New York, Feb 22 (JEN): A future with zero net global deforestation is possible with the right mix of policies, social action and political will, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said as a major international conference on sustainable forest management kicked off this week in Rome.
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): Every two weeks, one of the world’s languages disappears, along with the human history and cultural heritage that accompanies it, the chief of the United Nations cultural agency warned on Wednesday, calling for greater efforts to preserve and promote mother languages and indigenous languages, to bolster inclusion, diversity and ultimately, sustainable development.
UN chief ‘deeply alarmed’ by escalating hostilities in Syria’s east Ghouta
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): Deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in Syria’s east Ghouta, the United Nations has reiterated a call for an end to hostilities so that the sick and wounded can be immediately evacuated and humanitarian aid deliveries can reach those in need.
12 military personnel injured in a bus explosion in Sri Lanka
Colombo Feb 21 (IBNS): Twelve military personnel and seven civilians have been injured in an explosion inside a private bus in Diyatalawa, in the hill country of Sri Lanka this morning.
Canada: Patrick Brown's fate in Ontario PC leadership will be decided today
Toronto, Feb 21 (IBNS): Resigned Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown's bid to run for the party leadership in the next election will be decided on Wednesday, media reports said.
Afghanistan: At least eight killed in Herat road accident
Kabul, Feb 21 (IBNS): At least eight people have been reported dead in an accident in Afghanistan's Herat province.
Terror financing: FATF allows Pakistan three-month period to clean up act
Islamabad, Feb 21 (IBNS): Pakistan has been granted a period of three months by Paris-based Financial Action Task Force to clean up its act pertaining to terror funding, reports said.
Canada: Most First nations' families do not have access to childhood development program
Ottawa, Feb 20 (IBNS): The federal program designed in 2003 for early childhood development on First Nations was accessible only to 18 to 19 percent of eligible First Nations children across the country, media reports said.
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Iraqi civilians, driven from their homes in fear by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, Da’esh), are now starting to make their way back home after the terrorist group has been uprooted from its bastions in the country, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported.
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Cautioning that the Tanganyika region in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo could be engulfed by a humanitarian disaster of “extraordinary proportions,” the United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday urged the Government to ensure protection of civilians.
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): After over a century of hostilities including 50 years of continued military occupation, Israelis and Palestinians are still no closer to peace, a United Nations special envoy said on Tuesday, warning that even as many in the region have lost hope for positive change, the enemies of peace are growing more confident by the day.
World is failing newborns; UNICEF says global mortality rates remain ‘alarmingly high’
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Newborns are dying at “alarmingly high” rates in countries that are poor, conflict-ridden or have weak institutions, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday in a new report, which reveals that babies born in these places are 50 times more likely to die in the first month of life than those born in some wealthier nations.
Civilian situation in Syria’s east Ghouta ‘spiraling out of control,’ warns UN aid official
New York, Feb 21 (IBNS): The humanitarian situation of civilians in Syria’s east Ghouta is spiraling out of control, a senior United Nation aid official has warned in the wake of escalating conflict which resulted in more than 40 civilian deaths on Monday alone.
Canada's Governor General Julie Payette visits Ontario for the first time
Ottawa, Feb 21 (IBNS): During her first official visit to Ontario this morning, Canada's Governor General Julie Payette was received with a ceremonial welcome at the Legislative Assembly in Toronto, media reports said.