Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed meets with Fatime Boukar Kossei, Minister of Social Action, National Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs of the Republic of Chad to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has been aggravated by heavy rainfall. Credit: Loey Felipe/UN Photo

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 2024 (IPS) – Since June of this year, Chad has been facing an extended period of heavy rainfall. Major flooding has triggered the onset of a significant humanitarian crisis, as all aspects of Chadian life, including health, food production, and community, have been negatively impacted. Additionally, response plans are severely compromised due to high levels of hostilit…

Ashfaq Yusufzai

BALAKOT, Nov 28 2005 (IPS) – It is a safe bet that at least some of the 5.8 billion dollars worth of relief that the world has pledged for the quake-ravaged areas of northern Pakistan will pass through the hands of several banned jehadi militant groups that have found new legitimacy in humanitarian work.
It is a safe bet that at least some of the 5.8 billion dollars worth of relief that the world has pledged for the quake-ravaged areas of northern Pakistan will pass through the hands of several banned jehadi militant groups that have found new legitimacy in humanitarian work.

While people living in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir is officially known, and the adjacent North West Frontier Province (NWFP) had grown…

เมื่อวันที่ 26 มีการเปิดเผยว่าเกม ‘Ragnarok: Monster World’ แนว RPG Web3 ที่บริษัทเกมโกลบอล Gravity พัฒนาร่วมกับบริษัทผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านบล็อกเชนอย่าง Zero X And (0x&) ได้เข้าร่วมRonin Network เตรียมเปิดให้บริการในประเทศไทยครึ่งปีหลัง 2024 นี้

Ragnarok: Monster World เป็นเกมที่นำมอนสเตอร์จาก Ragnarok มาพัฒนาเป็นเกมแนว RPG …

Yuji Horii ผู้สร้าง Dragon Quest และ Kazuhiko Torishima อดีตบรรณาธิการ Shonen Jump ได้เปิดเผยความคิดเห็นเกี่ยวกับการเซ็นเซอร์ในเกม Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake ณ งาน Tokyo Game Show

ก่อนหน้านี้ แฟน ๆ ได้สังเกตเห็นการเปลี่ยนแปลงในภาพวาดอันเป็นเอกลักษณ์ของ Akira Toriyama โดยตัวละครหญิงนักรบได้ถูกเพิ่มกางเกงขาสั้นและเสื้อชั้นในสีแทน ซึ่งก่อนหน้านี้�…

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Jan 9 2006 (IPS) – The French army administrated an illegal drug to its soldiers during the first Gulf War in 1991 without informing them of the risks, according to evidence presented at a judicial inquiry.
The drug, Modafinil, kept the soldiers awake for days, according to documents presented before a judicial inquiry into the Gulf War syndrome . The inquiry was launched by the public prosecution office in June 2002 to establish responsibility for illnesses suffered by French soldiers in Iraq.

The drug was administered to some 1,000 French soldiers who participated in the war against Iraq.

I and many comrades were given the drug every eight hours under orders from our commanders, Yannick Morvan, a veteran of the 1991 Iraq campaign told IPS…

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Feb 16 2006 (IPS) – The decision by French President Jacques Chirac to withdraw the asbestos-contaminated aircraft carrier Clemenceau from dismantling in India ends an embarrassing journey for the ship, and for the French government.
Chirac announced Wednesday afternoon that on the issue of dismantling ships, which poses questions on a global dimension related to protection of the environment, France must act in the most exemplary way.

Defence minister Michelle Alliot Marie said last week that France was dealing with the matter in an exemplary way in sending the ship to the Indian scrap yard Alang for dismantling.

Chirac s decision came only hours after the French state council, the highest judicial authority, ordered suspension of the Clem…

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 18 2006 (IPS) – After years of oppression and secretive rule, Burma s generals appear to have come up against resistance from an unlikely opponent-avian flu virus.
This week s confirmation by the junta, that the South-east Asian nation is the latest to be hit by the deadly H5N1 virus, marked a dramatic departure from the insularity of a regime that has ruled the country with an iron grip since the 1962 military coup.

A request by the junta for assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is winning early praise from the U.N. agency. We are pleased that the government of Myanmar (the name given to Burma by the junta) reported the outbreak to FAO and has sought verification of the virus from labs outside the country, Laur…

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Apr 19 2006 (IPS) – Properly iodised salt could have protected thousands following the Chernobyl disaster 20 years ago, says a Unicef report.
The failure to iodise salt made children in the region particularly vulnerable to thyroid cancer, the report says.

Households in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) comprising the former Soviet republics in the region have the world s lowest percentage of households consuming iodised salt, Angela Hawke from Unicef (United Nations Children s Fund) told IPS on phone from Geneva.

That compares with about 49 percent of households consuming iodised salt in South Asia, and 86 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, Hawke said.

A diet without iodised salt made people i…

Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, May 23 2006 (IPS) – Scientists who discovered a new variant of the hantavirus, in Guinea, have advised that measures be taken to avoid its possible transmission to humans. The virus is carried by a type of mouse, Hylomyscus simus, which is found in forested areas of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d Ivoire and Ghana.
We don t know at this point if this new virus, named the Sangassou hantavirus, is dangerous for humans, but we re in the process of investigating (the matter), said Dr Jan ter Meulen, head of the research team. The virus was named after the area of Guinea where it was discovered (the first hantavirus took its name from the Hantaan river area in South Korea, where it was identified).

While he has been quoted as saying that people…

Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily

FALLUJAH, Jun 25 2006 (IPS) – One and a half years after the November 2004 U.S. military assault on Fallujah, residents tell of ongoing suffering, lack of jobs, little reconstruction and continuing violence.
The U.S. military launched Operation Phantom Fury against the city of Fallujah-destroying an estimated 70 percent of the buildings, homes and shops, and killing between 4,000 and 6,000 people, according to the Fallujah-based non-governmental organisation the Study Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (SCHRD).

IPS found that the city remains under draconian biometric security, with retina scans, fingerprinting and X-raying required for anyone entering the city. Fallujah remains an island: not even the residents of the surrounding tow…