Virus toll nears 200,000 as UN pushes for global vaccine effort

The global coronavirus death toll approached 200,000 on Saturday as the United Nations launched an international push for a vaccine to defeat the pandemic.

Governments around the world are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has infected nearly 2.8 million people and left half of humanity under some form of lockdown.

The scale of the coronavirus pandemic has forced medical research on the virus to move at unprecedented speed, but effective treatments are still far off and the United Nations chief said the effort will require cooperation on a global scale.

"We face a global public enemy like no other," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a virtual briefing on Friday, asking for international organizations, world leaders and the private sector to join the effort.

"A world free of COVID-19 requires the most massive public health effort in history."


Any vaccine should be safe, affordable and available to all, Guterres said at the meeting, which was also attended by the leaders of Germany and France.

But notably absent were the leaders of China, where the virus first emerged late last year, and the United States, which has accused the UN's World Health Organization of not warning quickly enough about the original outbreak.

The spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, is increasing other medical risks as well with the WHO warning nearly 400,000 more people could die from malaria because of disruption to the supply of mosquito nets and medicines.

Saturday marked World Malaria Day, a disease which the WHO said could kill around 770,000 this year, or "twice as much as in 2018".

- Early stages -

With more than four billion people on lockdown or stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus, governments are weighing how to lift restrictions without causing a spike in infections and how to revive economies battered by weeks of closure.

The daily death toll in Western countries seems to be falling, a sign hopeful epidemiologists had been looking for, but the WHO has warned that other nations are still in the early stages of the fight.


Global COVID-19 deaths have climbed past 195,000, according to an AFP tally, but new reported cases appear to have leveled off at about 80,000 a day.

The United States is the hardest-hit country by far in the pandemic, recording more than 51,000 deaths and over 890,000 infections.

The UN chief's urgent vaccine appeal came a day after US President Donald Trump prompted outcry and ridicule with his suggestion that disinfectants be used to treat coronavirus patients.

As experts -- and disinfectant manufacturers -- rushed to caution against any such dangerous experiment, the president tried to walk back his comments, saying he had been speaking "sarcastically."

"I can't believe I have to say this, but please don't drink bleach," tweeted Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to face Trump in November's election.

The world's biggest economy has been hammered by the pandemic, with 26 million jobs lost since the crisis began, and American leaders are under pressure to find ways to ease social distancing measures.


Despite criticism from Trump, the governor of Georgia allowed some businesses, including nail salons and bowling alleys, to reopen on Friday, sparking both criticism and relief.

The mayor of the state's capital Atlanta condemned the "irresponsible" move, telling ABC News: "There is nothing essential about going to a bowling alley or giving a manicure in the middle of a pandemic."

In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended her stay-at-home order until May 15, but she eased some restrictions by allowing landscapers and bike mechanics to return to work, and ended prohibitions against golfing and motorboating.

- Lifting lockdown -

The unprecedented situation has left the world staring at its worst downturn since the Great Depression, and world leaders are trying to balance public health concerns with economic need.

Beyond the US, other countries have already started loosening restrictions.


Sri Lanka said it would lift a nationwide curfew on Monday after more than five weeks, as Belgium became the latest European nation to announce an easing from mid-May.

In France, which will be on lockdown until May 11, residents still confined to home have taken to praising health workers and protesting their frustrations with officials on painted banners hung outside their windows.

"Thank you to the caregivers, shame on the leaders" read one such banner hanging outside a building in a Paris suburb.

On the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand, people held vigils from the isolation of their own driveways to pay tribute to their war veterans on Anzac Day.

Official memorials were held behind closed doors.

Across the Muslim world, hundreds of millions of faithful also opened the Ramadan holy month under stay-at-home conditions, facing unprecedented bans on prayers in mosques and on the traditional large gatherings of families and friends to break the daily fast.

In the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque, usually packed with tens of thousands of people during Ramadan, was deserted.

"We are used to seeing the holy mosque crowded with people during the day, night, all the time," said Ali Mulla, the muezzin who gives the call to prayer at the Grand Mosque.

"I feel pain deep inside."

burs-qan/amj/pma/bmm

Agence France-Presse

Greta Thunberg berates leaders as UN climate summit falls short

UNITED NATIONS, United States — An emotional Greta Thunberg tore into world leaders at a UN climate summit Monday, accusing them of betraying her generation by failing to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, as announcements by major economies fell far short of expectations.

The Swedish teen's impassioned speech, in which she repeated the words "How dare you" four times, was the defining moment of the meeting, called by UN chief Antonio Guterres to reinvigorate the faltering Paris climate agreement.

Ahead of the conference, the United Nations issued a release saying 66 countries vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, along with 10 regions, 102 cities, and scores of businesses.

But pre-summit predictions of new, headline-grabbing commitments, particularly by the likes of China and India, failed to match reality, angering environmental groups.

The world's top scientists believe long-term temperature rise must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels to prevent runaway warming with catastrophic effects.

But rather than peaking, the level of emissions being released into the atmosphere are at an all-time high, triggering global weather hazards from heat waves to intense hurricanes and raging wildfires.

New data released Monday showed the 2019 Arctic sea ice minimum is ranked at second-lowest in the 41-year satellite record, effectively tied with 2007 and 2016.

"I shouldn't be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean," said Thunberg, 16, who has become the global face of a growing youth movement against climate inaction that mobilized millions in a worldwide strike on Friday.

"You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?" she thundered, her voice at times breaking with emotion.

Matters did not improve much as a succession of national leaders took to the podium saying they understood the gravity of the situation but then failing to announce concrete plans.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not say explicitly whether his country would enhance its commitments made under the Paris agreement -- though he did say it was working on more than doubling its renewable energy capacity.

There was also no new announcement by China, the world's biggest emitter. Senior foreign policy official Wang Yi spoke instead about the need for multilateralism, taking a veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris accord on taking office.

"The withdrawal of certain parties will not shake the collective will of the international community," he said.

Environmental and campaign groups reacted with almost unanimous disappointment.

"I think Greta's impassioned cry for sanity and for actually listening and acting based on the science was ignored," Greenpeace International chief Jennifer Morgan told AFP.

Trump surprise

Fewer than half of the 136 heads of government or state in New York this week to attend the UN General Assembly attended on Monday.

Trump, who announced his intent to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement and has heaped scorn on climate science, had been expected to skip the event but made a brief unscheduled appearance, spending a few minutes in the hall, where he applauded Modi's speech and then left.

Among those absent were President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, under whose leadership the Amazon rainforest is continuing to burn at record rates, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government has pursued an aggressively pro-coal agenda.

Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the Paris agreement, told AFP the summit that Chinese lack of action was linked to its internal politics as it prepares its next five-year-plan.

But she said that she saw progress too.

