DAVID MILIBAND

The head of the aid group International Rescue Committee in Ukraine says he is bracing for fewer donations this year because not enough international attention is being placed on Ukraine as Russia's war risks becoming a protracted conflict.

The head of a leading aid group says an impasse at the United Nations over a border crossing with Syria’s last rebel-held enclave is endangering 4.1 million Syrians living there.

Humanitarian agencies are calling for the full funding of the U.N.'s $7 billion appeal for the Horn of Africa during a pledging conference this week.

Title 42 immigration restrictions have been lifted, leaving many migrants gathered along the U.S.-Mexico border concerned about their chances of claiming asylum in the United States.

The vast majority of U.N. Security Council members are urging Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately reverse all “oppressive” restrictions on girls and women including the latest ban on woman working for humanitarian organizations which is exacerbating the already critical humanitarian crisis in the country.

Syrians in the last major rebel stronghold of the war-torn country are living in fear of the effects of Russia closing down the only border crossing into the northwestern province of Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is embodying the Kremlin’s defiant posture during the invasion of Ukraine with a mixture of toughness and sarcasm.

President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor’s historically low cap on refugees by next month.

Announcing the total pledge, EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said that besides the grants, financial institutions and donors offered loans amounting to $7 billion. AdThe EU said it committed to €3.7 billion ($4.3 billion) for 2021 and beyond, with €1.12 billion ($1.31 billion) coming from the bloc's executive arm and €2.6 billion ($3 billion) from the 27 EU member states. Another $5.8 billion was requested for nearly 6 million Syrian refugees who fled their homeland. AdGerman Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pledged 1.738 billion euros ($2 billion) on Germany’s behalf Tuesday, an amount he described as the country's largest pledge in the last four years. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom cut its pledge to “at least" 205 million pounds ($281 million), compared to 300 million ($411.8 million) last year.

Corruption allegations in Yemen aid operations were also a factor. “The shortfall in humanitarian aid will be measured in lives lost,” he said. Other major pledges came from Germany ($241 million), the United Arab Emirates ($230 million), the United Kingdom ($123.23 million) and the European Union ( $116.2 million). Wealthy countries, such as the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, cut back drastically on aid to Yemen last year. Several speakers at the conference called for the Houthis to stop their offensive on the central province of Marib and their increasing cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The panel's co-chairs, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announced the 11 other members during a media briefing. Clark said she and Johnson Sirleaf chose the panel members independently and that WHO did not attempt to influence their choices. We must honor the more than 25.6 million people known to have contracted the disease and the 850,000 and counting who have died from COVID-19, Johnson Sirleaf said. The panel scheduled its first meeting for Sept. 17 and plans to meet every six weeks between then and April. To uncover how the global response to COVID-19 was managed, we may ask decision-makers what kept them up at night," Clark said.