UNITED NATIONS: Hunger is growing and the world is not on track to end extreme poverty by 2030 and meet other UN goals, mainly because progress is being undermined by the impact of climate change and increasing inequality, a UN report said Tuesday.
The report on progress toward achieving the 17 UN goals notes achievements in some areas, including a 49% fall in child mortality between 2000 and 2017 as well as electricity now reaching nearly 90% of the world’s population.
But Liu Zhenmin, the UN undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, said that despite some advances, “monumental challenges remain.”
He said at a news conference the most urgent area for action is climate change, which “may impact the progress made over the last several decades” in reducing poverty and improving life for millions of people around the world.
According to the report, biodiversity loss is happening at an accelerated rate, and “the risk of species extinction has worsened by almost 10 percent over the last 25 years.” Global temperatures have risen, ocean acidity has increased 26% since pre-industrial times and “investment in fossil fuels continues to be higher than investment in climate activities,” it said.
Liu said the report also shows “inequality is rising and too many people are left behind.” He said that “is another big challenge for the world.”
The first of the 17 goals adopted by world leaders in 2015 is to eliminate extreme poverty — people living on less than $1.90 a day — and the second goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture. According to the report, neither goal is likely to be achieved by 2030.
While the number of people living in extreme poverty declined to 8.6% of the world’s population in 2018, the report said the pace is slowing and projections suggest that 6% of people will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030 if current trends continue.
Francesca Perucci, chief statistician in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said an estimated 736 million people still living in extreme poverty globally, including 413 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Extreme poverty today is concentrated and overwhelmingly affects rural populations,” the report said. “Increasingly, it is exacerbated by violent conflicts and climate change.”
While Liu said there has been “good progress” on 16 of the UN goals, he said that “there’s been no good progress” on ending hunger, which he called “a tragedy for the international community.” He said the most direct impact of climate change is on agricultural production, a key factor in increasing hunger.
According to the report, the number of people going hungry has increased since 2014. “An estimated 821 million people were undernourished in 2017,” up from 784 million in 2015 and the same number as in 2010, it said.
The worst hit region is sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of undernourished people increased from 195 million in 2014 to 237 million in 2017, the report said.
On education, it warned that proficiency in reading and mathematics is “shockingly” low. “Globally, an estimated 617 million children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age — more than 55 percent of the global total — lacked minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics in 2015.”
The report said women represent 39% of the workforce but hold only 27% of managerial positions. It said 785 million people had no access to clean drinking water in 2017 while 673 million lacked good sanitation systems, the majority of them in southern Asia.
Perucci said 80% of people worldwide are online, but only 45% of those living in developing countries and just 20% in the least developed countries have access to the Internet.
“It is abundantly clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response in needed to unleash the social and economic transformation needed to achieve our 2030 goals,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report’s forward.
UN: Climate change undercutting work to end poverty, hunger
UN: Climate change undercutting work to end poverty, hunger
- The most urgent area for action is climate change, which “may impact the progress made over the last several decades” in reducing poverty
- Global temperatures have risen, ocean acidity has increased 26% since pre-industrial times and investment in fossil fuels continues to be high
Saudi previously sought extradition for Germany attack suspect: source close to government
- Saudi Arabia had warned Germany “many times” about Taleb Jawad Al-Abdulmohsen
- He made online death threats and previously had trouble with the law,
“There was (an extradition) request,” said the source, without giving the reason for the request, adding that Riyadh had warned he “could be dangerous.” The attack on Friday evening killed five people.
Saudi Arabia had warned Germany “many times” about Taleb Jawad Al-Abdulmohsen, the source said. He did not explain in what way he was considered potentially dangerous.
The 50-year-old psychiatrist, who had made online death threats and previously had trouble with the law, also helped Saudi women flee their country.
On social media, Abdulmohsen portrayed himself as a victim of persecution who had renounced Islam and decried what he said was the Islamization of Germany.
He arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later, according to German media and a Saudi activist.
Retiring US Senator Cardin ‘very concerned’ about Trump and human rights
WASHINGTON: Days before he retires as chairman of the influential US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Ben Cardin acknowledged worries about human rights being less of a US priority during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
“I don’t want to prejudge, but I am very concerned that protecting human rights may not be as important as other objectives he’s trying to get done,” Cardin told Reuters in an interview, when asked about Trump, a Republican, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20.
Cardin, 81, is leaving Congress at the end of this month after nearly 60 years in public office, the last 18 as a US senator from Maryland. Cardin became chairman of the foreign relations panel unexpectedly in September 2023, after he had announced his retirement, replacing fellow Democrat Bob Menendez, who faced felony bribery charges and was later convicted.
“I didn’t expect that, and I was looking forward to my last two years for many different reasons,” Cardin said.
Cardin is best known as a human rights advocate, notably for co-authoring the Global Magnitsky Act, named for a lawyer who exposed corruption in Russia before dying in prison after being beaten and denied medical care.
Cardin said the Senate, which is about to shift from a thin Democratic majority to Republican control, will have to push back against Trump, as it has in the past, and noted Trump’s willingness to impose Magnitsky sanctions during his first term.
Enacted in 2012, the Magnitsky Act mandated that the US government restrict travel and freeze assets of individuals who committed gross violations of human rights in Russia. In 2016 it became the Global act, extended to rights violators worldwide.
