20260327

Police Stings & Terrorism #lastweektonight

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This episode features: Police Stings & Terrorism #lastweektonight



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Conflict in the Middle East and the implications for food security - FAO Presser | United Nations



Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Chief Economist Maximo Torero briefed reporters on the conflict in the Middle East and the implications for food security. Speaking to reporters via video link, Torero said that the escalating conflict and the closure of the Hormuz translate directly into higher costs for farmers, adding that fertilizer prices have already risen sharply. He took Middle East granular urea as example which climbed 19 percent in the first week of March, reach 590 US dollars per ton. Egyptian urea for example, is by 28 percent, he said. The FAO economist continued, “because natural gas is a primary element to provide nitrogen fertilizers, this could also lead to a significant increase between 50 to 20 percent higher in the first half of 2026,” adding that this mean the farmers are facing “double choke.” He explained, “they have more expensive fertilizers alongside rising fuel costs, which are being used across the value chain to be able to produce the commodity that you eat in the market around.” Torero also said, “now, what will happen? Of course, this will be affecting mostly the next season if this continues. And it will affect the yields, of course. And the effect of the yields is non-linear. If you use little the impacts are higher because the soils don't contain the micronutrients. If you use a lot, the impacts will be lower.” The chief economist said, “the medium-term scenario of a three-month blockade will affect all farmers globally, and then we will have different elements that could impact mostly in the next season. This is reduced yields.” “And this will happen for the bigger exporters like the US, like Brazil, Argentina, Australia. But also it opens a new competition of demand, which will be the biofuel competition as they all go over $100,” he added. Torero cautioned that this will activate competition of the month from the biofuel sector, though it will be good news for farmers, it will “be bad for consumers because prices will increase.” The chief economist also said, “in the short term, in this month period, we need to focus on where priorities are and the priorities are defined by when the crop calendar touches and when you need to apply those fertilizers in soils.” He further explained, “In this respect, the priority countries right now are Sri Lanka. Because this maha rice harvest is happening right now, Bangladesh, the boro rice season is also happening right now. India, luckily, the domestic fertilizer plant, which was operating at 60 percent has reopened two days ago. Egypt is a great consumer of wheat, so it's a huge importer. And also it's vulnerable in the short term. Sudan is also vulnerable and is facing a significant level of acute food insecurity today. In sub-Saharan Africa, the countries like Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania and Mozambique, they depend between 22 to 31 percent of fertilizer inputs. And in the case of the big exporters like Brazil, Argentina and the US, around one fifth or less of their imports of fertilizers comes from this region. But that means that this will be affecting the next planting season. But remember, these are the key exporters in the world.” Torero also said, “we need to look at the other side of the story, which is the impacts of the countries in the region, which is Iran, where prices were already going up before the conflict. Now they are being exacerbated.” He continued, “although Iran is not a food import dependent country, they produce 70 or a little bit more of what they consume, but they import the difference. But the costs and the prices are already skyrocketing because of the problems.” The chief economist added, “the countries in the Gulf, Qatar, Dubai, etcetera are huge importers of food. And those are countries are which will be facing challenges because there is no vessels going into the location.” “Remittances also will be impacted in the Gulf economies are a host of millions of migrant workers from South Asia and East Africa,” Torero said, adding that if this conflict continues to reduce their capacity to send money to their home countries, “this will affect significant amount of countries, which in some cases big number have significant share of the GDP is because of remittances.” The chief economist advised that in the very short term - this month before things change substantially – “we need to find any other alternative of corridors, and we are working together with the UN on trying to do that.” He continued, “we need to provide emergency balance of payments support to import dependent nations before planting windows. So these priority nations and we need to be very selective by avoiding distortion,” adding that “finance farmers to avoid liquidity constraints that will compromise planting these issues.


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The AI Divide: From Warning to Action - Goals Lounge | United Nations



Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a defining driver of economic growth, innovation, and social development. Yet access to AI capabilities remains deeply uneven across countries and populations, creating a growing AI divide. AI offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate progress, but, without urgent action, disparities in connectivity, compute infrastructure, digital skills, and local innovation ecosystems could leave too many behind. This Goals Lounge discussion explores how governments, international organizations, and the private sector can work together to ensure AI becomes a force for inclusive and sustainable development. Our intention is to move beyond warning and into action, exploring concrete steps to bridge the rapidly growing divide.


