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Israel must 'abandon threats of annexation': UN envoy
May 21, 2020 02:27The United Nations' special envoy for West Asia has called on Israel to abandon plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, joining a growing international chorus of opposition.
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ECB heads for more stimulus even as courts spar over its limits
May 20, 2020 15:28The European Central Bank (ECB) tweaked policy around the edges recently but kept the door wide open to further stimulus — including potentially controversial purchases of junk debt — to help an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. Facing an unprecedented recession, the ECB said it would make loans to banks even cheaper but kept the terms of its hallmark asset purchase scheme unchanged, disappointing investors who had bet on even more money-printing.
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World no longer tolerates US bullying: Shamkhani
May 19, 2020 06:34Iran’s top security official says the United States has failed to muster support even from its own allies in its attempts to renew a UN arms embargo against the Islamic Republic, stressing that the world community no longer tolerates Washington’s “bullying.”
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China has been open, transparent in fight against COVID-19: President Xi
May 18, 2020 09:59President Xi Jinping says China supports a ‘comprehensive’ inquiry into the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic after it ‘has been brought under control,’ stressing that Beijing has acted with ‘openness and transparency’ in dealing with the contagious disease since its outbreak.
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Advocates eyeing post-pandemic world say green hydrogen’s time has come
May 17, 2020 06:08Hydrogen has long been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Now, as major economies prepare green investments to kickstart growth, advocates spy a golden chance to drag the niche energy into the mainstream of a post-pandemic world. Green hydrogen was pushed to the fore recently when Fatih Birol, Head of the International Energy Agency, said the technology was “ready for the big time” and urged governments to channel investments into the fuel.
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Health minister: Iran outshining Europe, US in coronavirus fight
May 17, 2020 02:13Despite facing tough foreign sanctions, the Islamic Republic is outperforming Europe and the US in handling the fight against the novel coronavirus, Iranian Health Minister Sa’eed Namaki said.
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Isolated and alone, Britain has become the sick man of Europe
May 13, 2020 09:46The view of Britain as Europe’s “problem child” predates the coronavirus pandemic but has been greatly reinforced by it. Foreign perceptions of the UK as a badly governed, disorderly, embittered and chronically divided country took deep root in the politically chaotic years that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum.
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The huge problem of food waste could be twice as big as we thought
May 11, 2020 12:30Consumers around the world could be wasting more than twice as much food as thought, according to an analysis that says previous estimates have been gross underestimates. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in 2011 that around a third of food is lost or wasted. This report is considered to have played a key role in food waste reduction becoming one of the world’s Sustainable Development Goals.
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Ecotourism collapse threatens communities and wildlife
May 10, 2020 05:57Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, scientists have repeatedly urged humanity to reset its relationship with nature or suffer worse outbreaks. But the economic consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown have raised fears of a surge in poaching, illegal fishing and deforestation in life-sustaining ecosystems, with tens of thousands of jobs in the ecotourism sector at risk around the world.
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US ‘bullying’ jeopardizes UN credibility: Iran’s Zarif
May 10, 2020 04:12Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Washington’s “lawless bullying” against other countries will put the UN credibility at risk.