"The big win is these group of countries who are for net zero by 2050," she said.

"The next step is to have them explain how they do that and what they do immediately." 

Increased urgency

Earlier, opening the summit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win."

French President Emmanuel Macron invited his counterparts from Chile, Colombia and Bolivia to a meeting where $500 million in extra funds were pledged by major donors.

Macron also lauded Russia, which ratified the Paris agreement on Monday, and said Europe must do more, repeating a vow to close coal-fired plants by 2022.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, repeated recently announced pledges including $55 billion for a new innovation and technology package and net zero emissions by 2050.

And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK would double its climate change funding through an overseas development program to $14.4 billion over five years.

In his closing comments, Guterres emphasized the positives, highlighting the growing action from the corporate sector, commitments from countries to plant more than 11 billion trees.

But he added: "We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses, saying the next critical landmark would come at a conference in Santiago in December.

source: philstar.com

Finland tops world happiness rankings, South Sudan bottom — UN

HELSINKI, Finland — Finland ranked as the world's happiest country for the second year running while war-torn South Sudan sank to the least contented in a United Nations report released on Wednesday.

The Nordic nation of 5.5 million people, known for their love of forests, lakes and saunas, topped the study which used survey data asking citizens in 156 countries how happy they perceive themselves to be, as well as measures such as life expectancy, income and social support.

The other Nordic countries, as well as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand and Austria also made the top ten.


As well as performing well on all the indicators, the most content countries all tended to have very stable societies, with happiness levels changing comparatively little since 2005.

Despite the political turmoil brought by Brexit, Britain rose four places in the rankings to 15th.

The United States, meanwhile, continued its slide of recent years, dropping one spot to 19th place.

"This year's report provides sobering evidence of how addictions are causing considerable unhappiness and depression in the US," said professor Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report's authors.

The unhappiest nation was South Sudan, where the UN recently said 60 percent of people face food insecurity following a bloody civil war which has claimed the lives of an estimated 400,000 people.

Other conflict-ridden countries, such as Yemen, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic, also featured at the bottom of the table.

Released on the International Day of Happiness on March 20, the report warned that world happiness has declined in recent years, driven by a sustained fall in India, which this year ranked in 140th place.

This has coincided with a rise in negative feelings, "comprising worry, sadness and anger, especially marked in Asia and Africa, and more recently elsewhere," it said.

This year's publication also looked at how countries have performed in the happiness rankings since 2005.

Of the 20 largest gainers, half are in Central and Eastern Europe, five are in sub-Saharan Africa, and three in Latin America.

The five largest declines since 2005 were in Yemen, India, Syria, Botswana and Venezuela.

source: philstar.com

Trump cranks up North Korea threats as Pyongyang holds anti-U.S. rally

SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS – U.S. President Donald Trump dialled up the rhetoric against North Korea again at the weekend, warning the country’s foreign minister that he and leader Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer”, as Pyongyang staged a major anti-U.S. rally.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that targeting the U.S. mainland with its rockets was inevitable after “Mr Evil President” Trump called Pyongyang’s leader a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

“Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Trump said on Twitter late on Saturday.

Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States – something Trump has vowed to prevent.

Analysts say the escalation in rhetoric is increasing the risk of a miscalculation by one side or the other that could have massive repercussions.

source: interaksyon.com

UN to begin work on new sanctions vs North Korea

UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council agreed on Friday to immediately begin work on a new raft of sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test drew global condemnation.

During a meeting behind closed doors, the council strongly condemned the test and agreed to begin drafting a new resolution under article 41 of the UN charter, which provides for sanctions.

"The members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures under article 41 in a Security Council resolution," New Zealand's Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council's rotating presidency, told reporters after the urgent talks.

South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China all condemned the blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site, the North's most powerful yet at 10 kilotons.

The council met at the request of Japan, South Korea and the United States to agree on a response, despite resistance from China, Pyongyang's ally, to calls for tougher measures.

After the meeting, China's Ambassador Liu Jieyi sidestepped questions about Beijing's support for sanctions.

"We are opposed to testing and we believe that it is more urgent than ever to work together to ensure denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Liu said.

"All sides should refrain from mutual provocation and any action that might exacerbate the situation."

North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006.

Holding the world hostage

After Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test, the council in March adopted the toughest sanctions resolution to date targeting North Korea's trade in minerals and tightening banking restrictions.

Work on that resolution took two months, with the United States engaged directly with China on the sweeping measures.

Since that measure was adopted, North Korea has carried out 21 ballistic missile launches, US Ambassador Samantha Power said, describing those tests and Pyongyang's second nuclear detonation this year as "more than brazen defiance."

"North Korea is seeking to perfect its nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles so they can hold the region and the world hostage under threat of nuclear strike," Power said.

France backed plans for a new resolution to make clear to Pyongyang that its actions will have consequences.

"We believe new sanctions are indispensable," French Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

Pyongyang's state media said the nuclear test had realized the country's goal of being able to fit a miniaturized warhead on a rocket.

"Our nuclear scientists staged a nuclear explosion test on a newly developed nuclear warhead at the country's northern nuclear test site," a North Korean TV presenter said.

The first indications of an underground explosion came when seismic monitors detected a 5.3-magnitude "artificial earthquake" near the Punggye-ri nuclear site.

"The 10-kiloton blast was nearly twice the (power of the) fourth nuclear test and slightly less than the Hiroshima bombing, which was measured about 15 kilotons," said Kim Nam-Wook of the South's meteorological agency.

North Koreans gathered around public screens to watch the official announcement of the test -- which came on the 68th anniversary of the country's founding.

A challenge for China

The test came as American and South Korean forces staged a re-enactment of the Incheon landing, 66 years after the start of Operation Chromite, the battle that turned the tide in the Korean War.

North Korea's nuclear program has accompanied a series of ballistic missile launches, the latest of which took place on Monday as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China.

This week's events pose yet another challenge for China, which has been under pressure to rein in its increasingly aggressive neighbor.

Beijing strongly condemned the test, but has limited room to maneuver. Its priority is to avoid the regime's collapse, which would create a crisis on its border and shift the balance of power on the Korean peninsula toward the United States.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called for further pressure on North Korea, but said China bore "responsibility" for tackling the problem.

"China shares important responsibility for this development and has an important responsibility to reverse it," he said.

"It's important that it use its location, its history and its influence to further the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and not the direction things have been going."

source: interaksyon.com

On World Toilet Day, 1 billion people have none - UN

LONDON -- Some 2.4 billion people around the world don't have access to decent sanitation and more than a billion are forced to defecate in the open, risking disease and other dangers, according to the United Nations.

Launching its World Toilet Day campaign for Nov 19, the UN said poor sanitation increases the risk of illness and malnutrition, especially for children, and called for women and girls in particular to be offered safe, clean facilities.

