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A30 world news
Diahuebs 7 Juli 2022

UN: 2.3 billion people severely or moderately hungry in 2021

ened to push countries around the and the Caribbean,” it said.
world into famine,” World Food Pro-
gram Executive Director David Beas- U.N. development goals call for end-
ley said at a U.N. event launching the ing extreme poverty and hunger by
report. “The result will be global de- 2030, but the report says projections
stabilization, starvation and mass mi- indicate that 8% of the world’s pop-
gration on an unprecedented scale.” ulation -- nearly 670 million people
-- will be facing hunger at the end of
He said in an online briefing that the decade. That’s the same number
WFP’s latest analysis reveals that “a of people as in 2015 when the goals
record 345 million acutely hungry were adopted.
people are marching to the brink of
starvation,” and “a staggering 50 mil- The gender gap in food insecurity,
lion people in 45 countries are just which grew during the COVID-19
one step away from famine.” pandemic, widened even further
from 2020 to 2021, the report said.
There’s a real danger that the num-
ber of people facing famine will rise Driven largely by widening differ-
in the coming months, Beasley said, ences in Latin America and the Carib-
urging world leaders “to act today to bean as well as in Asia, it said that “in
avert this looming catastrophe.” 2021, 31.9% of women in the world
(AP) — World hunger rose in the heads of five U.N. agencies that were moderately or severely food in-
2021, with around 2.3 billion peo- published the report said in the for- According to the report, of the esti- secure compared to 27.6% of men.”
ple facing moderate or severe dif- ward. mated 2.3 billion people who were
ficulty obtaining enough to eat -- moderately or severely “food inse- In 2020, the report said, an estimated
and that was before the Ukraine They warned that the war in Ukraine, cure” in 2021, the number facing se- 22% of children under the age of 5 —
war, which has sparked increases which began on Feb. 24, “is disrupt- vere food insecurity rose to about 924 or 149 million — had stunted growth
in the cost of grain, fertilizer and ing supply chains and further affect- million. and development while 6.7% — or
energy, according to a U.N. re- ing prices of grain, fertilizer and ener- 45 million — suffered from wasting,
port released Wednesday. gy” resulting in more price increases The prevalence of “undernourish- the deadliest form of malnutrition. At
in the first half of 2022. At the same ment” -- where food consumption the other end of the scale, it said 5.7%
“The State of Food Security and Nu- time, they said, more frequent and is insufficient to maintain an active of youngsters under 5, or 39 million,
trition in the World” paints a grim extreme climate events are also dis- and healthy life -- is used to measure were overweight.
picture, based on 2021 data, saying rupting supply chains, especially in hunger. Undernourishment contin-
the statistics “should dispel any lin- low-income countries. ued to rise in 2021, and the report es- “Looking forward, the gains we made
gering doubts that the world is mov- timates that between 702 million and in reducing the prevalence of child
ing backwards in its efforts to end Ukraine and Russia together account- 828 million people faced hunger last stunting by one-third in the previ-
hunger, food insecurity and malnu- ed for almost a third of the world’s year. ous two decades -- translating into 55
trition in all its forms.” wheat and barley exports and half of million fewer children with stunting
its sunflower oil, while Russia and its The report said hunger kept rising in -- are under threat by the triple cri-
“The most recent evidence available ally Belarus are the world’s No. 2 and Africa, Asia, and Latin America and ses of climate, conflict, and the CO-
suggests that the number of people 3 producers of potash, a key ingredi- the Caribbean in 2021, but at a slower VID-19 pandemic,” the five U.N.
unable to afford a healthy diet around ent of fertilizer. pace than from 2019 to 2020. agency chiefs said. “Without intensi-
the world rose by 112 million to al- fied efforts, the number of children
most 3.1 billion, reflecting the im- “The global price spikes in food, fuel “In 2021, hunger affected 278 million with wasting will only increase.”
pacts of rising consumer food prices and fertilizers that we are seeing as a people in Africa, 425 million in Asia
during the (COVID-19) pandemic,” result of the crisis in Ukraine threat- and 56.5 million in Latin America

Iran media: Revolutionary Guard accuses diplomats of spying

(AP) — Iranian media reported on husband of Austria’s cultural attaché often on widely criticized espionage
Wednesday that the country’s para- The semiofficial Fars news agency, in Iran after he took soil samples in charges, and leveraged them as bar-
military Revolutionary Guard has ac- believed to be close to the Guard, Iran’s northeast. gaining chips in talks over other is-
cused the deputy ambassador of the claimed that Whitaker was expelled sues, such as nuclear negotiations.
United Kingdom and other foreign- from the city after offering authori- Iran has in the past arrested dual na- Tehran denies using detainees for po-
ers in the country of “espionage” and ties an apology. tionals and those with Western ties, litical ends.
taking soil samples from prohibited
military zones. There was no immediate comment
from the U.K. Foreign Office about
It was not immediately clear if the his reported detention. The reports
diplomat and other foreigners were come as the British public is trans-
detained. The country’s state-run fixed by the political fortunes of
IRNA news agency reported that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who
foreigners had been arrested, but did is facing growing pressure to step
not say when or whether they were down after defections from his cabi-
currently in custody. Iran’s state TV net.
ran footage purporting to show the
foreigners collecting samples from Iranian media also identified Maciej
the ground in restricted areas. Walczak, a Polish scientist at Coper-
nicus University in Poland, as one of
The news outlets said the deputy the accused foreigners. It similarly
head of mission at the British Embas- said he took samples of soil, water
sy, Giles Whitaker, and other foreign- and salt from a forbidden area during
ers faced “spying” charges after vis- a missile test in the country’s south.
iting various forbidden zones in the
country while the Guard was carrying The report added that the Guard’s in-
out ballistic missile tests. telligence unit also had detained the