Everyone feels sad every now and then, but constant feelings of sadness, guilt or low self-worth, as well as disturbed sleep or appetite, could be symptoms of depression, according to mental health professionals. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 350 million people across the planet are currently suffering from depression, or have had [...]
More than 100 Iraqi refugees began a process of being resettled from Turkey to Germany on Tuesday. Many of the refugees, who include families with children, have lived in Turkey for years. IOM Spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe says the refugees, who took a charter flight from Ankara to Hanover, will undergo a two-week of orientation [...]
Human rights abuses in northern Mali are continuing, but have changed in nature, says Ivan Šimonović, the UN's Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. Mr. Šimonović recently returned from a four-day visit to Mali, where he says women are the primary victims since extremist Islamic groups have taken control of the region. Charles Appel reports. Ivan [...]
The former Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi, has been appointed Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Sahel region of Africa. Countries of the North African region stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean are facing turmoil, extreme climatic conditions and fragile economies. UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky says Mr. Prodi [...]
Six people have been confirmed drowned and ten are still missing after a small vessel carrying 24 passengers capsized off the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean on Monday. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says this is the second such tragedy in a month, bringing to 69 the number of people who have [...]
The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone will soon complete its final case, that of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. That's what the Court's President Justice Shireen Avis Fisher told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. “That final judgement will determine Mr. Taylor's guilt or innocence. The Court will then transition to residual status and [...]
Pakistan on Tuesday became the first country in South Asia to introduce a vaccine to protect children from pneumonia. The initiative has been launched by the Pakistani Ministry of Health, the GAVI Alliance, which is a public-private global health partnership, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. UNICEF spokesperson, Marixie Mercado says that pneumonia is [...]
Hunger remains a serious problem in the world today with almost 870 million people chronically malnourished, according to a report released on Tuesday. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (SOFI) has been jointly published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World [...]
Representatives from up to 160 countries are meeting in Hyderabad, India, to review progress on a 10-year plan for the planet's biodiversity; that is the various forms of life on Earth such as plants, animals and even microbes. One of the aims of the conference is to mobilize more resources to implement targets under the [...]
The world economy is not expected to grow significantly, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In its latest World Economic Forecast, the IMF projects global growth to reach 3.3 per cent this year. The twin fears over the future of the Euro zone and what has been described as "the fiscal cliff" in [...]
Nearly 870 million people around the world – one in eight — are chronically undernourished, according to a report released on Tuesday. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) says the [...]
United Nations has been forced to temporarily relocate its staff working in the Sudanese city of Kadugli in South Kordofan province after motor shells landed near the UN premises in the city. The UN Office for the Co-ordination for Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) says several motor rounds landed near the UN Children's fund (UNICEF) offices, a local [...]