"One out of three women around the world lack access to safe toilets," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. "As a result they face disease, shame and potential violence when they seek a place to defecate."

Even where there are toilets around the world, some hardly warrant the name, as illustrated by Reuters in a photo essay from around the world (reut.rs/20WNAs2).

In a Syrian refugee settlement camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, for example, toilets surrounded by graffiti-covered corrugated sheet sit right up against flimsy tents. In the Marcory district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a "private" stall is simply built of spare bits of lumber and metal.

The U.N. says that while there is sufficient fresh water on the planet for everyone, "bad economics and poor infrastructure" mean that every year millions of people -- most of them children -- die from diseases linked to poor sanitation, unhygienic living conditions and lack of clean water supplies.

"We have a moral imperative to end open defecation and a duty to ensure women and girls are not at risk of assault and rape simply because they lack a sanitation facility," Ban said.

source: interaksyon.com

Transvestite singer Conchita Wurst to serenade UN chief

VIENNA | Austria’s transvestite Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst will serenade UN chief Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Vienna next week, the world body announced Thursday.

The singer, whose real name is Tom Neuwirth, will perform at the United Nations’ Vienna headquarters on Monday and, along with Ban, will deliver a speech on tolerance and the rights of homosexuals.

Ban is looking forward to meeting a “cultural icon”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

The spokesman said meeting with the bearded singer would allow Ban “to reassert his support for LGBT people and for them to ensure that they enjoy the same human rights and protection that we all do.

“Conchita is a symbol in that sense and I think it’s good for them to meet,” he said.

Since the Eurovision victory, the 25-year-old drag queen has appeared at various events to urge greater tolerance and an end to discrimination.

Wurst appeared before the European Parliament earlier this month at the invitation of five euro-MPs from different factions.

source: interaksyon.com

World facing water-energy crisis - UN

PARIS -- Surging populations and economies in the developing world will cause a double crunch in demand for water and energy in the coming decades, the UN said Friday.

In a report published on the eve of World Water Day, it said the cravings for clean water and electricity were intertwined and could badly strain Earth's limited resources.

"Demand for freshwater and energy will continue to increase over the coming decades to meet the needs of growing populations and economies, changing lifestyles and evolving consumption patterns, greatly amplifying existing pressures on limited natural resources and on ecosystems," the report said.

Already, 768 million people do not have access to a safe, reliable source of water, 2.5 billion do not have decent sanitation and more than 1.3 billion do not have mains electricity.

About 20 percent of the world's aquifers today are depleted, according to the report.

Agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of water use.

The World Water Development Report, the fifth in the series by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is an overview collated from data from scientific studies and investigations by agencies.

It said ever more freshwater will be needed for farming, construction, drinking, cooking, washing and sewerage, but also for energy production -- 90 percent of which uses water-intensive techniques today.

The report gave this snapshot of the future:

 Global water demand is likely to increase by 55 percent by 2050.
  
 By then, more than 40 percent of the world's population will be living in areas of "severe" water stress, many of them in the broad swathe of land from North Africa and the Middle East to western South Asia.
   
Asia will be the biggest hotspot for bust-ups over water extraction, where water sources straddle national borders. "Areas of conflict include the Aral Sea and the Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Indus River and Mekong River basins," said the report.
   
Global energy demand is expected to grow by more than a third by 2035, with China, India and Middle Eastern countries accounting for 60 percent of the increase.
  
 In 2010, energy production gobbled up 66 billion cubic metres (2,300 billion cu. feet) of fresh water -- more than the average annual flow of the River Nile in Egypt.
  
 By 2035, this consumption could rise by 85 percent, driven by power plant cooling systems that work with water.

Thirsty energy

Shale deposits and tar sands, driving an energy boom in North America, are especially hefty in their demands for water to force out the precious gas and oil, the report said.

Even so, "they are outstripped by far by biofuels," said researcher Richard Connor, who headed the study.

Renewable sources like solar and wind energy that use far less water are gaining ground, and accounted for about a fifth of global electricity output in 2011, the report said.

But they are unlikely to expand this share significantly if fossil fuels continue receiving the bulk of subsidies, it said.

Oil, gas and coal had subsidies of $523 billion (376 billion euros) in 2011, nearly 30 percent more than in 2010, compared to $88 billion for renewables, the report said, citing International Energy Agency figures.

Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean have plenty of potential for hydro-energy, which reuses the precious resource, it added.

Hydroelectric dams have been extremely controversial. Big projects deliver gigawatts of power but critics say they are ecologically damaging and prone to massive cost overruns.

The review called for a global effort in efficiency gains, pointing the finger at the arid countries of the Middle East where between 15 and 60 percent of water is wasted through leaks or evaporation even before the consumer opens the tap.

The report also called for smart choices in allocating the trillions of dollars likely to be invested in water and energy infrastructure over the next two decades.

source: interaksyon.com

World tourist numbers surge to nearly 1.1 billion

MADRID - International tourist numbers surged to nearly 1.1 billion in 2013 in defiance of global economic troubles, with Asia-Pacific destinations enjoying the fastest growth, a United Nations body said Monday.

The rise in tourism coincided with sluggish economic growth worldwide and unrest in top destinations such as Egypt, shunned by visitors fearful of the turmoil unleashed by the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Despite those troubles, the number of international tourist arrivals beat expectations by soaring five percent to 1.09 billion in 2013, the UN World Tourism Organization said in a report, tipping further growth in 2014.

"The tourism sector has shown a remarkable capacity to adjust to the changing market conditions, fuelling growth and job creation around the world, despite the lingering economic and geopolitical challenges," said the UN body's secretary general, Taleb Rifai.

"Indeed, tourism has been among the few sectors generating positive news for many economies," he said, hailing 2013 as an "excellent year".

Expectations of stronger economic activity set the scene for a further expansion in tourism in 2014 with international arrivals expected to grow again by 4.0-4.5 percent in 2014, the body said, urging countries to support fair and sustainable growth in the sector.

International tourist arrivals rose at the fastest rate in the Asia-Pacific region, where numbers were up by six percent to 248 million, it said. Southeast Asia performed best, with arrivals up 10 percent.

Europe, however, remained the biggest destination overall, with international tourist arrivals up five percent to 563 million.

In the Americas, arrivals grew by four percent to 169 million.

The number of international tourists arriving in Africa grew by six percent to 56 million.

But results in the Middle East were "mixed and volatile", with arrivals from other countries unchanged at 56 million, the report said.

Among countries of origin, Chinese tourists -- already leading the way with expenditure of $102 billion in 2012 -- pushed up total spending by 28 percent in the first nine months of 2013, the UN body said.

