World unites at UN Environment Assembly to combat ‘triple planetary crisis’

World unites at UN Environment Assembly to combat ‘triple planetary crisis’

More than 7,000 delegates from 182 countries are scheduled to take part in the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) which runs through Friday. Delegates are convening in the Kenyan capital as climate change intensifies, a million species face the risk of extinction, and pollution remains among the world’s leading causes of…

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World News in Brief: Unprecedented cholera spike in Africa, Julian Assange extradition update, locusts compound Sudan crisis

World News in Brief: Unprecedented cholera spike in Africa, Julian Assange extradition update, locusts compound Sudan crisis

Dr. Fiona Braka from WHO’s regional office in Brazzaville, Congo, said that eastern and southern Africa have been particularly badly affected. In just the first four weeks of the year, 10 African countries reported more than 26,000 cases and 700 deaths, which is nearly double the number reported last year over the same period. Zambia…

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World News in Brief: Artificial Intelligence pledge, child abuse online, Sudan crisis deepens

World News in Brief: Artificial Intelligence pledge, child abuse online, Sudan crisis deepens

Lenovo Group, LG AI Research, Mastercard, Microsoft, Salesforce, Telefonica, GSMA network of mobile phone operators, and INNIT have pledged to “integrate the values and principles” of UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI when designing and deploying AI systems. The announcement came at the UN education, science and culture agency’s  Global Forum on AI, taking place…

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UPDATING LIVE: Crisis in the Middle East

UPDATING LIVE: Security Council to meet on Middle East crisis over US strikes

Video of the Security Council meeting. 4:05 PM More attacks across Middle East fuel chances of miscalculation The UN’s Political Affairs chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, is briefing ambassadors first. She said that as everyone in the diplomatic world is all too aware, “the tensions that have engulfed multiple countries in the Middle East continue to rise.”…

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Gaza: Aid operations in peril amid funding crisis

Gaza: Aid operations in peril amid funding crisis

“It’s difficult to imagine that Gazans will survive this crisis without UNRWA…“(we) have received reports that people in the area are grinding bird feed to make flour,” said Thomas White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza and UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.   Citing “colossal” needs now facing over two million people…

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