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WASHINGTON — With a record 210 million people out-of-work worldwide and employers reporting too few workers to hire with the right skills, the World Bank Group today appealed to governments, donors, community leaders, and employers to focus more on education that prepares young people for the jobs market rather than on the time they spend in school.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved a new loan of $100 million to the People’s Republic of China to support improvement of inland waterway transport infrastructure to meet growing transport demands.

New York: The money spent by countries to achieve targets such as eliminating poverty, educating all children and providing decent health care is still only a fraction of what they spend on arming themselves, a senior United Nations disarmament official warned today.

New York: A new United Nations report highlights progress made by the Palestinian Authority in building institutions necessary for a functioning State, while stressing the need for Israel to roll back “measures of occupation” and for an urgent resumption of negotiations between the two sides.

New York: Attacks against humanitarian personnel have tripled over the past decade, rising to more than 100 deaths each year, with the most of the fatalities occurring in areas where violence has increased significantly, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, according to a United Nations-backed study unveiled today.

New York: The United Nations atomic agency today confirmed that Japanese authorities had provisionally raised the severity level for the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that was damaged in last month’s earthquake to 7, the same level given to the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

New York: The United Nations telecommunications agency today launched a contest that will reward the winner with $10,000 for devising the most innovative “app,” or mobile telephone application, that tackles the subject of climate change.

New York: More than 500 ethnic Berbers fleeing conflict in western Libya have reached neighbouring Tunisia, the United Nations refugee agency reported today as it steps up support for the new arrivals.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, headed by Dimitri Demekas, visited Moscow during March 30-April 12, to conduct a financial stability assessment under the IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The mission met with Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Governor Ignatiev, Deputy Finance Minister Savatyugin, Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) General Director Turbanov, senior officials from the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM) and other agencies, and representatives of financial institutions and professional bodies.

Slovakia has swiftly recovered from a deep recession, and is facing a favorable medium-term macroeconomic outlook, with real GDP projected to grow by around 4 percent per year. The policy focus should shift from crisis response to enhancing the foundations for long-term growth and stability. The main challenges will be to correct the crisis-induced underlying deterioration in the fiscal position, prevent credit boom-bust cycles, reduce the high unemployment and maintain strong productivity growth. Following important fiscal adjustment this year, consolidation will need to continue during 2012–13 with a view to bringing the government deficit below 3 percent of GDP in 2013. Achieving this challenging target will require a careful consideration of the composition of the adjustment efforts.