Over half of Lebanon 'trapped in poverty' even before blast: UN
Issued on: 19/08/2020 -
Lebanese display their mostly empty refrigerators as they struggle with a steep economic crisis that has led to the collapse of the local currency and purchasing power. The UN over half the population is now "trapped in poverty" ANWAR AMRO, IBRAHIM CHALHOUB, Mahmoud ZAYYAT AFP/File

VIDEO AT THE END

Beirut (AFP)

Lebanon's economic crisis doubled poverty rates to reach more than half of its people even before this month's cataclysmic explosion at Beirut's port, a United Nations agency said Wednesday.

"Estimates reveal that more than 55 percent of the country's population is now trapped in poverty and struggling for bare necessities," the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) said.

That figure for May 2020 was almost double the rate of 28 percent for last year, it said.

Extreme poverty had shot up to an estimated 23 percent of the population, up from eight percent in 2019, it added.

Lebanon's economic and political crisis deepened when on August 4 a massive blast at the Beirut port killed 181 people, wounded thousands and ravaged huge areas of the capital.

The disaster came on the heels of the country's worst financial crunch in decades, which had already seen tens of thousands lose their jobs or much of their income, even as the novel coronavirus pandemic hit.

Official estimates had last put Lebanon's poverty rate at 45 percent.

UN humanitarian agency OCHA on Wednesday said tens of thousands more people had now seen their source of income vanish after the Beirut blast.

"Over 70,000 workers are estimated to have lost their jobs as a result of the explosions, with direct implications for over 12,000 households," it said.

ESCWA said Lebanon's middle class has shrunk from 57 percent of the population in 2019 to less than 40 percent this year, warning of an accelerating exodus of Lebanese citizens.

"The real challenge facing Lebanon is that this group, which represents the bulk of the country's human capital, may shun the uncertain economic opportunities in Lebanon and seek to emigrate," it said.

In past months, middle-class Lebanese frustrated with a plummeting local currency, banks trapping their dollar savings, and deteriorating public services have increasingly decided to seek better lives abroad.

In a country which has long had one of the most unequal wealth distributions in the region, the group of people deemed affluent has shrunk from 15 to five percent of the population, ESCWA said.

The economic crisis has sparked widespread popular anger against a ruling class deemed inept and corrupt by many, and protesters have clashed again with security forces since the explosion disaster.

On Friday, Lebanon starts a new two-week coronavirus lockdown after a string of record daily tallies that has brought the total number of cases to 9,758 including 107 deaths.

© 2020 AFP

Special edition: Could the Beirut blast be one tragedy too many for Lebanon

Issued on: 19/08/2020 -

MIDDLE EAST MATTERS © France 24 screengrab
By:Clovis CASALI   VIDEO AT THE END

Two weeks after massive dual explosions at the port in Beirut killed more than 170 people and destroyed a large part of the Lebanese capital, we bring you this special edition of Middle East Matters direct from Lebanon. In the devastating aftermath, the Lebanese capital is in mourning – everyone here knows someone who was affected by the blast. Our correspondents and reporters on the ground take a look at how the tragedy unfolded and consider what the future might hold for this shattered country.

When 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate caught fire in the port of Beirut on August 4, locals were stunned to see a huge mushroom cloud emerge over the city's skyline and began to broadcast the images live on social networks — then the sound of explosions bellowed. Our correspondent Charbel Abboud met with some of these witnesses, who recount the very moments before and after the blast.

Teams of rescuers, first on the scene of the explosions, worked around the clock to pull out the injured and search for survivors under the rubble. For the victims’ families, the wait has been unbearable. In the last few days, some have come to the port with the slim hope of finding their loved ones alive. Our team on the ground, Nadia Massih, Abdallah Malkawi and Karim Yahiahoui, went to meet some of the families.

While aid is filtering down to those left homeless, public anger against the state continues unabated. Under pressure from the streets, the government was forced to resign, but the Lebanese are hungry for answers. How could officials have authorised the storage of 2,700 tonnes of such a dangerous substance as ammonium nitrate? In Martyrs Square in the heart of the capital, tens of thousands demonstrated to demand the removal of the entire ruling class. Among them, activist Lucien Bourjeily, a film director who took part in last year's big rallies. For Bourjeily, this disaster may be one tragedy too many for Lebanon.

