Those who hamper the troubled state’s political progress will face serious sanctions, leaders attending today’s major international conference in London warned.
The UN said that long-awaited rains, coupled with substantial agricultural inputs and the humanitarian response are the main reasons for the improvement.
Richard Donovan hoping to break his own record – and to help alleviate suffering in the Horn of Africa – by running seven marathons on seven continents in less than five days. Phew!
Last year saw a number of major natural disasters strike, including earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand and Turkey, volcanic eruptions in Chile and Iceland, and severe tropical storms in Asia.
The Islamist group has banned Concern, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and UNHCR – amongst others – from operating in the country, where 250,000 people face the immediate risk of starvation.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has announced a further €1 million in support for famine victims, while Bono has joined a group of celebrities calling for more action.
As the Somali government bans foreign aid workers from militant-controlled areas for their safety, the situation deteriorates for the famine-stricken explains Oxfam’s PRO in Somalia.
Irish Aid has delivered aid worth €8.2 million to the region. Meanwhile aid agency GOAL has criticised the UN for “reluctance” to provide peacekeepers, and has said the “international community “has no stomach to tackle terrorists”.
Charity GOAL’s chief executive John O’Shea says that while agencies are trying to help refugees flooding out of Somalia, some four million people are trapped inside and facing death.
Some mothers have had to make the “horrifying choice of saving the strongest” of their children while leaving the weakest behind to die as starving families make the long, desperate trek to refugee camps, says the UN.
A photo-essay from Oxfam in Ethiopia and a first-hand account from a Concern worker in Somalia paint a stark picture of the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years.
ONE OF AMERICA’S biggest child beauty pageant organisers is set to spend €20,000 staging their first-ever Irish contest in September.
The Herald reports today that beauty bosses said it will be open to “babies, toddlers and teens” and will also include a heat with kids in swimwear.
Some parents believe that contests celebrates their children’s beauty, helps them learn about camaraderie and boosts their self-confidence. While others think that beauty pageants send out the wrong kind of message to children and that the costumes and make-up involved sexualises kids.
So, today we would like to know: Would you enter your child in a beauty pageant?
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