New York (UNDP)* — A staggering 455 million of the world’s poor live in countries exposed to violent conflict, hindering and even reversing hard-won progress to reduce poverty, according to the latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released on 17 October 2024.
The report includes an in-depth case study on Afghanistan, where 5.3 million more people fell into multidimensional poverty during the turbulent period 2015/16–2022/23. In 2022/23, nearly two-thirds of Afghans were poor. UNDP Afghanistan
During the first seven months of the war, Israel is estimated to have dropped more than 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, far surpassing that of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.
Based on reported and estimated mortality, it appears clear that the Palestinian death toll in Gaza is among the highest civilian mortality rates of the 21st century. Credit: WHO
PORTLAND, USA, Oct 17 2024 (IPS)* – Following the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants, Israel’s response has led to unprecedented high mortality levels in the Gaza Strip.
Oxfam and 37 other humanitarian organisations are raising the alarm about the catastrophic situation in Northern Gaza
The Israeli airstrikes destroyed Al Zahra City. Residential towers in the Gaza Strip were turned into rubble during an Israeli airstrike, with at least twenty-five residential towers being targeted. Source of photo:OXFAM: https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/emergencies/crisis-gaza.
15 October 2024 (OXFAM)* —The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map.
(UN News)* —Deadly Israeli airstrikes hit targets across Lebanon on Wednesday [], prompting renewed condemnation from top UN negotiators and humanitarians, who warned that essential services in the south of the country are close to collapse.
Preventing malnutrition is central to WFP’s strategy – but access and funding pose key roadblocks
Paulema Rodeline nurses 7-month-old Kermissa at a centre for displaced people in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: WFP/Tanya Birkbeck
(WFP)* —In Gaza, Ikhlas recounts pulling her daughter from the rubble of another bombardment, as she was pregnant with her fourth child. “We escaped death,” she says, speaking from the southern city of Rafah. “We live on whatever aid is distributed.”
Rural earn 82% for every dollar that men earn. Climate change has a more pronounced impact on women, primarily indigenous and peasant women
Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change.
Women engaged in wage employment in agriculture earn 82 cents for every dollar that men earn, according to a recent FAO report. PHOTO:Sasint/Adobe Stock
As farmers, women have learned how to cope with and adapt to climate change, for example, by practicing sustainable agriculture in harmony with nature, switching to drought-resistant seeds, employing low-impact or organic soil management techniques, or leading community-based reforestation and restoration efforts.
The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population yet, hunger persists. Around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world due to repeated weather shocks, conflicts, economic downturns, inequality, and the pandemic.
10 Oct 2024 – As someone on the Pentagon’s mailing list, I was recently sent a question:
‘How do you think the Pentagon is faring and what suggestions do you have to improve our performance?
.
My reply:
Dear Pentagon,
For those who love wars, watching the death of millions of innocent people of all ages killed by bullets, landmines, grenades, bombs, ballistic and cruise missiles, torpedoes and laser beams, the Pentagon is doing fantastically well!
For those who don’t mind the 120 million people the War industry forced, since the end of WWII, abandon their homes to avoid and early death, the Pentagon is their model organization.
(UN News)* — A second round of polio vaccinations for thousands of children began in central Gaza on Monday [] despite reported strikes on a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat and a hospital courtyard in Deir Al-Balah where “multiple tents” were set ablaze as people slept.
“Throughout the night, I spoke to a colleague sheltering in the compound who told me, ‘We miraculously survived, the fire caught everywhere even the tent where we were sleeping burnt. The scene is terrifying,’” said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
WWF’s flagship Living Planet Report details sharp declines in monitored wildlife populations with the steepest drops recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean (95%), Africa (76%) and Asia–Pacific (60%), followed by North America (39%) and Europe and Central Asia (35%).
Washington, DC (October 9, 2024) –There has been a catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations* in just 50 years (1970-2020), according to World Wildlife Fund‘s (WWF) Living Planet Report 2024.
10 Oct 2024 – As someone on the Pentagon’s mailing list, I was recently sent a question:
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 