Switzerland

GENEVA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Friday appealed for intensified support for displaced Afghans, saying that Afghans are the single largest group of asylum seekers arriving in Europe.

Speaking ahead of the first ever Global Refugee Forum in Geneva next week, Babar Baloch, spokesperson for UNHCR, told a press briefing here that of the roughly 70,000 migrant arrivals in the Eastern Mediterranean so far this year, 37.4 percent had been Afghans.

GENEVA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing its first "lockout" crisis in nearly 25 years.

GENEVA, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — THE United Nations said it was procuring food assistance for 4.1 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population in a country where shortages are being exacerbated by runaway inflation and climate-induced drought.

Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of southern Africa, is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade, marked by soaring inflation and shortages of food, fuel, medicines and electricity.

GENEVA (AP) — A World Trade Organization panel ruled Monday that the European Union has not complied with an order to end illegal subsidies for plane-maker Airbus, which prompted the Trump administration to impose tariffs on nearly $7.5 billion worth of EU goods in October.

In its ruling, a WTO compliance panel found that the EU had not taken sufficient steps to end harm to Boeing, the major rival to Europe’s Airbus. The EU is expected to appeal, though the United States is on the cusp of preventing the WTO’s appeals court — the Appellate Body — from ruling on any new appeals.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday it was repatriating 128 detainees from Saudi Arabia to the Houthi-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

In an announcement posted on Twitter, the neutral aid agency said: “Today we are repatriating 128 #detainees from #KSA to #Sanaa. We welcome this initiative and we are pleased to see humanitarian considerations taken into account for the sake of the families waiting for their loved ones to return home.”

GENEVA, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) evacuated dozens of their staff working on the Ebola epidemic from the town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the worsening security situation.

Rebels believed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed eight people in an overnight raid on Sunday.

GENEVA, Nov 26 (NNN) — On the eve of a year in which nations are due to strengthen their Paris climate pledges, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report warns that unless global greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to get on track towards the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. 

GENEVA, Nov 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Dengue is now endemic in 128 countries and is the biggest threat to world health. With Pakistan and Laos among the most affected, the international community must take drastic action to stop dengue outbreaks.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), dengue strikes as many as 96 million people each year, a huge leap from the 1970s when it existed in only nine countries.

GENEVA, Nov 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Egypt faced strong criticism at a United Nations review of its rights record, with diplomats voicing alarm over detention conditions and shrinking freedoms in the country recently rocked by mass protests.

New Delhi/Zurich, Nov 10 (PTI) No claimants have come forward for about a dozen dormant Swiss bank accounts linked to Indians, leaving the funds lying in these accounts at the risk of getting transferred to the Switzerland government.

The Swiss government began making details of dormant accounts public in 2015 to allow their claimants submit necessary proof to get access to those funds, which included at least 10 accounts linked to Indians.