United Nations chief warns of 'decimated' aid budgets at development conference
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (left) and with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrive to give a joint press conference during the United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing and Development in Seville, on June 30, 2025. A UN conference is gathering in the city of Seville from June 30 to July 3. - Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP
OVIEDO, Spain (Bernama-Anadolu): United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that foreign aid budgets have been "decimated,' saying this isn't a crisis of numbers but of "families going hungry, children unvaccinated, children dropping out of school,' at a major development conference in Seville.
According to Anadolu Ajansi (AA), Guterres noted that meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals - a global agenda to end poverty, protect the planet and promote peace - requires about US$4 trillion a year.
"But we are here in Seville to change course, to restore a message of fairness and justice for all,' Guterres added.
The secretary-general was addressing the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development - the first such gathering in a decade.
About 50 world leaders and 4,000 representatives from business, civil society and financial institutions are attending the four-day event.
Earlier this month, the United States (US) announced it would not attend.
Washington, which recently cut funding to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - historically one of the world's largest aid agencies - has also formally rejected the Sustainable Development Goals.
"For decades, the mission of sustainable development has united countries large and small. Together, we achieved progress,' Guterres said.
"But today, development and international cooperation are facing massive headwinds. We are living in a world where trust is fraying and multilateralism is strained,' he said. - Bernama-Anadolu
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Standard Chartered Bank faces US$2.7 billion lawsuit over alleged role in 1MDB fraud
KUALA LUMPUR: Liquidators seeking to recoup misappropriated funds from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund 1MDB have filed legal proceedings against Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore over the bank's alleged role in enabling fraud that led to over US$2.7 billion in financial losses. The move is the latest in a wide-ranging effort to recover money belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), from which US investigators say about US$4.5 billion was stolen in a complex, globe-spanning scheme. Liquidators from financial services firm Kroll, which filed the lawsuit in the High Court of Singapore, said they were seeking to hold Standard Chartered accountable for its role in allegedly enabling fraud to be committed against 1MDB. Three companies in liquidation linked to 1MDB say Standard Chartered permitted over 100 intrabank transfers between 2009 and 2013 that helped conceal the flow of stolen funds. They also allege the bank chose to overlook obvious red flags in relation to the transfer of funds, resulting in the losses, the liquidators said. "According to this lawsuit, the transfers demonstrate serious breaches and control failings which ultimately enabled the theft of public funds by people operating at the highest levels of the Malaysian government during that period," the liquidators said. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by David Stanway)
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Cadillac team have 'limitless ambition' and plenty of money
SILVERSTONE, England: Cadillac principal Graeme Lowdon says Formula One's newest team have limitless ambition, and plenty of funds, but every expectation of being last when they debut next season. The General Motors brand secured approval in March, after a 764-day entry process, to become the sport's 11th team and are racing against time to be ready. Testing starts in Barcelona on January 26, with free practice for the 2026 season-opener in Melbourne on March 6. No drivers are signed yet, despite regular reports of familiar names set to join and the usual suspects in the frame, but the focus is on more fundamental issues. A recent tour of the team's Silverstone facility revealed a quiet sense of purpose, and the deep pockets behind the operation. "You will not see this team over-promising in any way," Lowdon told reporters. "But we do want to convey the fact that the ambitions are really limitless, as they should be." The team are also backed by TWG Global, whose CEO Mark Walter has an estimated net worth of $12.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Walter's ownership interests include MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, Premier League soccer side Chelsea and a soon to be acquired majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball franchise. LONG ROAD Despite that, there is a long road ahead for a team that will start with Ferrari engines but plan to make their own eventually. Lowdon, whose US-owned rivals Haas are in their 10th season, said he presents the situation to shareholders with a question: "Can you imagine if you've owned a Formula One team for 10 years and then another team rocks up and beats you? You would be apoplectic. "You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last. Otherwise, what's gone wrong somewhere else? ... We're trying to be as competitive as we possibly can but We're realistic. We know how difficult it is. "We're happy with our progress, but we just don't know. Other than if we beat someone then someone's going to be angry." Cadillac reckon on having 600 people by next season, many recruited from rival teams, and say they are already two thirds of the way there and no longer even the smallest outfit. Although approval came only in March, preparations started long before. Wind tunnel work has been ongoing since the middle of last year and the first car floor was delivered in January. Roll hoop testing took place in May and a prototype steering wheel was also ready by then. "We've already issued somewhere in the region of 6,000 drawings. We've made 10,000 components already while we've been kind of quiet," said Lowdon. "If you just wait until you get the entry and then start doing everything that we've been doing, you time out. It becomes an impossible task." Cadillac have sites on two continents – a headquarters under construction in Indianapolis, manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Michigan and a design and logistics base at Silverstone. Lowdon, a previous CEO of the defunct Virgin and Marussia teams, said a different management approach was needed and he had "leaned heavily" on the structure used by the U.S. space programme in the 1960s and 70s. "We need an engineer here (in Britain) talking to an engineer in Charlotte and another one in Warren, Michigan, or eventually in Fishers (Indiana). So we've looked to have a very, very flat management structure," he said.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Japan says it won't sacrifice farm sector after Trump complains about rice
This photo taken on June 4, 2025 shows a farmer preparing a transplanter vehicle before planting rice seedlings at a farm in the town of Sanjo, Niigata prefecture in northern Japan. Japan has been grappling with a doubling in rice prices due partly to a weather-driven poor-quality harvest in 2023 that caused a shortage last year. - AFP TOKYO: Japan will not sacrifice the agricultural sector as part of its tariff negotiations with the United States, its top government spokesperson said on Tuesday (July 1), after President Donald Trump complained that its ally was not importing American rice. Trump wrote in a social media post that Japan's reluctance to import American-grown rice was a sign that countries have become "spoiled with respect to the United States of America." "I have great respect for Japan, they won't take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage," he wrote on Truth Social. Japan has been grappling with a doubling in rice prices due partly to a weather-driven poor-quality harvest in 2023 that caused a shortage last year. The government has released almost its entire stock of emergency rice since March in an effort to bring prices down. "We are not thinking about doing anything that would sacrifice the farm sector," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference. He, as well as farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, declined to comment directly on Trump's post. Koizumi told a separate press conference that his ministry would continue to work with various ministries towards maximising Japan's national interests. Under a "minimum access" agreement within the World Trade Organisation, Japan has an 770,000-tonne tariff-free import quota for rice, of which up to 100,000 tonnes is for staple rice. Beyond this, rice imports are subject to a levy of 341 yen (US$2.37) per kilogramme. To continue in its efforts to lower domestic prices, the government had brought forward a tender for the first 30,000 tonnes of tariff-free staple rice imports earmarked for this year earlier than the usual auction in September. Results of that tender, held on June 27, showed applications for 81,853 tonnes, or nearly three times as much as was auctioned. Of the total tendered, 25,541 tonnes was from the US, followed by 1,500 tonnes from Australia and 708 tonnes from Thailand. - Reuters