Tourists from Russia, the fifth largest country of origin of international tourists, drove up spending by 26 percent in the same period, it said.

source: interaksyon.com

India seeks possible US tax violations as row over diplomat's arrest worsens

NEW DELHI -- India has sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax violations and revoked ID cards of US consular officials and their families, retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.

The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer to a resolution of a diplomatic dispute over the treatment of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade this month on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her housekeeper.

Khobragade, who has denied the charges, was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody, sparking outrage in India.

An Indian government official said on Friday that New Delhi had asked the US embassy to provide details about people working in American schools and other US government facilities to determine if they had permission to do so and if they were paying taxes that are mandatory under Indian law.

Diplomats' spouses who take up work in schools or other embassy facilities are supposed to inform the host country.

Violations of this kind had often been ignored, but now India would not turn a blind eye, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The US embassy declined to comment on the latest steps.

India had also withdrawn some privileges that US diplomats and their families enjoy and would treat them as Indian officials are treated in the United States, the Indian official said.

US Ambassador Nancy Powell has been refused special privileges at New Delhi airport.

"We have said all access is on a reciprocal basis," the government official said. "She is not going to get the benefits that the Indian ambassador in the US doesn't get."

US consular officials and their families have been asked to surrender identity cards that gave them a degree of immunity. Under a new regime, consular officials -- but not their families -- will be given identity cards with fewer privileges.

"Spouses and children have no more immunity. So if there is a parking offence or ... something else happening in Bangalore etcetera, they would be held liable," the Indian official said.

Khobragade was released in New York on $250,000 bail after giving up her passport and pleading not guilty to visa fraud and making false statements about how much she paid her Indian housekeeper. She faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted on both counts.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret over the case in a phone call to India's national security adviser last week, but India is still demanding that the charges be dropped and that the United States apologize. US prosecutors have defended the investigation against Khobragade and her treatment. Before this diplomatic blowup, US-Indian relations were seen as cordial and improving.

UN accreditation

In a new twist, India now argues that Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations at the time of her detention, giving her immunity from arrest.

She was temporarily moved to India's UN mission in August to help with the workload ahead of the General Assembly session and a visit by the prime minister. A copy of her accreditation, made available to Reuters, lists her as an adviser for a period from August 26 until December 31.

"At no stage we were told by the US side what was going on. We were kept in the dark. A lot of these things could have come out had we been informed then," the official said, explaining that India had not been warned she might be arrested.

According to the UN Manual of Protocol website (www.un.int/protocol/3_6.html), UN accreditation alone does not appear to grant diplomatic immunity, it simply gives Khobragade access to UN headquarters in New York.

The manual says a country's UN ambassador must write to the UN secretary-general to request privileges and immunities for individual diplomats. The United Nations then submits this to the US mission to the United Nations for approval.

Separately, India did ask the United Nations earlier this month for Khobragade to be officially registered as a member of the country's UN mission in the hope she would be granted more sweeping immunity than she was entitled to as India's deputy consul general in New York.

That request has been approved by the United Nations, a UN source said on Monday. A State Department official confirmed that the United States had received paperwork from the United Nations and was reviewing the application.

source: interaksyon.com

UN talks approve climate pact principles

WARSAW - UN negotiators reached consensus Saturday on some of the cornerstones of an ambitious, global climate pact to be signed in 2015 in a bid to stave off dangerous warming.

Nearly 24 hours into extra time, a plenary meeting approved a modified text, thrashed out during an hour-long emergency huddle in the Warsaw National Stadium hosting the annual round of notoriously fractious talks.

Later, in a closing plenary session of the conference, delegates applauded as the text was given the green light.

Notably, negotiators had replaced the word "commitments" for nationally-determined greenhouse gas emissions cuts, with "contributions".

Developed and developing nations have clashed in the Polish capital ever since negotiations opened on November 11 to lay the groundwork for the new pact to be signed in Paris by December 2015.

It will be the first to bind all the world's nations to curbing Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas.

A key point of contention in Warsaw was the opposition of emerging economies like China and India to any "commitments" that were equally binding to rich and poor states and did not take into account their history of greenhouse gas emissions.

The issue is a fundamental one that has bedevilled the UN climate process since its inception 18 years ago.

Developing nations, their growth largely powered by fossil fuel combustion, blame the West's long emissions history for the peril facing the planet, and insist their wealthier counterparts carry a larger responsibility to fix the problem.

"Only developed countries should have commitments," Chinese negotiator Su Wei earlier told fellow negotiators. Emerging economies could merely be expected to "enhance action", he said.

The West, though, insists emerging economies must do their fair share, considering that China is now the world's biggest emitter of CO2, with India in fourth place after the United States and Europe.

Delegates had also reached a consensus agreement on financing to help poor countries deal with climate change effects.

But early Saturday evening, no agreement had yet been struck on creating a "loss and damage" mechanism for future climate harm that vulnerable countries say is no longer avoidable.

source: interaksyon.com

As rich, poor nations butt heads, troubled UN climate talks run into extra time

WARSAW -- UN climate talks were blocked in Warsaw Saturday more than 12 hours after they were to have delivered a roadmap towards a global pact to stave of dangerous global warming.

The belligerent negotiations were to have closed at 1700 GMT on Friday, but by breakfast time Saturday, diplomats were still shuttling to and fro in a last-ditch bid to find consensus.

"There will be no forcing of decisions against the will of parties," conference president Marcin Korolec of Poland told a brief stock-taking meeting at 0600 GMT -- and said it was "premature" to set a time for the closing plenary meeting.

"We will reconvene here in a formal setting at 9am (0800 GMT) to address the situation and find a way forward to conclude the conference," he said.

The Warsaw round of the notoriously fractious annual talks have seen rich and poor nations butting heads since November 11 about their respective contributions to the UN-backed goal of limiting average global warming to 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

UN nations had agreed to sign a global deal by 2015 to meet this goal with binding targets for all countries to curb climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

The pact must be inked in Paris in two years' time, and will enter into effect in 2020.

Negotiators from over 190 countries argued in the Polish capital over apportioning targets for carbon emissions cuts between rich and poor states, and over funding for climate-vulnerable countries.

On current emissions trends, scientists warn the Earth could face warming of 4.0 C or higher over pre-industrial levels -- a recipe for catastrophic storms, droughts, floods and land-gobbling sea-level rise that would hit poor countries disproportionally hard.

A major sticking point was the insistence of some developing nations like China and India, their growth fuelled by fossil fuel combustion, to be guaranteed less onerous emissions curbs compared to wealthy nations.

In hotly disputed language, some wanted the new deal to impose "commitments" on developed countries, whose long history of emissions they blame for the current state of affairs, and seek only "efforts" from emerging economies.

The West, though, insists emerging economies must do their fair share, considering that China is now the world's biggest emitter of CO2, with India in fourth place after the United States and Europe.