Also, our correspondents head to the Karantina neighbourhood in Beirut, whose large Syrian community was among the most affected by the blast. With its inhabitants in urgent need of help, the tension inside the neighbourhood is palpable.

Finally, we look at how the Lebanese global diaspora is pitching in to send money and basic necessities to Lebanon. This report from Paris is by Jade Levin.

Programme presented by Clovis Casali.

Trump wanted to 'swap' Puerto Rico for Greenland: ex-official

#FREEPUERTORICO !VIVA!LA INDEPENDENCIA!

Issued on: 19/08/2020 -

Washington (AFP)

President Donald Trump wanted to sell Puerto Rico or swap it for Greenland because he viewed the US territory as dirty and poor, a former senior administration official said Wednesday.

Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, said Trump expressed those views as the government undertook support operations after two massive hurricanes ravaged the Caribbean island in 2017.

Taylor told MSNBC that just before one 2018 trip by officials, Trump, who had regularly talked about acquiring Greenland from Denmark, seriously suggested he could trade away Puerto Rico.
"He told us, not only did he want to purchase Greenland, he actually said he wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico, could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland, because in his words, Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor," Taylor said.

The former official said he did not take Trump's remarks as a joke.

"These are Americans. We don't talk about our fellow Americans that way," Taylor added.

"And the fact that the president of the United States wanted to take a US territory of Americans and swap it for a foreign country is beyond galling."

Trump has long expressed disdain for the island of some three million people, many of whom live on the US mainland -- especially in Florida and Trump's native New York -- due to the deeply depressed economy at home.

"The president expressed deep animus towards the Puerto Rican people behind the scenes," Taylor, who left DHS in 2019 and came out as a supporter of Democrat Joe Biden this week, told MSNBC.

"He is their president. He should be standing by them, not trying to sell them off to a foreign country."

In 2019 Trump canceled a visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected his proposal to buy Greenland as "absurd," though at the time there was no mention of Puerto Rico as part of the suggested deal.

On Tuesday Trump dismissed Taylor on Twitter as a "former disgruntled employee" who is "said to be a 'real stiff.'"

© 2020 AFP

Beyond batteries: Scientists build methanol-powered beetle bot

BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE!

BEET.........SAY IT THREE TIMES

YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS
Issued on: 19/08/2020

A team at the University of Southern California has built an 88-milligram "RoBeetle" that runs on methanol and uses an artificial muscle system to crawl, climb, and carry loads on its back for up to two hours Xiufeng YANG Xiufeng Yang, University of Southern California/AFP

Washington (AFP)

Scientists have long envisioned building tiny robots capable of navigating environments that are inaccessible or too dangerous for humans -- but finding ways to keep them powered and moving has been impossible to achieve.

A team at the University of Southern California has now made a breakthrough, building an 88-milligram (one three hundredth of an ounce) "RoBeetle" that runs on methanol and uses an artificial muscle system to crawl, climb and carry loads on its back for up to two hours.

It is just 15 millimeters (.6 inches) in length, making it "one of the lightest and smallest autonomous robots ever created," its inventor Xiufeng Yang told AFP.

"We wanted to create a robot that has a weight and size comparable to real insects," added Yang, who was lead author of a paper describing the work in Science Robotics on Wednesday.

The problem is that most robots need motors that are themselves bulky and require electricity, which in turn makes batteries necessary.

The smallest batteries available weigh 10-20 times more than a tiger beetle, a 50 milligram insect the team used as their reference point.

To overcome this, Yang and his colleagues engineered an artificial muscle system based on liquid fuel -- in this case methanol, which stores about 10 times more energy than a battery of the same mass.

The "muscles" are made from nickel-titanium alloy wires -- also known as Nitinol -- which contracts in length when heated, unlike most metals that expand.

