Saturday, May 30, 2015

Radioactive leak at Delhi airport traced to medical cargo



NEW DELHI --- A Turkish Airlines plane, was detected in the cargo area of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi this morning. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the leak was plugged by emergency teams.

Officials emphasised that there was no need for panic. The incident did not affect airport operations, they said. The passenger terminals of the airport are about 2 km away from the cargo area.

"The radioactive leak was very very small. There is nothing to panic about and there is no effect on the passenger area," National Disaster Response Force or NDRF chief OP Singh, was quoted by New Delhi Television, NDTV, as saying.

Two workers who handled the consignment and complained of irritation in the eyes were taken to a hospital for a preliminary check. They are back at work.

Officials said four of a consignment of 10 cartons of Sodium Iodide 131 meant for a private hospital had leaked. -end-

































Radioactive leak at Delhi airport traced to medical cargo



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NEW DELHI --- A Turkish Airlines plane, was detected in the cargo area of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi this morning. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the leak was plugged by emergency teams.

Officials emphasised that there was no need for panic. The incident did not affect airport operations, they said. The passenger terminals of the airport are about 2 km away from the cargo area.

"The radioactive leak was very very small. There is nothing to panic about and there is no effect on the passenger area," National Disaster Response Force or NDRF chief OP Singh, was quoted by New Delhi Television, NDTV, as saying.

Two workers who handled the consignment and complained of irritation in the eyes were taken to a hospital for a preliminary check. They are back at work.

Officials said four of a consignment of 10 cartons of Sodium Iodide 131 meant for a private hospital had leaked. -end-


As armed conflict in South Sudan escalates, 4.6 million people face hunger


ROME --- The ongoing conflict and related economic downturn in South Sudan has left 3.8 million people facing emergency and crisis levels of food insecurity, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. That is 1.3 million more than the IPC's last projection made in December 2014.

It warned that unless action is taken, the situation is set to further deteriorate with around 4.6 million people, or some 40 percent of the country's population becoming severely food insecure by July 2015.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a set of standardized tools that aims at providing a "common currency" for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity.

The IPC estimates for April, indicate that most of the people affected - 3 million at Crisis level and 800 000 at the Emergency level - are located in the three states of the country's northeastern Greater Upper Nile region hardest hit by the fighting. Many others are from the western part of the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region where conditions have deteriorated as a result of a spillover from the conflict.

The conflict and insecurity disrupted last year's planting season in the Greater Upper Nile region and has led to the displacement of millions of livestock animals as herders fled from the fighting across the country. As conflict escalates, more people are being displaced above the 1.5 million already recorded in 2014.

Meanwhile, even in non-conflict affected areas many markets are not functioning properly while rising inflation and depreciation of the local currency are driving food prices upwards.

The report also shows that in addition to the 3.8 million people now at Emergency and Crisis levels, an additional 4 million have reached the Stressed food security phase (see graphic at right).

"This means they will not be able to adequately sustain their livelihoods or meet their food needs without engaging in negative coping mechanisms including consuming wild foods and skipping meals," said Erminio Sacco, Chief Technical Adviser of the Agriculture Food Information System in South Sudan - an FAO project funded by the European Union to support the institutionalization of robust food security information systems at both the national and state levels.

"Observed trends, such as market disruption with increasing food prices, will inevitably lead this population to spiral into acute levels of food insecurity across the country," he added.

The IPC is a multi-partner initiative that uses a standardized approach to classifying food insecurity, particularly in crises situations. Estimates are based on a technical consensus among the involved stakeholders, including governments.

Livelihoods at risk while food prices rise

Already, in South Sudan's capital and largest city, Juba, prices of both locally produced and imported cereals, vegetable oil and sugar increased by 24 to 69 percent in the first quarter of the year and are currently 90 to 100 percent above the normal seasonal levels.

Food typically comprises a large share of household expenditure here - up to 85 percent for the urban poor. As the economic downturn erodes incomes, more urban and rural poor will be unable to meet their food requirements.

The IPC report noted how the conflict has threatened rural livelihoods, particularly in the Greater Upper Nile region, further eroding the food security situation. For example, it noted a significant decrease in the amount of households that receive income from casual - skilled and unskilled - labour, declining from typically 20 to 30 percent to merely 6 to 8 percent.

