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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
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Hello,
Today’s newsletter highlights the urgent humanitarian appeals made by both the Pope and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during their addresses at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Pope Francis urged political, economic and business leaders at the WEF to look beyond profit and try to heal an “increasingly lacerated” world with moral and ethical decisions.
In a written message to the world’s movers and shakers meeting at the Swiss resort, Francis urged them to tackle the “injustices that are at the root causes of conflict”, primarily hunger and the exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of the few.
“Sadly, as we look around, we find an increasingly lacerated world, in which millions of persons – men, women, fathers, mothers, children – whose faces are for the most part unknown to us, continue to suffer, not least from the effects of prolonged conflicts and actual wars,” Francis, 87, wrote.
Francis, who has made defense of the poor and immigrants one of the hallmarks of his 11-year-old papacy, said globalization must have a “fundamentally moral dimension” in economic, cultural and political discussions taking place at the WEF.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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‘Ignoring international law’
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Also at the WEF, the U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that parties to the conflict in Gaza were “trampling” on international law and urged them to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Guterres said the warring parties were “ignoring international law, trampling on the Geneva Conventions, and even violating the United Nations Charter”.
“The world is standing by as civilians, mostly women and children, are killed, maimed, bombarded, forced from their homes and denied access to humanitarian aid,” he said.
“I repeat my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.”
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Grave humanitarian crisis
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel will continue its attacks in Gaza until it defeats Hamas and recovers the hostages taken there during a deadly rampage by Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7.
Netanyahu said Israel would not be deterred by a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where it is fighting accusations that the campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.
The Israeli bombardment and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave in response to the Hamas attacks has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes.
It has also caused a grave humanitarian crisis as deliveries of food, fuel and medical supplies have been severely restricted.
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At least $15 billion will be needed to rebuild houses in Gaza, the head of the Palestine Investment Fund said at WEF, underlining the scale of devastation caused by Israel’s offensive.
Chairman Mohammed Mustafa said international reports indicated 350,000 housing units had been completely or partially damaged in Gaza. Assuming 150,000 of these would need to be rebuilt at an average cost of $100,000 per unit, “that’s $15 billion for housing units“, he said.
“We still didn’t talk about infrastructure, we didn’t talk about the hospitals that were damaged, the grids…,” he said. The figure points to reconstruction costs that will dwarf previous bills for rebuilding Gaza after earlier conflicts, with the war not yet over more than three months since it began.
“If the war in Gaza continues, more people are likely to die of hunger or famine than war,” Mustafa said.
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People look over snow covered rooftops from the Top of The Rock Observation Deck during the first snowfall in over 700 days in Manhattan, New York City, U.S. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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- Millions of Americans awoke to snow, freezing rain and frigid temperatures as an Arctic blast gripped much of the United States, ending a nearly two-year “snow drought” in New York City and putting much of the West into a deep freeze.
- Freezing rain in central and southern Germany grounded hundreds of flights and restricted train traffic on Wednesday, while heavy snowfall in Norway’s capital led to the closure of its main airport.
- Gender inequality: The number of women at the helm of Germany’s top companies is shrinking, according to a study by the DIW economic institute that deals a blow to the government’s aim for greater gender equality.
- Supply cuts by OPEC+, costly shipments from some traditional Middle East suppliers and geopolitical tension is driving India, the world’s third biggest oil importer, to diversify its crude sources and accelerate its energy transition, its Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. Click here for the full interview by Reuters’ Una Galani.
- Britain’s financial services regulator is looking at how investment banks and commercial insurers deal with sexual harassment, bullying and other non-financial misconduct amid complaints from alleged victims that they are often silenced or forced to quit.
- Racial justice: A former U.S. Marine sergeant, who was charged with manslaughter for killing Jordan Neely, a homeless man, on the New York City subway, must face trial after a judge decided against his motion to dismiss the indictment.
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“People in Gaza are suffering from a lack of food, water, medicines and adequate healthcare. Famine will make an already terrible situation catastrophic because sick people are more likely to succumb to starvation and starving people are more vulnerable to disease.”
World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
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Yampil, a 12-year-old Asiatic black bear, rescued from a zoo in Donetsk, Ukraine explores his new home at the Five Sisters Zoo near Edinburgh, Scotland. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
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In keeping with the focus on the effects of war, today’s spotlight shines a light on how conflict not only affects people, but animals too.
An Asiatic black bear which was found in an abandoned zoo in eastern Ukraine five months after Russia’s invasion in 2022, arrived at his new permanent home in Scotland.
Yampil, named after the village in the Donetsk region where he was found, was one of only a few out of 200 animals at the zoo to survive. After being rescued, he was cared for by a Belgian charity before his more than 12-hour journey to Five Sisters Zoo, around 20 miles (32 kms) west of Edinburgh.
Yampil will be housed in a temporary enclosure while the zoo, which has previously re-homed bears from traveling circuses, fundraises for his new permanent enclosure.
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A Palestinian man feeds a monkey at a zoo, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Over in Rafah zoo, dozens of destitute Gazans are camping between the cages where starving monkeys, parrots and lions cry out for food months into Israel’s offensive.
In the private zoo, run by the Gomaa family, a line of plastic tents stood near the animal pens and washing hung from lines between palm trees. Nearby a worker tried to feed a weak monkey tomato slices by hand.
Many of those sheltering at the zoo are members of the extended Gomaa family who were living in different parts of the enclave before the conflict smashed their homes.
“There are many families who have been completely wiped out. Now all our family is staying in this zoo,” said Adel Gomaa, who fled Gaza City. “Living among the animals is more merciful than what we get from the war planes in the sky.”
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- Jan. 20, Wellington, New Zealand: A nationwide hui (a Māori assembly, gathering or meeting) is being hosted by the Māori King to discuss indigenous issues that have come to the forefront with the change in government.
- Jan. 22, Geneva, Switzerland: Saudi Arabia is set to undergo a review of its human rights record at the United Nations in Geneva.
- Jan. 22, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: The Caribbean nation will host its annual energy conference in its capital to discuss investment opportunities, especially in the gas sector. The Caribbean nation’s prime minister and the energy minister will speak during the event, along with energy companies’ CEOs.
- Jan. 23, London, Britain: Voting closes for consultants in England on a pay offer from the British government after negotiations with the BMA union. Consultants have extended their industrial action mandate after a ballot of consultant members on Dec.18.
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