Annan urges Syria to stop delaying humanitarian aid
May 16, 2012
AFP – UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged Syria to stop delaying UN access to more than one million Syrians in need of assistance. The United Nations has been negotiating with President Bashar al-Assad’s government since March and the UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said…
Amnesty cites rights abuses in northern Mali
May 16, 2012
Amnesty International has accused armed Tuaregs and groups fighting to impose Sharia law in northern Mali of carrying out grave rights abuses such as rape, murder and using child soldiers. A report released on Wednesday by the London-based rights group said government soldiers had also carried out extrajudicial killings, branding the crisis Mali’s worst human rights situation in 50 years. Tuaregs fighting for the separatist Azawad Liberation Movement (MNLA) and other groups have seized control of much of the north of the country since a military coup in Bamako in March. “After two decades of relative stability and peace, Mali is now facing its worst crisis since independence in 1960,”…
Half of South Sudan facing food shortages, warns UN
May 16, 2012
More than half the population of South Sudan are facing food shortages due to the continuing conflict with Sudan, the UN is warning. It says fighting on the border between the two countries and the shutdown of oil production have had a devastating impact on the South's economy. It adds there are fears the situation in the South, which gained independence from Sudan last July, is worsening. Previous estimates suggest 4.7 million people are at risk of food shortages. In this latest report, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says a complex combination of factors has "raised fears that the South Sudanese are sliding into destitution". Those factors…
Facebook IPO plan stands to rake in more than $100 billion and mint several new billionaires
May 15, 2012
A FRENZY for Facebook built Tuesday as the company hiked its expected opening price for shares to about $38 — making the eight-year-old social media site worth $104 billion. The staggering sum set ahead of Friday’s hotly anticipated IPO would instantly make Facebook more valuable than American corporate icons like McDonald’s, Disney and Kraft. “There are more than 2 billion global Internet users,” Facebook said grandly in its SEC filing, “and we aim to connect all of them.” By August, the social network is expected to sign up a billion people — one of every seven humans on the planet. That staggering reach, and investors’…
Merkel, Hollande promise joint growth strategy
May 15, 2012
BERLIN (Reuters) – New French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences on Tuesday over how to boost growth in recession-plagued Europe, but pledged to forge a joint approach in time for an EU summit next month. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande gesture after a news conference after their talks in the Chancellery in Berlin, May 15, 2012. Hollande was greeted by a thunderstorm in Paris and storm clouds gathering over the euro zone as France’s first Socialist president in 17 years was sworn in on Tuesday before flying to Berlin to plead his case for less austerity in Europe. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz The Socialist…
Obama, Monti agree to intensify growth, job creation
May 15, 2012
Tweet WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti agreed on Tuesday on the need to “intensify” growth and job creation, as Washington prepared the ground for this week’s G8 summit. The leaders spoke by telephone ahead of the two-day meeting beginning at Camp David, Maryland on Friday, and also discussed strategy in the war in Afghanistan…
