(UN News)* — The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has called for “urgent international support” as the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reaches 123 million, with ongoing conflicts in Lebanon, Sudan and other areas driving further displacement.
In a statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly, Mr. Grandi highlighted the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Lebanon, where Israeli airstrikes have caused massive civilian casualties and infrastructure damage, including schools, hospitals and roads. .“The humanitarian consequences are overwhelming and require urgent international support,” he stated, noting that 470,000 people have crossed into Syria in recent weeks.
NEW YORK, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)* – On the day following the US election, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres issued a brief statement commending the people of the United States for their active participation in the democratic process.
Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, addresses the General Debate of the General Assembly’s 75th session September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Geneva, 6 November 2024 – Climate change is taking a toll on the six countries of the Caucasus, causing glaciers to shrink and impacting river flows, finds a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report launched ahead of the UNFCCC COP29.
Photo credit: Ansgar Fellendorf
Glaciers have already retreated by an average of 600 metres over the past century, while more than 11 billion tonnes of freshwater — previously stored in ice — has been lost since the year 2000, according to the second edition of the Caucasus Environment Outlook (CEO-2) report.
MANAMA & NAIROBI, Nov 7 2024 (IPS)* –The Arab region is among the most water-scarce areas globally, as nearly 392 million people live in countries facing water scarcity or absolute water scarcity.
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Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development met in Bahrain to to address water scarcity. Credit: APDA
So dire is the situation that, of the 22 Arab countries, 19 fall below the annual threshold for water scarcity in renewable resources, defined as 1,000 cubic meters per person. Worst still, 13 countries fall below the absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cubic meters per person per year.
The carbon footprint of a super-rich European, accumulated from nearly a week of using super yachts and private jets, matches the lifetime carbon footprint of someone in the world’s poorest 1 percent, a new Oxfam report on 28 October 2024 reveals.
The first-of-its-kind study, “Carbon Inequality Kills”, tracks the emissions from private jets, yachts and polluting investments and comes ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, amidst growing fears that climate breakdown is accelerating, driven largely by the emissions of the richest people.
“The super-rich in Europe are treating our planet like their personal playground. Their dirty investments, their private jets and yachts are not just symbols of excess; they are fuelling inequality, hunger and even death”, said Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU tax expert.
4 November 2024 — With millions of people already displaced by climate change disasters in Africa, the richer countries most responsible for global warming must agree at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan to fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods taking place across the continent, Amnesty International said.
(UN News)* — War in Sudan has devastated towns and cities across the country and pushed the healthcare system to collapse, just as cases of cholera and dengue fever are surging and hunger levels remain “above the famine threshold”, humanitarians have warned.
In an alert from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, it reported more than 28,000 cases of cholera and 836 deaths in 11 states between 22 July and 28 October.
KAMPALA, Uganda / NEW JERSEY, USA, Nov 5 2024 (IPS)* – Africa has had a terrible record dealing with extreme poverty.
The late Adebayo Adedeji, the legendary head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), campaigned vigorously but unsuccessfully in the 1980s against the IMF and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programmes, contending that these contributed to poverty’s increase.
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Credit: African Union
The continent’s economic growth plummeted rapidly in that decade by an average of 2.5 per cent annually, hitting the already poor the hardest.
Hard as it is to believe, things have gotten much worse since then for the poor.
TUCSON, Arizona, US, Nov 4 2024 (IPS)* – A small incident in the mounting mayhem of the 2024 elections crystalized the state of the dark art of politics in these United States. In Springfield, Ohio, a small midwestern industrial city, a woman named Anna Kilgore noticed that her cat, Miss Sassy, had been missing for a few days. Kilgore notified the police that she feared her kitty might have been caught and eaten by the Haitian immigrants who lived next door.
Artist’s conception of Miss Sassy chilling at the day spa (Actually, our kitten Brinca chilling at the day spa). Photo: Peter Costantini
A few days later, Miss Sassy showed up in Kilgore’s basement, uneaten. The woman, to her credit, apologized to her neighbors.
24 Oct 2024 – It’s been a long time but worth remembering, if you can, that when the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, the whole world watched in horror.
Edward J. Curtin
The events of that day were repeated on television over and over and over again, to the point where they became afterimages lodged in people’s minds.
As a result, although the buildings were not brought down by the impact of planes (no plane hit Building 7) but by explosives planted in the buildings (see this and this, among extensive evidence), most people thought otherwise, just as they thought that the subsequent linked anthrax attacks were directed by Osama bin Laden when they were eventually proven to have originated from a U.S. military lab (thus an inside job), and, as a result of a massive Bush administration/corporate media propaganda campaign, most Americans supported the invasion of Afghanistan, the subsequent invasion of Iraq, and decades of endless wars that continue to this day, bringing us to the edge of nuclear war with Iran and Russia.
Photo credit: Ansgar Fellendorf
The first-of-its-kind study, “Carbon Inequality Kills”, tracks the emissions from private jets, yachts and polluting investments and comes ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, amidst growing fears that climate breakdown is accelerating, driven largely by the emissions of the richest people. 
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 