The wire was coated in a platinum powder that acts as a catalyst for the combustion of methanol vapor.

As the vapor from RoBeetle's fuel tank burns on the platinum powder, the wire contracts, and an array of microvalves shut to stop more combustion.

The wire then cools and expands, which once more opens the valves, and the process repeats itself until all the fuel is spent.

The expanding and contracting artificial muscles are connected to the RoBeetles' front legs through a transmission mechanism, which allows it to crawl.

The team tested their robot on a variety of flat and inclined surfaces made from materials that were both smooth, like glass, and rough, like mattress pads.

RoBeetle could carry a load of up to 2.6 times its own weight on its back and run for two hours on a full tank, said Yang.

By contrast, "the smallest battery-powered crawling robot weighs one gram and operates about 12 minutes."

In the future, microbots may be used for a variety of applications like infrastructure inspection or search-and-rescue missions after natural disasters.

They might also assist in tasks like artificial pollination or environmental monitoring.

Roboticists Ryan Truby and Shuguang Li, of MIT and Harvard respectively, wrote in an accompanying commentary that RoBeetle was "an exciting microrobotics milestone," but added there were also opportunities for improvement.

For example, the robot is limited to continuous forward motion, and taking electronics out of the equation reduces its capacity to carry out sophisticated tasks.

© 2020 AFP

Thousands evacuated as fast-moving fires spread in California

Issued on: 19/08/2020

A home burns in Vacaville, California -- the fast-moving fires in the Golden State have prompted widespread evacuations JOSH EDELSON AFP

HOME TO VACAVILLE PRISON  ORIGIN OF SLA

SYMBIONESE LIBERATION ARMY (PATTI HEARST)

Los Angeles (AFP)

Thousands of residents fled a city in northern California on Wednesday as a series of fast-moving fires spread overnight, burning dozens of homes and structures.

The fire outside Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 residents located near the state capital Sacramento, is part of a series of blazes that have scorched nearly 50,000 acres (20,200 hectares) in northern California in recent days.

"If you're asked to evacuate, please do so SAFELY," Vacaville police said on Twitter.

"Practically every single first responder unit in town is actively working to safely notify, evacuate and fight the fires, so our residents are safe."

Some residents of Vacaville heeded the evacuation orders dressed only in their pajamas as the flames surged across roadways and gas lines exploded at several residences.

Multiple people suffered burns as they ran for their lives.

Fire officials said the blaze was zero percent contained early Wednesday and threatened some 1,900 structures in the area.

One woman described fleeing the inferno with her husband, who suffered burns in his car and was forced to abandon the vehicle.

"I had all these flames on me and I lost my shoe but I made it," she told the local NBC station. "God saved me."

The group of fires -- known collectively as the LNU Lightning Complex and taking place as the state faces a torrid heat wave -- has so far destroyed dozens of buildings or structures in three counties.

Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency to facilitate the release of emergency funds.

"We are deploying every resource available to keep communities safe as California battles fires across the state during these extreme conditions," Newsom said.

"California and its federal and local partners are working in lockstep to meet the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of continued dangerous weather conditions."

Firefighters said that in total, some 30 fires across the state had torched some 120,000 acres.

- Scorching heat -

The LNU fire -- which was sparked by a lightning storm earlier in the week in the Bay Area -- has affected Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties, parts of which are still recovering from similar devastating blazes in recent years.

The wildfires are spreading largely uncontrolled and have intensified because of the record-breaking heat.

In the past week, California's Death Valley has been experiencing historic high temperatures, with the mercury rising as high as 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius).

Nearly 45 million people across the western United States were under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory Wednesday.

The scorching temperatures have put a massive strain on the state's power network, with blackouts leaving some 30,000 people without service, according to Power outage.us.

Last week, brush fires near Lake Hughes, just north of Los Angeles, burned more than 10,000 acres and prompted the evacuation of 500 homes.

Wildfires have become more frequent and bigger in California in recent years, in part driven by climate change.

The deadliest fire in the state's history -- the Camp Fire -- took place in northern California in November 2018 and killed 86 people.

