Switzerland

GENEVA (AP) — Up to 1,600 fans of the teams that qualified for this year’s World Cup are being recruited for an all expenses-paid trip to Qatar to sing in the opening ceremony and stay for at least two weeks promoting positive social media content about the soccer tournament and the host nation.

GENEVA, Oct 30 (NNN-NEWVISION) — The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order globally surged to 103 million in the first half of 2022, meaning that one in 77 people on Earth is forcibly displaced, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.

This is an increase of 13.6 million, or 15 percent, compared to the end of 2021, more than the entire populations of Belgium, Burundi, or Cuba, according to the latest report from UNHCR.

GENEVA, Oct 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The World Health Organization (WHO) called on health workers and students, patients, public institutions, filmmakers and other interested parties to participate in the fourth edition of the Health for All Film Festival.    

In the opinion of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, this festival has become an extraordinary sounding board for all kinds of health problems faced by people around the world, as well as the experiences of people who devote their lives to improving the health of others.

GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss railway company claimed the record for the world’s longest passenger train Saturday with a trip on one of the most spectacular tracks through the Alps.

The Rhaetian Railway company ran the 1.9-kilometer-long (1.2-mile-long) train composed of 100 coaches along the Albula/Bernina route from Preda to Berguen.

The route was designated a UNESCO World Heritage in 2008 and leads through 22 tunnels, some of which spiral through mountains, and across 48 bridges, including the curved Landwasser Viaduct.

ZURICH, Oct 19 (NNN-GNA) — The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has recorded a total of 2.89 million ticket sales in less than 33 days to the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar. 

According to the world football body, the 2.89 million tickets sold so far were for the 64 matches to be staged in eight different stadia in Qatar. 

It said, out of the tickets sold, the highest countries to have purchased the most were United States of America, Saudi Arabia, England, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, Brazil and Germany.

Oct 19 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that COVID-19 remains a global emergency, nearly three years after it was first declared as one.

The WHO's emergency committee first made the declaration for COVID-19 on Jan 30, 2020. Such a determination can help accelerate research, funding and international public health measures to contain a disease.

The UN-agency has said in recent months that while cases are falling in parts of the world, countries still need to maintain their vigilance and push to get their most vulnerable populations vaccinated.

GENEVA, Oct 14 (NNN-CGTN) — At least 54 developing countries globally, including 25 in Sub-Saharan Africa, require immediate debt relief to avoid sliding into extreme poverty, according to the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP).

The Agency published a paper on Oct 11 titled ‘Avoiding ‘Too Little Too Late’ on International Debt Relief’, which highlights the ripple effects of government responses to the recent economic crisis and warns of the potential impacts.

GENEVA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Moscow has submitted concerns to the United Nations about an agreement on Black Sea grain exports, and is prepared to reject renewing the deal next month unless its demands are addressed, Russia's Geneva U.N. ambassador told Reuters on Thursday.

The agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July, paved the way for Ukraine to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports that had been shut since Russia invaded. Moscow won guarantees for its own grain and fertiliser exports.

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday.

"Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over," WHO's Europe director, Hans Kluge, and ECDC's director, Andrea Ammon, said in a joint statement.

"We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun."

GENEVA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross and at least one other aid group paused their field work in Ukraine for security reasons on Monday after Russia fired missiles at cities across Ukraine.

Russia hit sites across the country, striking the capital Kyiv with an intensity not seen since Russian forces sought to capture the capital early in the more than seven-month war.

Moscow says the strikes were against energy, command and communication targets in retaliation for what it describes as terrorist attacks.