BAD HOFGASTEIN, Austria — Artificial intelligence poses an “existential” threat to Europe’s health and social security systems through its potential to “completely replace” human work and eliminate the income tax funding base on which they depend, a leading health policy figure has warned. Clemens Marten Auer, president of the European Health Forum Gastein, used the […] Continue reading ->
Grand corruption schemes siphoning billions in state resources to government-linked elites have crushed South Sudan’s health system as the country teeters between famine and a new civil war, UN investigators found. The findings of a two-year investigation by the independent UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan published on Tuesday document how systematic corruption […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA — Negotiations over a United Nations (UN) treaty to combat the plastic pollution crisis ended in failure early Friday morning, as 183 nations were unable to bridge vast divides over production limits, toxic chemicals and financing after three years of diplomacy. Norway officially announced the failure at 7am Geneva time after a final overtime […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – A new draft of the global plastics treaty published Wednesday found a clever solution to answering the difficult questions facing nations seeking the historic treaty: delete them from the text. The long-awaited draft arrived at a tense moment in negotiations over what many hoped would be a watershed treaty to address the crisis […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – The European Union said Tuesday it is ready to make a deal on a global plastics treaty but will not accept an agreement “at any cost,” leaving the door open to rejecting a weak outcome as negotiators enter the final 72 hours of talks with core provisions still deadlocked. “The EU is here […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA — The world’s attempt to forge a plastics treaty billed as the most important environmental deal since the Paris climate accord is falling apart after three years of talks. With negotiations due to end Thursday evening, 184 nations gathered in Geneva remain deadlocked over basic definitions, the scope of the treaty and whether to […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA — Fossil fuel and petrochemical lobbyists have descended on UN plastics treaty negotiations in record numbers, as delegates from over 180 countries attempt to forge a global agreement to stem the tsunami of plastic pollution drowning the planet. According to a new analysis by the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), at least 234 […] Continue reading ->
Plastics are a “grave, growing and under-recognised danger” to people and the planet, causing “disease and death” from infancy to old age, a landmark review has found. The Lancet Plastics Countdown, published as diplomats from around the world arrived in Geneva on Monday for the overtime round of talks on a global plastics treaty, estimates […] Continue reading ->
Mass atrocities, rape, famine, sexual and ethnically targeted violence have plagued Sudan’s civil war since it erupted two years ago. With peace nowhere in sight, a new report released by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recounts in devastating detail: nothing has changed. Based on interviews with over 80 civilians, MSF data and direct observations from its […] Continue reading ->
A three-year investigation by the World Health Organization found that loneliness and social isolation contribute to 871,000 deaths worldwide every year, a death toll researchers said places social health in a tier “as damaging as other public health risks” such as air pollution, tobacco and alcohol. The landmark report by the WHO Commission on […] Continue reading ->