Also Wednesday, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency over a series of wildfires.

"Wildfires are threatening the safety and livelihoods of Washingtonians all across the state," Inslee said in a statement.

"And the COVID-19 pandemic has put additional strain on our resources, as some of our usual support is further limited due to international movement restrictions."

© 2020 AFP

Hundreds of Palestinians protest in West Bank against Israel-UAE deal

Issued on: 19/08/2020

Palestinians have denounced a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise ties with many calling it a "stab in the back" JAAFAR ASHTIYEH AFP
LOOK TO THE LOWER RIGHT THAT'S THE FUTURE

Turmus‘ayya (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

Hundreds of Palestinians on Wednesday held a protest in the occupied West Bank against last week's announcement that Israel was normalising ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Members of rival groups Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah faction of president Mahmud Abbas' West Bank based Palestinian Authority, took part in the rally in a rare joint initiative, an AFP journalist reported.

"Today we tell the world that we are united against 'the deal of the century', annexation and normalisation," Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh told the rally in the village of Turmus'ayya.

The bombshell announcement last week that Israel and the energy-rich UAE would normalise ties sparked fury among Palestinians, with both Hamas and the PA leadership denouncing the US-brokered agreement.

Under the deal Israel said it would "suspend" its plans to annex Jewish settlements and other territory in the West Bank.

Those annexation plans were outlined in the controversial Middle East peace proposal unveiled in January by US President Donald Trump, which some Palestinians have sardonically dubbed the 'Deal of the Century'.

"Any normalisation legitimises the occupation of Palestinian territories," Shtayyeh said.

"It's a stab in the back," he added. THE IDEOLOGY THAT LED TO WWII
Around 2,000 Palestinians took part in the rally at Turmus'ayya, a village in the north of the West Bank nestled between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

They travelled there by bus from other areas of the West Bank and clashes took place between protesters and Israeli forces on the outskirts of the village.

The protesters threw stones at Israeli forces who responded with tear gas. NOT BOTTLED WATER

Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians held a protest in the Gaza Strip to denounce the UAE-Israel deal.

© 2020 AFP

UPDATED
Belarus opposition leader urges EU to support her ‘awakening’ country

AND THEY DO  AFP VIDEO REPORT ADDED AT THE END


Protesters against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stand in front of the Minsk Tractor Factory holding posters supporting workers.
(Dmitri Lovetsky / Associated Press)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUG. 19, 2020

MINSK, Belarus —

The Belarusian opposition leader has called on European leaders not to recognize “fraudulent elections” that extended the rule of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and sparked unprecedented mass protests in the country.

In a video statement released ahead of EU leaders’ emergency summit on the situation Wednesday, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged them to support “the awakening of Belarus.”

“I call on you not to recognize these fraudulent elections. Mr. Lukashenko has lost all the legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Lukashenko, who has been dubbed “Europe’s last dictator,” has run the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist since 1994, and won a sixth term with 80% of votes in an Aug. 9 election widely seen as rigged. Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher and political novice who united fractured opposition groups and drew tens of thousands to rally in her support, got only 10%.

She dismissed the results as falsified and demanded a recount, but then suddenly left the country for Lithuania in a move her campaign said was made under duress. Thousands of protesters have been arrested by authorities and have alleged beatings and other abuse.

On Wednesday morning, rallies resumed in Minsk, and police once again started detaining protesters. Nearly 50 people were detained in front of the Minsk Tractor Factory, where workers have been on strike since Monday, according to Sergei Dylevsky, leader of the factory’s strike committee.


‘Go away!’ Workers heckle Belarus leader as support collapses around him
Aug. 17, 2020

“People are on strike demanding Lukashenko’s resignation, and authorities respond with batons and riot police,” Dylevsky said. “Lukashenko is not changing.”

Police also blocked all entrances to the Janka Kupala National Theater in Minsk, where the troupe on Tuesday gave notice en masse after its director, Pavel Latushko, was fired for siding with protesters. Actors who arrived at the theater Wednesday morning were not allowed in.

