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With few signs of Syria solution, EU pledges more support to refugees

Brussels, Belgium Reuters The European Union pledged more than €2 billion on Monday to support displaced Syrians, but it dismissed any notion of them being able to return home because of instability under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Before an EU-led donor conference on the 13-year-old war, Jordan’s foreign minister said that the international community was […]

UN gets $US2.4 billion in pledges for Horn of Africa aid efforts

United NationsReuters The United Nations received pledges of $US2.4 billion on Wednesday to help fund aid operations for some 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, but the donations fell short of what the UN was seeking as it warned against a possible “catastrophe.” The UN has appealed for more than $US7 billion for […]

Some UN Afghan aid delivered by men only, donors voice alarm

FILE PHOTO: An Afghan woman begs on a snowy day in Kabul, Afghanistan, January 29, 2023. REUTERS/Ali Khara

United Nations Reuters Under pressure from Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, the United Nations is delivering some food aid using men only, prompting warnings from donors and humanitarian groups that it could be seen as giving in to an internationally condemned ban on most female aid workers.  UN aid chief Martin Griffiths acknowledged to reporters this week […]

One month after fall of Kabul, economic crisis stalks Taliban

Afghanistan Kabul bank queue

Reuters A month after seizing Kabul, the Taliban face daunting problems as they seek to convert their lightning military victory into a durable peacetime government. After four decades of war and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, security has largely improved, but Afghanistan’s economy is in ruins despite hundreds of billions of dollars […]

Donors pledge $US1.1 billion for “collapsing” Afghanistan

UN Geneva Afghanistan aid conference

Geneva, Switzerland/New York City, US Reuters Donors have pledged more than $US1.1 billion to help Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Islamist Taliban took power, and foreign aid has dried up, raising the spectre of a mass exodus. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking halfway through a UN conference seeking $US606 million to […]

Wealthy countries edge towards global climate finance goal

Power station Poland

Brussels, Belgium Reuters Wealthy countries have ramped up financing to help developing countries cut carbon emissions and cope with the impact of climate change, although it is unclear if they will meet their goal of $US100 billion this year. In its annual update on climate finance for developing countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and […]