A draft text that negotiators mulled over on Saturday underlined that the pact would be "applicable to all parties".

And it invited the world's nations to announce their emissions-curbing commitments "well in advance" of the Paris gathering.

Money was also a bone of contention.

Developing nations insist that wealthy nations must show how they intend to keep a promise to ramp up climate aid to $100 billion (74 billion euros) by 2020, up from $10 billion a year from 2010-12.

Still struggling with an economic crisis, however, the developed world is wary of unveiling a detailed long-term funding plan at this stage.

A separate draft text on finance "urges" parties to mobilise funds "at increasing levels".

"We came here for a finance COP (Conference of Parties). What we got was peanuts," Bangladeshi negotiator Qamrul Chowdhury told AFP of the text on Saturday.

The funding crunch lies at the heart of another issue which bedevilled the talks: demands by developing countries for a "loss and damage" mechanism to help them deal with future harm from climate impacts they say are too late to avoid.

Rich nations feared this would amount to signing a blank cheque for never-ending liability.

Observers said a compromise on this point may be announced soon.

On Thursday, environment and developmental observer groups stormed out of the conference, saying the talks had produced little more than hot air and were "on track to deliver virtually nothing".

source: interaksyon.com

PNoy puts typhoon death toll at 2,000 to 2,500

The death toll from Typhoon "Yolanda's" (international codename: Haiyan) rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino III said on Tuesday as US and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts.

"Ten thousand, I think, is too much," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate."

Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, also dismissed the earlier toll, saying, “Walang katotohanan ‘yun (There's no truth to that).”

The original estimate was given by Police Regional Office 8 director Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria a day after  about the casualty figure.

“We had a meeting last night with the governor and, based on the government's estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead),” Soria said at the time, referring to the whole of Leyte.

Aquino said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise.

"We're hoping to be able to contact something like 29 municipalities left wherein we still have to establish their numbers, especially for the missing, but so far 2,000, about 2,500, is the number we are working on as far as deaths are concerned," he said.

The NDRRMC, in its 7 a.m. Wednesday update, placed the number of fatalities so far at 1,833, with 84 missing and 2,623 injured.

“'Yung figures natin ng casualty ay nanggagaling sa local government units, ‘yun ay ini-report sa atin officially at ‘yun ang kinukuha natin. Kasi kapag kinuwenta natin lahat ‘yung inire-report on the ground, baka magkaroon ng double or triple counting at sumobra ‘yung ating ire-report (Our casualty figures come from the local government units, that's what they report officially and that's what we get. Because if we gather all the reports on the ground, we might have double or triple counting and the report will be bloated). So, we are only getting reports coming from LGUs,” del Rosario said, explaining the slow pace of the agency's reporting on casualties.

He cited reports of 2,000 missing in Samar compared to the NDRRMC's count only 82 but added that the conflicting figures would eventually be reconciled.



Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by Yolanda, one of the strongest typhoons on record, which tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where officials had feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like wall of seawater.

But Del Rosario dismissed fears of a “governance breakdown” in disaster areas.

“Hindi naman masasabi nating breakdown of governance. Wala lang kakayahan ang LGUs na mag-deliver ng services dahil ang kanilang mga government workers at mga opisina nila pati communication lines ay nagbaksakan. At ‘yung mga governmet employees ay hindi makapagtrabaho kaya ang ginagawa natin ngayon nagpapadala tayo ng mga (We can't say there's a breakdown of governance. It's just that th LGUs have no capability to deliver services because their government workers and offices, including their communication lines, are down. And government employees cannot work so what we are doing is sending) national governemnt employees from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, among others. Sila na ngayon ay nagpupunta sa mga lugar na nangangailangan ng tulong (They are the ones going to these places in need of help) from the national government,” he said.

Aquino revealed the lower estimated toll after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington set sail for the Philippines carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft to accelerate relief efforts. It was joined by four other US Navy ships and should arrive in two to three days, the Pentagon said.

"The weather is pretty bad out there, so we are limited by seas and wind," Captain Thomas Disy, commander of the USS Antietam, a missile cruiser that is part of the carrier group, said in Hong Kong. "But we are going to be going as fast as we possibly can."

Relief supplies poured into Tacloban along roads flanked with corpses and canyons of debris as the rain fell again. Rescue workers scrambled to reach other towns and villages still cut off, which could reveal the full extent of the casualties and devastation.

"There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometers that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," said Natasha Reyes, emergency coordinator in the Philippines at Médecins Sans Frontières.

"No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture."

She described the devastation as unprecedented for the Philippines, a disaster-prone archipelago of more than 7,000 islands that sees about 20 typhoons a year, likening the storm to "a massive earthquake followed by huge floods."

About 660,000 people have been displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.

Britain is also sending a navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft. The HMS Daring left Singapore and expects to arrive in two or three days.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the development lender was considering boosting its conditional cash transfer program for the Philippines in the wake of the storm.

Corpse-choked wasteland

Aquino has declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in Tacloban, a once-vibrant port city of 220,000 that is now a wasteland without any sign of a government, as city and hospital workers focus on saving their families and securing food.

"Basically, the only branch of government that is working here is the military," Philippine Army Major Ruben Guinolbay told Reuters in Tacloban. "That is not good. We are not supposed to take over government."

Tacloban's government was wiped out by the storm, said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas. Officials were dead, missing or too overcome with grief to work. Of the city's 293 police officers, only 20 had shown up for duty, he said.

"Today, we have stabilized the situation. There are no longer reports of looting. The food supply is coming in. Up to 50,000 food packs are coming in every day, with each pack able to feed up to a family of five for three days," he said.

Corazon Soliman, Secretary of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development, said aid had reached a third of Tacloban's 45,000 families. Most of its stores remain closed - either destroyed or shut after widespread looting.

"Those that opened saw their goods wiped out of their shelves right away," Soliman said.

Chaos at airport

Two Philippine Air Force C-130 cargo planes landed at Tacloban airport early on Tuesday, but unloaded more soldiers than relief supplies. Among dozens of troops was a unit of Special Forces, underscoring concerns about civil disorder.

The Special Forces immediately deployed at the airport to hold back angry and desperate families waiting in heavy rain in the hope of boarding the planes returning to Manila.

"Get back! Get back in the building!" shouted air force officials through megaphones, gesturing the crowds back inside the wrecked terminal. Many had walked for hours from their destroyed homes, carrying meager possessions.

The sick, infants and the elderly were taken on board first. Pale-faced babies were passed over the crowd and carried on with several injured people. Many people wept and begged officials to let them on.

Residents told terrifying accounts of being swept away by a surge of water in city hopelessly unprepared for power of Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda.