In order to make a living or meet their food needs, many people in rural areas are now engaged in alternative livelihoods options such as sale of crops, livestock and natural resources such as wooden poles, grass, firewood, charcoal, or are seeking food assistance through kinship ties.

Food security depends on ending the conflict

The IPC report noted that improving the food security situation will greatly depend on security, conflict resolution, economic stabilization and unrestrained humanitarian access.

As part of its country resilience programme, FAO has scaled up efforts to reach 2.8 million people with emergency livelihood support including crop kits, vegetable kits, fishing kits and livestock treatment kits in 2015. However the Organization warns that the South Sudanese people's ability to recover will remain fragile until people can fully resume rebuilding their livelihoods.

"FAO South Sudan is adapting its operations and prioritizing emergency livelihood interventions to reach people who are severely food insecure, but the main concern is safety and accessing these people in time," said FAO Representative, Serge Tissot.

"To avoid a further and potentially catastrophic decline in the food security situation of the most vulnerable, it is critical that partners continue and possibly expand their work on emergency livelihood support as well as on building resilience," Tissot added.

The latest IPC report endorsed by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan can be found here. The next comprehensive IPC analysis for South Sudan will be completed in September 2015. –end-



UAE condemns 'cowardly' terrorist attack on Saudi mosque



Abu Dhabi– The UAE today condemned the bomb explosion in a mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Dammam during Friday
prayers killing four people and injuring four others.

''The UAE, while strongly condemning this cowardly terrorist act, renews its absolute rejection of all forms of terrorism and reiterates its solidarity with, and support for the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its efforts to confront these dangerous terrorist crimes which target the unity of the national fabric of the Kingdom,'' Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said in a statement today.

"It requires concerted efforts by the international community to combat these cowardly terrorist acts and devious ideologies which do not respect human lives and sanctity of places of worship," he added.

Dr. Gargash expressed sincere condolences on behalf of the UAE to the government and people of Saudi Arabia, to the families of the martyrs and wished speedy recovery to those injured in the attack. He also prayed to the Almighty Allah to spare Saudi Arabia from any harm and seditious acts. -end-




Just in: Kuwait gives $1.5M to UN youth office



NEW YORK -- Kuwait will offer a financial contribution
of USD 1.5 million to the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth over the coming two years, "in order to assist in realizing its envisaged youth programs and activities."

The statement was made by the country's Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah in his speech at the High-Level Event of the UN General Assembly to commemorate the Anniversary of the World Program on Action for Youth.

The contribution was prompted by Kuwait's firm belief "in the importance of enabling the youth, and in their role in building the human civilization, and guided by the directives of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, Leader of Humanitarian Work," Sheikh Salman added.

On behalf of the member states of the Arab League, the minister extended thanks and appreciation to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for "his sustained efforts to improve the situation of world youth." He also thanked President of the UN General Assembly Sam Kutesa "for his gracious invitation to convene this special session on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the launch of the World Program of Action on Youth." Kuwait is head of the current Thirty-Eighth session of the Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports, he said.

Sheikh Salman stated that the Arab region has made progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, but it "was not sufficient to achieve food security, combat poverty and marginalization, and realizing the required social justice." According to the minister, the Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports adopted in its recent 38th session several important resolutions on developing the Arab Youth Policy." "At the same time we realize that the recent changes and inter-connectivity occurring in the world, as much as they contributed to the maximization and efficiency of the realized achievements, yet on the other hand, have made it easier for the domestic problems, with all their ensuing risks, to move to any other sport in the world," he said s quoted by KUNA.

This inevitably reduces the space of action available for national and regional policies which aim at establishing the desired security, development and stability in the context of a fast increasing globalization, and the speed at which problems are moving through the globe, Sheikh Salman added.

In this context, it is "imperative that joint cooperation should be enhanced between concerned United Nations organization and the League of Arab States, represented by the Council of Ministers for Youth and Sports." Sheikh Salman referred to "thorny challenges" the Arab world is facing, such as "poor societal participation by the youth, and a lower per capita income of the Gross National Income." -end-


Image by www.kuna.net.kw