The airline industry body IATA slashed its forecast for industry profits in 2008 on Wednesday, warning that the spiralling cost of fuel and the impact of the credit crunch would reverse expected growth. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reduced its forecast for 2008 industry profits by one third to -billion.
Children in Gaza and Zimbabwe desperately need help to ensure they have food, clean water and schooling, a senior United Nations official said on Monday. Dan Toole, director of emergency programmes for Unicef, said a shortage of donor cash was having a dramatic effect in the territories.
South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu called on Wednesday on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to ensure that violations of human rights and humanitarian law in their region were punished. In a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, he also called for an international investigation of the Israeli shelling of the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza last November.
United Nations human rights investigators on Wednesday called off a visit to Darfur after Sudanese officials demanded the removal of the UN's former top rights official from the group. The six-member team, set up last December by the UN Human Rights Council, said it would pursue its work without entering the country.
International aid groups warned on Tuesday that if rich powers succeeded in forcing open agricultural markets in developing countries it would destroy poor farmers and cause massive social disruption.