UN chief shocked by Czech mass shooting, UNICEF appeal for West and Central Africa, world leaders urged to heed climate science — Global Issues

No less than 14 individuals had been killed and 25 injured after a gunman opened hearth in what some media known as the worst taking pictures within the nation’s historical past.

The gunman, reportedly a scholar on the college, additionally killed himself.

UN chief António Guerres was shocked and saddened by the incident, his Spokesperson mentioned in a statement issued in a while Thursday.

Mr. Guterres expressed his deepest condolences to the households of the victims and wished these injured a speedy and full restoration.

UNICEF: $1.89 billion attraction for West and Central Africa

The UN Youngsters’s Fund, UNICEF, on Friday appealed for practically two billion {dollars} to offer lifesaving help to greater than 24 million girls and boys throughout West and Central Africa in 2024.

The company warned that 46.7 million youngsters within the area are projected to face one other yr of humanitarian want primarily resulting from ongoing battle and insecurity, together with within the central Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and big displacement into Chad sparked by the warfare in Sudan.

“West and Central Africa is residence to a lot of critically underfunded emergencies, and among the most uncared for humanitarian crises on the planet for kids,” said UNICEF Regional Director Felicité Tchibindat.

The $1.89 million attraction goals to succeed in roughly 24.1 million youngsters subsequent yr, up from 23.5 million in 2023.

Assist will embody lifesaving diet provides, clear water, schooling and baby safety companies, in addition to humanitarian money transfers for households.

Greater than a 3rd of the funding might be used to deal with malnutrition, because the prevalence of losing in youngsters below 5 stays excessive. The Sahel international locations are most affected, with a number of areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and northwest Nigeria exhibiting emergency ranges of kid losing.

Time operating out for international shift to inexperienced power, outgoing WMO chief warns

The outgoing head of the World Meteorological Group (WMO) has urged international leaders to heed scientific proof on local weather change and speed up the shift to renewable power sources.

Petteri Taalas ended his tenure as WMO Secretary-Common on Friday. He assumed the put up in 2016 and was on the helm of the UN company over the warmest eight-year interval in recorded historical past.

“The experience and companies of WMO and the scientific neighborhood have by no means been extra essential to deal with local weather change, which represents humanity’s largest problem,” he said.

He issued a request to world leaders, saying “please take note of the scientific proof and take heed to the United Nations which is dedicated to selling the welfare of residents worldwide.”

Mr. Taalas hailed the agreement reached on the current COP28 local weather change convention in Dubai as historic as a result of it acknowledged the necessity to transition away from fossil fuels, marking a primary.

“This is a crucial step in the appropriate course however not the ultimate objective,” he mentioned.

“We urgently want to scale back our manufacturing and consumption of fossil fuels and velocity up the transition to renewable power. Time is operating out.”