International
Hunger in the world remains at high levels for the third consecutive year
Hunger levels remained worryingly high in 2023 for the third consecutive year, with about 733 million people chronically undernourished worldwide, according to a report released on Wednesday by five United Nations agencies.
The report on “The state of food security and nutrition in the world,” presented in Rio de Janeiro, coinciding with the ministerial meetings of the G20, shows an alarming global scenario in which one in eleven people went hungry last year.
Hunger continues to increase in Africa, where 20.4% of its population suffers, stabilizes in Asia (8.1%) and is experiencing progress in Latin America (6.2%), except in the Caribbean region.
“In Africa, conflicts have increased and access to finance has been greatly reduced,” Máximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), told EFE.
The world has gone back 15 years in the fight against hunger, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those of 2008-2009, in the heat of wars, the climate crisis, the loss of purchasing power corroded by inflation, the lack of funding and the growing social inequality.
These phenomena, especially wars, climatic catastrophes and economic crises, “are increasingly frequent and serious,” the report warns.
The ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic remain. Today, there are 152 million more people who go hungry compared to 2019.
Between 2022 and 2023 there were advances in the rates of growth retardation and exclusive breastfeeding, but access to adequate food continues to be an “unattainable” chimera for many
Last year, about 2,33 billion people, that is, almost a third of the world’s population, faced moderate or severe food insecurity, practically the same level that was reached during the coronavirus crisis.
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“The pandemic has greatly exacerbated inequalities,” Torero said.
This year’s report emphasizes the “urgent” need for “greater and more profitable financing, with a clear and standardized definition” in favor of food security and nutrition, especially in poor countries.
“You need to invest more and do it smarter. Investments should not come only from governments; also from the private sector, which we hope will have a part in this fight against rural hunger and poverty,” Rossana Polastri, IFAD’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, told EFE.
Not covering that financing deficit will have “social, economic and environmental” consequences that will require solutions that will also cost several billion dollars.
If the trend continues, “582 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, half of them in Africa,” warn FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the Children’s Fund (Unicef), authors of the study.
A figure far removed from the target of zero famine set for that year.
To get closer to that goal that seems impossible today, Brazil, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20, launches this Wednesday a Global Alliance against Hunger with which it intends to end this scourge through better coordination and greater investment.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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