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DRC: Conflict Widens, 26.6 Million Face Hunger Amid Rising Violence - Briefing | United Nations



“The conflict is expanding beyond North and South Kivu into Tshopo Province, which lies far from the epicentre of the conflict,” said Vivian van de Perre, interim head of MONUSCO briefing on the situation in the DRC. Van de Perre, the UN stabilization mission's deputy special representative, told the Council the security situation in South Kivu remained tense despite an AFC/M23 withdrawal from Uvira in January. “The renewed hostilities have expanded and shifted the frontlines, including toward Burundi's border, increasing the risk of a regional conflagration,” she said. She said recent fighting had been marked by growing use of offensive drones and jamming of GPS signals in urban areas, including incidents affecting Bangoka Airport in Kisangani and Goma. “The use of such capabilities in urban settings raises serious concerns about the risks posed to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” she added. Van de Perre said 173 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been confirmed since December 2025, affecting 111 victims, mostly women and girls, adding that figure was “only the tip of the iceberg.” She said access restrictions continued to hamper MONUSCO's ability to monitor and report on violations, while human rights defenders and journalists in AFC/M23-controlled areas faced intimidation and arbitrary detention. On the humanitarian front, van de Perre said food insecurity in 2026 was expected to affect 26.6 million people, “representing approximately a quarter of the population of the Congo.” DRC Ambassador Zénon Ngay Mukongo told the Council that M23 offensives were continuing with support from Rwanda's Defense Forces, calling it “a grave violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of his country. “Hundreds of civilians have been killed, including women and children,” he said. “Millions of peoples have been displaced and serious violations of human rights have been documented.” Rwanda's Ambassador Martin Ngoga said the conflict was “not of Rwanda's making.” He said Rwanda's core concern remained the FDLR, which he described as “a genocidal force” whose ideology was spreading in public discourse. “After 31 years of discussion in this chamber on the origins and intentions of FDLR, there should be no ambiguity,” Ngoga said. “This is a group whose intent is to exterminate a people.” U.S. Senior Advisor Massad Boulos said Washington would remain engaged in the region. “The United States will remain a committed partner in advancing peace, security and prosperity for the DRC, Rwanda and the entire Great Lakes region,” he said.


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20260326

Slavery: "We must turn memory into progress & remembrance into responsibility" - UN Chief



Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the 75th plenary meeting of the 80th session of the General Assembly on the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade. ---- Secretary-General António Guterres for his part said “today is more than a time of remembrance. It's a moment to confront the lasting legacies of inequality and racism. We will never forget the victims of slavery, and you must never forget the malevolent system that sustained it for so long.” Guterres said, “this was not simply forced labour. It was a machinery of mass exploitation and deliberate dehumanisation of men, women and children.” He said, “the transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity that struck at the core of personhood, broke up families and devastated communities.” The Secretary-General welcomed “steps some countries are taking to apologise for their role in the evil of slavery, and to join an honest dialogue about its lasting consequences, but far bolder actions and many more states are needed, and this includes commitments to respect African countries ownership of their own natural resources, and steps to ensure their equal participation and influence in the global financial architecture and the UN Security Council.” Full remarks: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statements/2026-03-25/secretary-generals-remarks-the-international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade


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Druski is facing backlash for dropping an Erika Kirk skit






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Essential medical supplies arrive in #lebanon



Essential medical supplies have arrived in Lebanon, where escalating violence has driven some 1.2 million people from their homes. The shipment, a collaboration between Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, will contribute to trauma care and disease management.


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20260325

Hypocrisy? Trump casts a mail ballot again in Florida even as he calls the method 'cheating'






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Georgia woman charged with murder for taking abortion pills gets a $1 bond






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Middle East: Fighting is triggering a chain reaction - UN Chief's Stakeout | United Nations



Informal comments to the media by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the situation in the Middle East.


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Middle East: Israeli Settlement Expansion and Escalation - Briefing | United Nations



Security Council briefing by Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. The United Nations Security Council met to receive briefings on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a senior UN official reporting that Israeli planning authorities had advanced or approved over 6,000 housing units in occupied Palestinian territory during the reporting period. “Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) calls on Israel to ‘immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,’” Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN's Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said to the Security Council. “Settlement activity has, nevertheless, continued at high levels,” he added. Alakbarov told the Council that Israeli authorities had demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 429 structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing 575 persons, including 290 children and 150 women. He said 28 of the structures were donor funded. He added that on Jan 4, Israeli police forcibly evicted two Palestinian families from their apartments in the Batn Al Hawa area of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, displacing eight people. Alakbarov also said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had continued to praise terror attacks and call for additional violence against Israelis, while Israeli ministers and members of the Knesset had continued to call for re-establishment of settlements in Gaza, annexation of the West Bank and the “emigration” of Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory.


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Police Stings & Terrorism #lastweektonight

Produced by LastWeekTonight This episode features: Police Stings & Terrorism #lastweektonight For more information or to watch the ...