Some stayed behind to protect their property, including Marivel Saraza, 39, who moved her six children farther inland before Haiyan struck, but stayed behind to look after her home only a stone's throw from the sea.

She ended up battling through chest-high water to reach higher ground, while the storm surge destroyed her two-storey concrete home.

"My house just dissolved in the water," she said.

Saraza now struggles to feed her children. The government gave her 2 kg (4.4 lb) of rice and a single can of sardines - barely enough for a family meal - so her husband foraged for fruit farther inland. But trees have been flattened by winds of 314 kph (195 mph) and rice fields inundated with salt water.

Relief efforts picking up

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the economic damage in the coconut- and rice-growing region would likely shave 1 percentage point off of economic growth in 2014.

"Fixation over numbers at this stage is not going to be useful," Purisima, the top finance ministry official, told reporters. "I was overwhelmed by the pictures, not the numbers."

The overall financial cost of the destruction was harder to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at $8 billion to $19 billion.

International relief efforts have begun to gather pace, with dozens of countries and organizations pledging tens of millions of dollars in aid. UN aid chief Valerie Amos, who has traveled to the Philippines, released $25 million for aid relief on Monday from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

Rescuers have yet to reach remote parts of the coast, such as Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people in Eastern Samar province that was largely destroyed after Haiyan made its first landfall there.

"We don't need aerial surveys. It won't help the people of Guiuan," one resident posted on the Armed Forces Facebook page. "You've already done an aerial survey and you've seen the extent of the damage, seen the devastation that Yolanda brought... The people are desperate, hungry and feeling dejected. WE ARE CRYING FOR HELP!!!"

The typhoon also leveled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban. About 2,000 people were missing in Basey, its governor said. (Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema in Manila; Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey in Washington; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Belinda Goldsmith in London and Greg Torode in Hong Kong)

source: interaksyon.com

UN to mount urgent appeal for millions of dollars in aid for Philippines

The United Nations on Tuesday will launch an urgent aid appeal expected to seek hundreds of millions of dollars to help the Philippines recover from the ravages of Typhoon “Yolanda” (international codename: Haiyan).

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was headed for the Philippines to lead a "flash appeal" for cash, officials said, saying the scale of devastation was so far-reaching that a major emergency effort is needed.

The announcement came as the Pentagon said it had ordered an aircraft carrier, other ships and scores of aircraft that had been on a stop in Hong Kong to head to the stricken archipelago.

Ahead of the emergency appeal, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the aid already pledged but said contributions "must expand urgently in the days ahead," given the sheer damage wrought by Haiyan.

Britain is sending a ship and a transporter plane to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the worst natural disaster ever to hit the Philippines.

"The scale of devastation is massive and therefore it will require the mobilization of a massive response," John Ging, the UN's humanitarian operations director said, stressing the death toll was expected to rise.

"Many places are strewn with dead bodies," Ging told a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York. "We are certainly expecting the worst. As we get more and more access we find the tragedy of more and more people killed in this typhoon."

Vietnam, itself faced with mass evacuations as a weakened Haiyan swung through its territory Monday, offered aid worth $100,000 and vowed to stand by the Filipino people.

The relief operation was focused on the city of Tacloban on Leyte several days after one of the biggest storms in recorded history demolished entire communities across the central Philippines.

Delivering on a promise of assistance from President Barack Obama, about 180 US Marines were deployed to the Philippines on Monday to support local forces, carry out search and rescue work and help humanitarian efforts on the ground.

Britain's HMS Daring, a destroyer, will sail to the Philippines "at full speed" from its current deployment in Singapore, and will be joined by a Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Britain will also boost its aid from £6 million ($9.6 million) to £10 million.

The Australian government pledged Aus$10 million ($9.38 million), with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop describing the unfolding tragedy as "absolutely devastating" and on a "massive scale."

The aid will include tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water containers and health and hygiene kits. A team of Australian medics will leave on Wednesday via a C-17 military transport plane from Darwin to join disaster experts already on the ground, the government said.

Local rescue teams were said to be overwhelmed in their efforts to help those whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed after Yolanda ravaged large swathes of the country on Friday.

Officials were struggling to cope with the scale of death and destruction, with reports of violent looters and scarcity of food, drinking water and shelter.

The UN children's fund UNICEF said a cargo plane carrying 60 tons of aid including shelters and medicine would arrive in the Philippines Tuesday, to be followed by deliveries of water purification and sanitation equipment.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR was also organizing an airlift carrying aid including hygiene kits containing basics such as soap, blankets and underwear.

"The level of destruction we're seeing reported is absolutely staggering," said Antonio Guterres, head of UNHCR.

Other aid mobilized for the Philippines:

The European Commission said it would give three million euros ($4 million) toward relief efforts.
Germany's embassy in Manila said an initial shipment of 23 tons of aid was being flown in and German rescue teams were already at work.
Malaysia also readied a relief crew and cash aid was offered by Taiwan and Singapore.
New Zealand increased its humanitarian relief on Monday, bringing its total to NZ$2.15 million (US$1.78 million), while Canada has promised up to US$5 million to aid organizations.
Medical teams from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) now in the country.

On the other hand, the Canadian government called on its citizens to donate money towards aiding the Philippines, pledging to match these donations dollar-for-dollar.

MSF said a 15-man team that arrived in Cebu on November 9 is expected to be in Tacloban City on Wednesday with 50 more people -- medical personnel, logisticians and psychologists -- and 329 tons of medical and relief supplies arriving in the next few days.The first cargo plane left Dubai on Monday and a second will depart Belgium on Tuesday.

JICA, on the other hand, said 25 members of the Japan Disaster Relief Medical Team from Tokyo -- doctors, nurses, and other medical experts and personnel -- arrived in Manila on Monday and will be in Tacloban City on Wednesday.

“We join the collective efforts of the local and international community in reaching out to victims of typhoon Yolanda. We are working closely with the Department of Health to help address the health needs of the people affected by this tragedy,” JICA Philippines chief representative Takahiro Sasaki said in a statement.

“It is now Japan’s turn to return support to the Filipinos who helped the Japanese people affected during the Great East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 2011. We are confident that the Filipinos will rise above this challenge, and the recent typhoon will provide a perspective in strengthening disaster preparedness in the long-term,” he added.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Minister of International Development, Christian Paradis, said that, “for every eligible dollar donated by individual Canadians to registered Canadian charities in response to the crisis in the Philippines the government will donate an additional dollar -- effectively doubling their contribution.”

The announcement, made on November 9, is aside from Canada’s initial $30,000 allocation to the International Federation of the Red Cross to help launch relief operations.

Paradis also announced that Canada is giving “up to $5 million in support to humanitarian organizations.”