“It’s unprecedented that, in the 21st century, law enforcement is deployed to a cultural institution. The situation speaks for itself,” Latushko said.

It’s not entirely clear what the European Union can do right now, but its leaders appear determined to help maintain the momentum for change in Minsk with a show of political support and to revive a sanctions program on Belarus that was eased four years ago as relations with Lukashenko improved.


Women move to forefront of protests sweeping Belarus over disputed election results
Aug. 13, 2020

In a letter inviting the bloc’s leaders to the video summit, EU Council President Charles Michel said of Lukashenko’s crackdown that “what we have witnessed in Belarus is not acceptable.” He said the “violence against peaceful protesters was shocking and has to be condemned. Those responsible must be held to account.”

Earlier this week, Tsikhanouskaya said she was ready to act as a national leader to facilitate a rerun of the election, and her associates announced the formation of a “coordination council” to help create a platform for a peaceful transition of power.

“I have initiated the national coordination council of Belarus. It will lead the process of a peaceful transition of power via dialogue. It will immediately call for new fair and democratic presidential elections with international supervision,” Tsikhanouskaya said in the latest video statement.

Lukashenko has repeatedly rejected demands to step down and bristled at the idea of talks with the opposition, denouncing the coordination council Tuesday as “an attempt to seize power.” Nevertheless, the council is set to convene for the first time Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in Belarus since Aug. 9. The rallies have continued for 10 straight days despite a brutal response from the police, who in the first four days of demonstrations detained almost 7,000 people and injured hundreds with rubber bullets, stun grenades and clubs. At least two protesters died.

This week, workers at several major industrial plants, including a huge factory that accounts for a fifth of the world’s potash fertilizer output, have started a strike demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.

UPDATED
Mudslides and dramatic rescues as China hit by floods

Issued on: 19/08/2020

Text by:FRANCE 24

Video by:Sam BALL  AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE 

From a 1,300 statue under threat of being submerged to houses swept away by mudslides and dramatic rescues of stranded civilians, some of the worst flooding seen in decades has wreaked havoc across the Chinese province of Sichuan following heavy rains.

The toes of the 71-metre Buddha statue in Leshan were submerged in water on Tuesday, August 18, the first time that has happened in 70 years, state media reported.

The threat to the statue, built in 713 AD, is just one example of how the vast floods are threatening lives, infrastructure and heritage.

Heavy rains since the weekend have triggered flooding across China’s Sichuan Province, forcing authorities to activate the highest level of a four-tier flood alert system for the first time on record, while parts of the provincial capital Chengdu have been hit by the worst flooding since 1981, authorities said.

The floods have triggered mudslides that have destroyed homes and property and the rising waters have devastated swathes of farmland.

More than 100,000 people had been evacuated as of Tuesday while emergency services have rescued hundreds of people trapped by the flooding, say authorities.

Rescue efforts have not just been limited to the region's human population. Amateur footage captured the moment firefighters rushed to save a number of dogs from a pet hospital in Chengdu on Friday.

More than 63.4 million have been affected by flooding in regions across China this year, according to authorities, with the country being battered by unusually heavy rains since early June.

A total of 219 people have died or remain missing as of August

Severe flooding affects giant Buddha statue in China  

Beijing, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) The famous Buddha of Leshan, a giant statue located in the southwestern province of Sichuan, for the first time in 70 years is suffering the floods that are affecting the area today and keeping it on extreme alert.

Although rescue teams erected dikes with sandbags, the waters of nearby rivers reached the feet of the colossus this morning and covered them completely.

The event is a cause for concern and has led to the activation of the highest contingency phase for natural disasters, since an old local belief indicates that when this happens, the entire city will be flooded.

The statue is the largest ancient piece of its kind in the world and also the largest stone representation of the Buddha.

