View Articles

New York: Up to one billion people could die this century from smoking or being exposed to tobacco if current rates continue, a senior United Nations health official warned today, urging governments of low- and middle-income countries to adopt the same measures that many wealthier nations have already taken to deter people from smoking.

New York: A new fund aimed at mobilizing resources to help developing countries mitigate the impact of global warming must encourage private sector financing in an effort to tackle its most devastating effects, the top United Nations climate change official said today.

New York: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today announced plans to introduce emergency operations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to feed an estimated 3.5 million people in desperate need after crop losses and a particularly bitter winter.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the third review of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) economic performance under a three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The Board's decision, which was taken on a lapse-of-time basis, enables the authorities to draw an additional SDR 49.493 million (about US$80.2 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to an amount equivalent to SDR 197.972 million (about US$320.6 million).

New York: Health ministers from around the world meeting under the auspices of the United Nations today adopted measures to strengthen the fight against the non-communicable diseases, including the promotion of healthy lifestyles and encouraging a multi-sectoral approach to prevention and treatment of the illnesses.

New York: The United Nations refugee agency today voiced alarm at worsening insecurity in Somalia, which has forced 50,000 people out of the country in the first three months of this year, more than double the number of refugees who fled the Horn of Africa nation during a similar period in 2010.

WTO ambassadors endorsed on 29 April 2011 Director-General Pascal Lamy’s plan to consult delegations in Geneva and ministers around the world in the search for a different way of achieving a breakthrough in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. They were clear about what they do not want and said they are open to ideas.

A high-level workshop hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Yerevan on April 27, and in Tshakhkadzor on April 28–29, considered ways to improve monetary policy tools and central bank instruments in support of implementation of a modern monetary framework of inflation targeting (IT). Strengthened IT regimes—which include clear and consistent policy objectives and robust central bank operational independence, communications, and accountability—can help better anchor expectations about future inflation and contribute to dedollarization, stronger local currency markets, reduced uncertainty, and less severe boom-bust cycles.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a speedy, effective and mutually acceptable resolution of the long-running dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter country’s name, saying he was encouraged by recent steps taken by the two sides.

WTO ambassadors endorsed on 29 April 2011 Director-General Pascal Lamy’s plan to consult delegations in Geneva and ministers around the world in the search for a different way of achieving a breakthrough in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. They were clear about what they do not want and said they are open to ideas.