Canada is also deploying the Interdepartmental Strategic Support Team to assess needs on ground and identify potential response options, which could include the Disaster Assistance Response Team.

source: interaksyon.com

WANT TO SAVE LIVES? Promote handwashing with soap to cut 1,400 child deaths daily - UN

NEW YORK -- Millions of children Tuesday took part in the sixth annual United Nations-backed Global Handwashing Day, driving home the message that the simple use of soap and water could slash highly preventable diarrheal diseases that kill 1,400 children under five every day.

“Washing hands before eating and after defecation drastically reduces the spread of diarrheal disease and has far reaching effects on the health and welfare of children and communities,” the global head of the UN's Children’s Fund (Unicef) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) programs, Sanjay Wijesekera, said in a message marking the Day, whose theme this year is "The Power Is in our Hands."

“The simple act of handwashing with soap is one of the most effective ways to save children’s lives.”

In Ethiopia, some five million children participated in handwashing demonstrations and workshops around the country.

In Yemen, Global Handwashing Day celebrations took place in 3,300 schools, involving 1.4 million children. There is also a mass media campaign aimed at sensitizing the public around handwashing.

At least 1,000 schools in Vietnam, 450 in Sierra Leone, 424 in Mali, 200 in 50 communities in Gambia, as well as 12 cities in Indonesia and 22 educational institutions in several municipalities in Bolivia held Global Hand Washing Day activities.

600,000 children die of diarrheal diseases every year

According to Unicef, diarrhea remains the second largest cause of under-five mortality globally. Some 600,000 children die each year from diarrheal diseases caused by a lack of safe water, sanitation, and basic hygiene out of a total of over 1.7 billion cases.

These diseases are also associated with a higher risk of stunting, as shown by low weight for age and developmental delay, and they take a huge toll on society. One of the simplest and most inexpensive barriers to infection is handwashing with soap.

“The evidence is clear. Each individual - every mother, every child, every teacher, every member of every community - can contribute to the health of all by just washing their hands,” Wijesekera said.

“If you knew of something monumental that could benefit the world, you would do it. Everyone has this power - simply wet, lather, and rinse with soap and water.

source: interaksyon.com

UN inspectors visit site of Syria poison gas attack as UK says West might act sans Security Council

DAMASCUS -- A six-car convoy of United Nations inspectors left a Damascus hotel on Monday and headed to the scene of a poison gas attack outside the Syrian capital last week, a Reuters witness said.

The team of chemical weapons experts, dressed in blue UN body armor, were accompanied by security forces and an ambulance.

They said they were headed to the rebel-held outskirts of Damascus, known as Eastern Ghouta, where activists say rockets loaded with poison gas killed hundreds of people.

This happened as British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it would be possible to respond to chemical weapons use in Syria without the unanimous backing of the United Nations Security Council.

"Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity on the U.N. Security Council? I would argue yes it is otherwise it might be impossible to respond to such outrages, such crimes, and I don't think that's an acceptable situation," Hague said on BBC radio.

The West accuses the Syrian government of mounting the poison gas attack.

But in an interview with a Russian newspaper Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed allegations his forces used chemical weapons and warned Washington that any US military intervention would fail.

"Failure awaits the United States as in all previous wars it has unleashed, starting with Vietnam and up to the present day," he told the Izvestia daily when asked what would happen if Washington decided to strike or invade Syria.

Assad said Syrian government forces had been close to where rebel forces say chemical weapons were used last week during the country's more than two-year-old civil war.

"Would any state use chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction in a place where its own forces are concentrated? That would go against elementary logic," Assad told Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin newspaper.

Russia has been Assad's most important international ally throughout the civil war, supplying his troops with arms and resisting pressure at the United Nations for tighter sanctions on Damascus.

Asked about the arms deliveries, Assad said: "I want to say that all contracts that have been concluded with Russia are being fulfilled."

He gave no details and did not say whether Damascus had taken delivery of advanced S-300 sir defense systems from Russia, which could vastly enhance its defense capabilities.

source: interaksyon.com

Students have their faces painted with anti-RH bill signs

The United Nations warned Sunday that failure to pass a controversial birth control law in the Philippines could reverse gains in development goals amid stiff opposition from the powerful Catholic church.

The bill seeks to make it mandatory for the government to provide free contraceptives in a country where more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic and which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Southeast Asia.

Ugochi Daniels, country representative from the UN Population Fund, said she remained "cautiously optimistic" that President Benigno Aquino III's allies who dominate the House of Representatives could muster the numbers to pass the bill on Tuesday after 14 years of often divisive debate.

"What is important now is to highlight the urgency of the bill," Daniels said.

The UN, in a separate statement, said the Philippines was unlikely to achieve its millennium development goal of reducing maternal deaths by three quarters and providing universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

"The United Nations believes that apprehensions such as exposure of people to risks of contraceptive use, encouragement of sexual promiscuity and legalization of abortion have no basis. Instituting a reproductive health policy is consistent with the government’s duty under the Constitution to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them," the UN said.

"Reproductive health is not about population numbers. It is about ensuring a life of health and dignity ... Time spent discussing these issues repeatedly is measured by the lives of the 15 women we lose to maternal deaths every day," it added.

The body said it had "extensively studied" the proposed law which once passed could "vastly improve health and quality of life" in a country where a third of the population live on less than a dollar a day.

A rise in unwanted pregnancies could swell the number of people in poverty, and lead to an explosion in urban slum populations, the UN said.

And while the country has been enjoying economic expansion of more than five percent in recent years, the gains could be reversed, it warned.

"Hopes of future prosperity could turn to dust if the country is not able to deal with the population growth," the UN said.

Daniels said maternal deaths would continue to rise with more and more women getting pregnant at a young age without the proper health care and access to key reproductive information.

Between 2006 and 2010, the maternal mortality rate rose 36 percent to 221 deaths per 100,000 live births, from 162 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 2005, according to the government's 2011 Family Health Survey.

And many of those giving birth were girls between 15 and 19 years old, the UN said.

"I think we've gone from 11 (maternal deaths) a day to between 14 and 15 a day now. And unfortunately, most of these are poor women," Daniels said.

The UN Population Fund was "very concerned" about the rising number of deaths, she said, noting that even in war-torn Afghanistan the trend was downwards.

She urged Philippine lawmakers to quickly pass the bill and "stop failing our young."

"This is now the time. We have been waiting for a very long time," Daniels said.

The UN's call came as Catholic priests and nuns led thousands in a protest rally in Manila Saturday to urge lawmakers to scrap the bill.

Besides free contraception, it would also give the poor preferential access to family planning services in state hospitals, while lessons on family planning and sex education would become compulsory in schools and for couples applying for a marriage license.

The UN has said a lack of education and access to condoms has led to an explosion of HIV infections in the Philippines, which it said is now one of seven countries in the world where cases have risen by 25 percent or more since 2001.