“It’s hard to predict. But Donald Trump, in his first presidency, he used the Magnitsky sanctions quite frequently and that was helpful,” Cardin said.
DEALS OR VALUES?
Cardin said Trump could be too eager to establish relations with autocratic leaders or cede too much in ending Russia’s war on Ukraine. During his successful campaign for re-election this year, Trump vowed to swiftly end the conflict, without giving details on how he might do so.
“So I recognize that Donald Trump likes to think of himself as a deal maker,” Cardin said. “And to me, I want to make sure that we don’t try to get an immediate deal that doesn’t represent our values. So I am concerned that he will look for a shortcut to foreign policy that could compromise some of our values.”
Cardin said he hoped the Senate, where Republicans will have a narrow 53-47 seat majority starting next month, could act as a balance to the incoming president. Trump, in his first term, had sought to slash foreign aid by 50 percent, but dropped the idea after both Republicans and Democrats pushed back.
A staunch supporter of Israel who has faced protests himself during the 14-month-long war in Gaza, Cardin acknowledged that Trump’s second presidency could complicate efforts toward Middle East peace and the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
But he said the desire of the US and its partners for an alliance to isolate Iran and recent changes in Syria were causes for optimism. “There’s a lot of things happening in the region to give us optimism that we can move past Gaza,” he said.
Trump in his first term, from 2017-2021, pulled the United States out of the UN Human Rights Council, praised autocrats such as Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and spoke out against funding humanitarian aid in major conflicts.
Cardin said he was confident Global Magnitsky would continue long after his retirement, noting that 30 countries are using it and it is the only major sanctions regime targeting individuals.
“It really puts the fear in the hearts of oligarchs. They don’t want to get on these lists,” Cardin said.
“It’s here to stay, and it’s solid,” he said.
Kabul hails Saudi Arabia’s decision to resume activities at Afghanistan embassy
- In November 2021, Saudi Arabia said it was resuming consular services in Afghanistan
- The Kingdom also provides humanitarian aid in the country through its KSrelief charity
Kabul: The Afghan foreign ministry on Monday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to resume its diplomatic operations in Kabul, more than three years after Riyadh withdrew its staff during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
“We are optimistic about the possibility of strengthening relations and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan through the resumption of these activities,” said Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Zia Ahmad in a statement.
“We will also be able to respond to the problems of Afghans residing in Saudi Arabia.”
Riyadh had posted its decision to resume diplomatic operations in Kabul on social media platform X.
“Based on the desire of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide all services to the brotherly Afghan people, it has been decided to resume the activities of the mission of the Kingdom in Kabul starting on December 22,” it said.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the level of Saudi representation in Kabul.
Riyadh on August 15, 2021 said it had withdrawn its diplomats from the Afghan capital because of the “unstable situation” created by the Taliban’s return to power following the United States’ withdrawal from the country.
In November 2021, Saudi Arabia said it was resuming consular services in Afghanistan. It also provides humanitarian aid in the country through its KSRelief organization.
The Taliban government remains unrecognized by any country.
Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries, the others being Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, that recognized the first Taliban government which came to power in 1996 and was overthrown by the US invasion of 2001.
Kremlin rejects media reports about Asma, Assad’s wife, seeking divorce and wanting to leave Russia
- Turkish and Arabic media reported on Sunday that Asma Assad had filed for divorce in Russia
MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday rejected Turkish media reports which suggested that Asma Assad, the British-born wife of former Syrian president Bashar Assad, wanted a divorce and to leave Russia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also rejected Turkish media reports which suggested that Assad had been confined to Moscow and had his property assets frozen.
Asked on a conference call if the reports corresponded to reality, Peskov said: “No they do not correspond to reality.”
Turkish and Arabic media reported on Sunday that Asma Assad had filed for divorce in Russia, where the Assad family were granted asylum this month after militants took control of Damascus following a lightning advance.
Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Sheikh Hasina’s family
- Sheikh Hasina fled to India after being toppled by a revolution in August
- Key allegations are connected to the funding of the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant
DHAKA: Bangladesh has launched a probe into the alleged $5 billion embezzlement connected to a Russian-backed nuclear power plant by ousted leader Sheikh Hasina and her family, the anti-corruption commission said Monday.
Along with Hasina, the now-former prime minister who fled to India after being toppled by a revolution in August, those subject to the inquiry include her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British lawmaker and government minister.
The allegations were raised by a writ seeking an investigation filed in the high court by Hasina’s political opponent, Bobby Hajjaj, chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement party.
“We seek justice through our court,” Hajjaj said on Monday.
Key allegations are connected to the funding of the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, the South Asian country’s first, which is bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.
A statement Monday from the commission said it had launched an inquiry into allegations that Hasina and family members had “embezzled $5 billion” from the Rooppur plant via “various offshore bank accounts in Malaysia.”
It said its investigations were examining “questionable procurement practices related to the overpriced construction” of the plant.
“The claims of kickbacks, mismanagement, money laundering, and potential abuse of power raise significant concerns about the integrity of the project and the use of public funds,” the commission said.
Graft allegations also include theft from a government building scheme for the homeless.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter on August 5 into exile in India, infuriating many Bangladeshis determined that she face trial for alleged “mass murder.”
It was not possible to contact Hasina for comment.
Siddiq has “denied any involvement in the claims” accusing her of involvement in embezzlement, according to a statement from the British prime minister’s office.
Joy, who is understood to be based in the United States, was also unavailable for comment.
