” one since the war begin more than five years ago, and is a war crime if deliberate.

Japan: Prince Mikasa dies of heart failure, aged 100

Oct 27, 2016, at 08:20 pm

Tokyo, Oct 27 (IBNS): Prince Mikasa of Japan, the uncle of Emperor Akihito, died on Thursday of heart failure, reports said.

Two earthquakes hit Italy

Oct 27, 2016, at 02:32 pm

Rome, Oct 27 (IBNS): Two earthquakes hit central Italy on Wednesday, triggering panic in the nation.

‘Stop draining the blood of Syrians’ – UN relief chief’s appeal to the Security Council

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:47 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): In another impassioned plea to the United Nations Security Council urging action to stop the bloodshed in war-ravaged Syria, the top UN humanitarian official stressed that since his last briefing to the body (on 29 September), 400 more Syrians had been killed and close to 2,000 injured in eastern Aleppo.

New solutions needed to tackle mounting sovereign debt crisis – UN trade and development agency

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:44 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): Prior to a meeting on Wednesday at the United Nations on sovereign debt restructuring, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that in order to deal with sovereign debt crises – which are creating a growing threat to economic stability in many developing countries – the world is in need of new ways to tackle the problem.

Statistical capabilities need major upgrade to achieve 2030 Agenda – UN agriculture chief

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:43 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): “Tremendous” efforts and increased investments are expected from countries and international organizations in order to improve national statistical capacities in achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Zero Hunger target, José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said on Wednesday in Rome.

US abstains for first time in annual UN vote on ending embargo against Cuba

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:42 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): In a near unanimous action, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution underlining the need to end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba, while also welcoming progress in the relations between the two countries.

General Assembly can take steps to reduce violence against persons with albinism – UN rights expert

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:41 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): United Nations human rights expert Ikponwosa Ero called upon government representatives gathered in New York for the General Assembly to take swift action to end a growing problem of violence and severe discrimination against people with albinism.

‘Nothing is more powerful than the human spirit,’ Ban tells memorial honouring fallen UN staff

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:40 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): Joined by staff and families of the women and men of the United Nations who lost their lives between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2016, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a memorial service at UN Headquarters on Wednesday that “those who destroy may think bombs and bullets are the most powerful force […] but nothing is more powerful than the human spirit.”

UN aid agencies stepping up assistance for those fleeing Mosul fighting

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:39 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): As newly-displaced Iraqis are starting to arrive at camps set up by the United Nations for people fleeing the ongoing military offensive to wrest Mosul from terrorists, the Organization’s health and refugee agencies have ramped up their own operations to provide assistance and to respond to what has thus far been a ‘moderate’ influx.

‘Nigeria faces worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” warns senior UN relief official

Oct 27, 2016, at 01:35 pm

New York, Oct 27 (Just Earth News): With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, “Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned on Wednesday.

South Sudan: UN human rights chief warns of ‘alarming rise’ in ethnic hate speech

Oct 27, 2016, at 04:41 am

New York, Oct 26 (Just Earth News): An alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South Sudan has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to issue a warning that if the community and political leaders at the highest levels do not rein it in, mass atrocities in the country could erupt.

Ban condemns outbreak of violence and attacks on UN mission in Central African Republic

Oct 27, 2016, at 04:38 am

New York, Oct 26 (Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the outbreak of violence, on 24 October, in the Central African Republic's (CAR) capital, Bangui, that killed at least four civilians and injured nine others.

Fires engulf parts of France's Calais migrant camp

Oct 26, 2016, at 06:06 pm

Calais, France, Oct 26 (IBNS): An overnight fire engulfed parts of a migrant camp in France's Calais, reports said on Wednesday.

‘We have to do the right thing,’ deputy UN chief says on intensified response to cholera outbreak in Haiti

Oct 26, 2016, at 01:36 pm

New York, Oct 26 (Just Earth News): Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson on Tuesday urged the international community to show solidarity with the Haitian people as they struggle to cope with the impact Hurricane Matthew and an ongoing cholera epidemic, particularly through financial support for the new United Nations system-wide approach to tackle the spread of the disease.