Aquino has signaled his backing for the bill ahead of Tuesday's vote in the House of Representatives.

The Senate, the upper house of parliament, also needs to pass the bill before it can become law, but some of its leaders were seen giving their support to the church rally Saturday.

The consolidated measure of the RH bill, which was submitted to Congress in August last year, was a product of a series of dialogues between the Palace and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and other stakeholders.

As a result of the dialogues, the consolidated version does away with a provision to limit the number of children per family and also increased the age at which children will be given sex education in schools.

The executive branch also moved to amend a provision requiring all hospitals to carry a full-range of modern artificial family planning methods.

On Thursday, Aquino expressed hope Congress will finally end deabtes on the measureon August 7.

"Perhaps the debates should end and Congress can decide, once and for all, on the Responsible Parenthood bill," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Purisima Congratulates New WB Chief

MANILA, Philippines — Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima congratulated Dr. Jim Yong Kim for his election as the new president of World Bank (WB).

In a statement, the Department of Finance (DOF) head said the Philippines assures Kim of its continued support to the multilateral agency under his leadership as the Bank moves to ensure that sustainable and inclusive growth is experienced across all nations.

“We are eager to work with Dr. Kim, a development expert and an anthropologist, on strengthening the Bank's initiatives toward uplifting people's lives – a mission that Dr. Kim has lived throughout his work in international development," Purisima said.

Before the World Bank election, Purisima has already thrown his support behind the United States nominee to the top post.

“The Philippines and the World Bank group have already achieved significant milestones in eradicating poverty, strengthening governance, and boosting economic growth. We hope to further deepen this partnership with the Bank under Dr. Kim's leadership," Purisima said.

The World Bank, one of two multilateral organizations created by the Brettonwoods Agreement after the Great Depression, selected its new leader as Robert Zoellick, its current president, steps down by June 30.

Aside from Kim, Former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo and Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo Iweala were also nominated for the post traditionally held by an American.

The Finance chief pointed to Kim’s track record of working with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “new focus” for the World Bank, “one that connects financial and economic stability to a direct and sustainable prosperity not only to nations, but more importantly to people.” Korean-born Kim is a former director of WHO’s Department of HIV/AIDS who led initiatives to treat 3 million people infected by the virus in the developing countries from 2003 to 2007. He is also a co-founder and board member of Boston-based Partners in Health which aims to provide universal access to primary health care to poor nations, especially on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

“As we move toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Mr. Kim’s expertise in anthropology and development will surely be an asset to the World Bank,” Purisima said, referring to the set of goals agreed by the United Nations.

source: mb.com.ph

First U.N. observers arrive in Syria as clashes continue

DAMASCUS — The first international observers tasked with monitoring a shaky U.N.-backed ceasefire arrived Sunday in Syria, where regime forces pounded a rebel city and killed five civilians.

“They’ve arrived and they will start work tomorrow morning,” said Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping department announcing that six observers were now in Syria.

Earlier forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed five civilians in shelling of rebel areas in the flashpoint central city of Homs and clashes with gunmen.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said he was “very much concerned” at the renewed killings and urged the government to ensure that the ceasefire does not collapse.

State-run news agency SANA said Syria “welcomes” the observer mission, and hoped the monitors will see for themselves the “crimes” committed by “armed terrorist groups.”

SANA also reported that Foreign Minister Walid Muallem will visit ally China to discuss the mission of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan who designed the ceasefire.

Regime forces subjected the Khaldiyeh and Bayada neighborhoods of Homs to their fiercest bombardment since the truce came into force at dawn on Thursday, monitors said.

“The bombardment of Khaldiyeh intensified this morning with an average of three shells a minute,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

Three civilians were killed in Homs city, including one in Khaldiyeh, he said, while a fourth was shot dead in central Hama province and the fifth died in the Damascsus suburb of Douma.

With clashes warming up and both sides blaming each other for the violence, Syria insisted that its sovereignty must be respected.

“Syria endorsed the U.N. observer mission because it has nothing to hide and hopes that these observers will convey the real picture of what is happening on the ground,” the official news agency said.

SANA reiterated the regime’s repeated accusations that “armed terrorist groups funded and armed by foreign parties” are responsible for the violence in Syria.

Syria accepted observers because its “main request was the monitoring of the terrorists’ crimes” and because it was part Annan’s six-point plan which Damascus accepted, SANA said.

Thirty-two people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the ceasefire brokered by Annan took effect at dawn Thursday, according to the Observatory.

The death toll is sharply down on pre-ceasefire levels after Syria announced it was halting military operations against the rebels on Thursday.

The authorities on Sunday charged that rebels had “intensified” attacks on security forces and civilians, warning of a response, as state media published a list of alleged acts of violence.

Security forces “will prevent the terrorist groups from continuing their criminal attacks,” said a military official quoted on state media, accusing the rebels of a deliberate escalation to wreck the truce.

Ban voiced concern over the shelling of Homs.

“I am very much concerned about what has happened since yesterday and today,” he said. “It is important, absolutely important, that the Syrian government should take all the measures to keep this cessation of violence.”

The U.N. chief said he would present on Thursday his proposal to enlarge the U.N. monitoring mission, which will have 30 unarmed military observers at first, to 250 people.

The six observers who arrived Sunday in Syria are the first of 30 monitors who were approved by the U.N. Security Council in a vote Saturday. “The other monitors in the advance party are still expected in Syria in coming days,” Dwyer added.

On Saturday he told AFP they would come from missions around the Middle East and Africa “so we can move people quickly and they are experienced in the region.”

China and Russia, which raised earlier reservations over the text and vetoed past resolutions, backed Saturday’s vote, ensuring passage of the first Security Council resolution on Syria since the uprising erupted in March 2011.

State news agency SANA said Muallem would visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

“During the visit, Muallem will discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations and the mission of… Annan,” the agency reported giving no date for the two-day visit.

U.N. Resolution 2042 approved the sending of 30 unarmed military observers as soon as possible and called on both Syrian government and opposition forces to halt “armed violence in all its forms.”

It also urged the government to “implement visibly” all its commitments under Annan’s peace plan, including the withdrawal of all troops and heavy guns from cities.

Assad and the opposition must also “guarantee the safety of the advance team without prejudice to its freedom of movement and access,” and the “primary responsibility” for observers’ safety will rest with the Syrian government.

The resolution’s passage was welcomed by Syria’s main opposition.

“We are ready to act to make the Annan plan a success,” the Syrian National Council said in a statement signed by its leader Burhan Ghalioun.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the resolution “presents an unequivocal call from the international community to the Syrian regime to stop violence against its population and to address urgent humanitarian needs.”

The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising began. Monitors say the death toll has topped 10,000.

source: japantoday.com