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WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The World Bank on Tuesday announced more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, stating the money will go to UN agencies and international NGOs while remaining “outside the control” of the country’s Taliban rulers. The reallocation from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) follows the $280 million in ARTF funds disbursed last December, and is aimed at supporting the humanitarian response over the critical winter months. The […]
The United States said Sunday it is sending nearly $54 million in new humanitarian aid to Ukraine as it grapples with the Russian invasion. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is focused on Ukraine’s “urgent humanitarian needs as an important part of our response to Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack.” This new assistance to be channelled through NGOs includes “provision of food, safe drinking water, shelter, emergency health care, winterization and protection,” […]
PORT-AU- PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — The international community pledged $600 million Wednesday to help rebuild Haiti’s devastated south, where an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people six months ago. “These contributions went well above our expectations,” said Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, after the conclusion of an international summit in Port-au-Prince. With a total estimated cost of $2 billion over four years to build back the areas hardest hit by the August 14 earthquake, the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)– President Joe Biden seized $7 billion in assets belonging to the previous Afghan government on Friday with the aim of splitting the funds between victims of the 9/11 attacks and desperately needed aid for post-war Afghanistan. Biden formally seized the assets in an executive order. The money had been stuck in the New York Federal Reserve since the fall of the US-backed government in Kabul and takeover by the Taliban […]
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AFP) — A coronavirus-hit Australian warship docked in Tonga on Wednesday, delivering desperately needed aid to the volcano-and-tsunami-struck nation under strict “no-contact” protocols. Tongan Health Minister Saia Piukala said the crew of the HMAS Adelaide would follow drastic health protocols to ensure the remote Pacific kingdom remains one of the few places in the world still free of Covid-19. “The ship will berth and no contacts will be made. Australians from the ship […]
by Pierre-Henry DESHAYES and Viken KANTARCI Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) – Western diplomats Tuesday linked humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to an improvement in human rights after meeting a Taliban delegation on a landmark visit to Europe. On the final day of the Taliban’s first official trip to Europe since returning to power in August, the fundamentalists held talks behind closed doors with several Western diplomats. The Taliban are seeking international recognition and financial aid. […]
by Pierre-Henry DESHAYES Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) – Taliban and Western diplomats meet in Oslo on Monday for talks on Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis and human rights, especially those of women whose freedoms have been curbed by the hardline Islamists. In their first visit to Europe since returning to power in August, the Taliban will meet representatives of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the European Union and Norway. The Taliban delegation is headed […]
by Ron LOPEZ Agence France-Presse SURIGAO CITY, Philippines (AFP) – Jennifer Vetonio stands on a road in the southern Philippines begging for money and food from passing drivers. A week after Super Typhoon Rai destroyed her house, she has not received a scrap of government aid. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless after Rai cut a swathe through the vast archipelago last Thursday, knocking out power across entire islands and leaving desperate survivors pleading […]
(Eagle News) — The United States government said it is sending P10 million ($200,000) in aid to the Philippines to support communities affected by super typhoon Odette (international name Rai), the US embassy said on Wednesday, December 22. The aid will be coursed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as immediate assistance to areas affected by the super typhoon which had made a record of nine landfalls in the country, from […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – Nearly 200 people have died in floods and landslides in India and Nepal, officials said Thursday, with whole families buried in their homes and two young girls swept away as forecasters warned of yet more heavy rain. Experts say that they were victims of the ever-more unpredictable and extreme weather that has hit South Asia in recent years caused by climate change and exacerbated by deforestation, damming and excessive development. […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Myanmar is facing a “severe crisis” with the number of people needing aid tripling to three million in the eight months since the military launched a coup, the UN humanitarian coordinator to the country said Thursday. Andrew Kirkwood described the situation as “very concerning.” “The people of Myanmar are really living in a severe crisis at the moment,” he said in a virtual meeting with reporters. “The United Nations […]
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s health system is on the verge of collapse, a top Red Cross official warned Thursday, saying more than 2,000 health facilities had been shuttered across the conflict-ravaged country. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that a dire lack of funding was pushing Afghanistan’s health system to the brink. “People might agree to work without salaries for a few more weeks,” Alexander Matheou, IFRC’s Asia […]
