US Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged Russia on Monday by calling for the reopening of border checkpoints for moving food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies into war-ravaged Syria.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Mr Blinken called for more aid to reach the estimated 11 million Syrians who need handouts to survive more than a decade after anti-government protests spiralled into an all-out civil war.
The 15-member council first allowed cross-border aid operations into Syria in 2014 at several points. Last year, it reduced access to only the Bab Al Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border due to opposition from Russia and China over reopening all four.
"The lives of people in Syria depend on getting urgent help. We have to do everything in our power to create ways for that aid to get to them, to open pathways not to close them," Mr Blinken told the remote meeting.
"Members of this council have a job to do – reauthorise all three border crossings for humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people."
Russian warplanes last week bombed Bab Al Hawa checkpoint, cutting off supplies to millions of Syrians in the country's north-west and forcing aid workers to reroute aid convoys across front lines within the turbulent country, said Mr Blinken.
"Stop taking part in or making excuses for attacks that close these pathways and stop targeting humanitarian aid workers and the Syrian civilians they're trying to help," he added.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said about half of the food, medicine and other aid entering Syria passes through Bab Al Hawa crossing. He added that high rates of malnutrition demonstrated the need for more border crossings.
"The reason there's so much malnutrition is that the cross-border operation is too small to prevent it," Mr Lowcock told the council.
"More money and more border crossings would address that."
Russia, which backs the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has said cross-border humanitarian deliveries should cease and that all the country's aid should transit via Damascus.
Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has said there were "no compelling reasons" to keep UN border aid checkpoints open and that it was "vital" to "give a start to domestic Syrian deliveries of humanitarian assistance".
The council is set to vote on cross-border aid operations again in July.
Over the past decade, the Security Council has been divided over Syria, with Syrian allies Russia and China pitted against Western members. Moscow has vetoed 16 council resolutions related to Syria and has been backed by Beijing in several votes.
Millions of people have left Syria and millions more have been internally displaced since a crackdown by the government on protesters in March 2011 led to a multi-front civil war that has dragged in Russia, Iran, Turkey, the US and others.
A two-day virtual donor meeting co-hosted by the UN and the European Union began on Monday aimed at raising $10 billion for aid needs in Syria and for the millions of Syrian refugees who have fled into nearby Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
Donors have wearied of trying to fix Syria's seemingly endless crisis. The humanitarian appeal for 2020 was funded 45 per cent below its $3.82bn target — nearly a 14 per cent drop from the previous year.
"It has been ten years of despair and disaster for Syrians," Mr Lowcock said in a statement.
"Now plummeting living conditions, economic decline and Covid-19 result in more hunger, malnutrition and disease. There is less fighting, but no peace dividend. More people need more help than at any point during the war, and children must return to learning."
The coronavirus pandemic has compounded Syria's already dire economic crisis. The local currency has crashed and food prices have soared by 222 per cent from last year, pushing millions of people into poverty.
A deal between Russia and Turkey has reduced the levels of fighting in Syria's north-west, but the country's humanitarian situation is worsening, with some 24 million Syrians at home and abroad needing aid – more than at any other time in the conflict.
"For refugees from Syria and their host communities in the region, the Covid-19 pandemic hit during a decade-long crisis – stretching them to breaking point," UN development chief Achim Steiner said in a statement.
"Poverty and inequality are skyrocketing as hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs and livelihoods."
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
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3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