Its construction took 90 years to complete and was the brainchild of a monk named Haitong, who was concerned about the regular whirlwinds and floods that caused the confluence of the Ming, Qingyi and Dadu Rivers, which made the city a major river trade center at the time.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included it in its list of heritage treasures in 1996. 

ef/abo/tgj/ymr

China evacuates 100,000 as floods threaten heritage site

Floodwater reaches the Leshan Giant Buddha's feet following heavy rainfall, in Leshan, Sichuan province, China August 18, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Floods on the upper reaches of China’s Yangtze river forced authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people on Tuesday and threatened a 1,200-year-old world heritage site.

Staff, police and volunteers used sandbags to try to protect the 71-metre (233-foot) Leshan Giant Buddha, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southwestern Sichuan province, as muddy flood water rose over its toes for the first time since 1949, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Sichuan, through which the Yangtze river flows, raised its emergency response to the maximum level on Tuesday to cope with a new round of torrential rainfall.

The Yangtze Water Resources Commission, the government body that oversees the river, declared a red alert late on Tuesday, saying water at some monitoring stations was expected to exceed “guaranteed” flood protection levels by over 5 metres.

The Three Gorges Project, a massive hydroelectric facility designed in part to tame floods on the Yangtze, is expected to see water inflows rise to 74,000 cubic metres per second on Wednesday, the highest since it was built, the Ministry of Water Resources said.

The project restricts the amount of water flowing downstream by storing it in its reservoir, which has been over 10 metres higher than its official warning level for more than a month.

The facility was forced to raise water discharge volumes on Tuesday in order to “reduce flood control pressures”, the water ministry said.

Authorities have been at pains to show that the cascade of giant dams and reservoirs built along the Yangtze’s upper reaches have shielded the region from the worst of the floods this year, though critics say they might be making things worse.

VIDEO INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY

UN hails aid workers after record attacks

According to the Aid Worker Security Database major attacks against humanitarians last year surpassed all previous years since records began in 1997.
Issued on: 19/08/2020

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, left, at a Geneva wreath-laying ceremony marking World Humanitarian Day 

Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

Geneva (AFP)

The United Nations paid tribute Wednesday to humanitarian workers now battling the COVID-19 pandemic after a year in which they found themselves under greater attack than ever before.

The UN marked its World Humanitarian Day by remembering the 125 aid workers who were killed in 2019 and the hundreds of others who were wounded or kidnapped.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva.

"Let's never forget their love for humanity that led them to the ultimate sacrifice: their lives," she said.

According to the Aid Worker Security Database compiled by the Humanitarian Outcomes research group, major attacks against humanitarians last year surpassed all previous years since records began in 1997.

In 277 separate incidents around the world, a total of 483 relief workers were attacked, of whom 125 were killed, 234 wounded and 124 kidnapped.

The figure represents an 18-percent increase in the number of victims compared to 2018.

Most of the attacks occurred in Syria, followed by South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic.

OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said each attack was a tragedy for those targeted, but also for the thousands of vulnerable people they were trying to assist.

"The UN condemns these attacks, and it calls for accountability for perpetrators and justice for survivors. Relief workers cannot be a target," said OCHA.

- 'Unsung heroes' -

The UN said aid workers and healthcare responders were now going to extraordinary lengths to help people whose lives have been upended by crises -- and now by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

"This year, humanitarian workers are stretched like never before," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

"They are responding to the global crisis of COVID-19, and with it the massive increase in humanitarian needs from the fallout of the pandemic.

"They are the unsung heroes of the pandemic response -- and they all too often risk their own lives to save the lives of others."

On Tuesday, the Red Cross said more than 600 attacks on health workers and patients had been reported in connection with the COVID-19 crisis.

The ceremony in Geneva also remembered seven aid workers with French non-governmental organisation ACTED who were killed at a wildlife haven in Niger on August 9.

Luca Pupulin, who heads IMPACT Initiatives, which is part of the ACTED group, read out the names of the victims.

"We ask for the international community to come together to end impunity and to treat every attack against humanitarians as an attack -- and a crime -- against humanity," he said.

World Humanitarian Day is held on the anniversary of the August 19, 2003 attack on the UN compound in Baghdad which killed 22 people.

Since then, nearly 5,000 humanitarians have been killed, wounded or abducted in attacks around the world.

© 2020 AFP