XUNICEF News and Views

Shared by Tom McDermott Of the many horrors reported during Israel’s war on Gaza, this story hit me differently.  

Shared by Tom McDermott This is one of several instances in which RFK's reorganized Department of Health and Human Services has used questionable data as a basis for his claims. HHS recently sent Congress sent Congress recommendations to change US policy on covid vaccines. " One health expe rt called the document “willful medical disinformation” about the safety of covid vaccines for children and pregnant women."  The implications of his decision to halt funding of GAVI, however, are far more damaging to global health.   Click here for the article Summary U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the U.S. would halt more than $1 billion in pledged funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, citing vaccine safety concerns. His decision was based on a 2017 study from Guinea-Bissau suggesting that children who received the DTP vaccine were more likely to die from unrelated causes. Vaccine experts interviewed by NPR questioned the validity of ...

In the middle of January I got a notice from Linkedin. I wasn’t active on that site and hadn’t really paid any attention to job offers etc,, but now somebody by the name of André S. told me that my profile looked interesting and they would like to include me in a project planned for St.Croix. He asked for my telephone number and said his boss, Jenelle S., would get in touch with me via WhatsApp. I was curious about this “project”, and doing something for our island was of interest to me, even though I couldn’t be too involved. Jenelle wrote me a very nice letter, saying she owns a pharmaceutical company and has big plans to get a program going in supermarkets etc. For the moment it is located in New York and that St.Croix would come later. She said that her uncle is billionaire Jonathan Gray, the President and COO of the Blackstone Group. I looked for Jenelle and her company on the internet, but couldn’t find anything. Jonathan Gray, though, was legitimate, and I thought it would be in...

My only pumpkin, grown in the year of Covi d For a few years, I have been attempting vegetable gardening. I enjoy being outside in our quarter-acre plot. My husband cares for the flowers and I try to grow vegetables and herbs. I say “try” because I am in my sixth year of gardening and each year has been very different from the previous one. The first year, 2020, the only seeds that yielded anything were pumpkins. We had a truly homemade pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. The second year, I managed a few potatoes and a full vine of cherry tomatoes, which were delicious. Then came a couple years with beautiful peas and beans ... until grasshoppers ate the delicate sprouts. Last year’s effort to grow the indigenous “three sisters” – corn, beans and squash planted near each other – was a failure, mainly for lack of adequate sun. This year, our neighbor allowed us to trim some of the Siberian elm trees that form the border between his place and ours. More on these pernicious trees later. Having ...

WINDOWS (10) STARTUP SCREEN    It is wondered how many XUNICEF families will have experienced the same introduction to computers as ours ? In this account of our early encounters, there was the father (that’s me), the mother and our son. Names not supplied to avoid embarrassments.

Things people already know People have enjoyed the fruits of capitalism over the decades as it spread employment and generated enormous amounts of wealth. It also steadily created three classes of people, ultra rich who are able to dictate any and all terms in economy & in politics, an ever shrinking middle class and a constantly growing underclass population.

  July 2 – Borrowers' forum launched, DRC rebel links to Rwanda, Gaza aid scandal, Venezuela declares Türk persona non grata, Iran cuts IAEA ties, are UN reform fears driven by decline of western exceptionalism? Debt – At the Sevilla Financing for Development conference, a UN-backed Borrowers’ Forum debuted to give debtor nations joint negotiating power and technical support; civil-society groups say the consensus “Sevilla Agreement” still falls far short of systemic change. Rwanda – A confidential UN sanctions-panel report obtained by Reuters says Kigali trains, arms, and directs M23 rebels in western DRC, deploying thousands of troops and air-defence systems to seize mineral-rich areas—accusations Rwanda rejects. Gaza Aid – A UN Special Rapporteur’s study reported by the Palestine Chronicle links nearly 1,000 mostly Western firms to Israeli war crimes;  Middle East Monitor brands oxycodone-laced flour handed out by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) “bioterrorism”...

Shared by Doreen Lobo The first installment of Live Aid : When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took On the World premieres on CNN on Sunday, July 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Three additional episodes follow at 9 p.m. ET/ PT on Sunday, July 20; Sunday, July 27 and Sunday, August 3.

Shared by Tom McDermott We don't often think of the first Trump administration as one showing good foreign policy. This argues that in fact the administration accomplished quite a few very positive steps. The real mystery is why he so quickly threw away that legacy at the outset of his second administration.

Shared by Tom McDermott Click here for the article Summary UNFPA’s renewal of a 2016 memorandum of understanding with Israel’s development agency MASHAV on 11 June 2025 triggered a storm of internal protest. More than 150 staff signed a petition arguing the MoU jeopardizes the agency’s neutrality, credibility, and the safety of personnel working in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have left tens of thousands dead and devastated health infrastructure.

 Shared by Gautam Banerji

The CoE Design Team sent out a message on 30 June in preparation for a global conversation on 1 July.

Shared by Tom McDermott Drastic cuts to an already fragile social safety net in the US are looming. The article points to the absence of a right for children's access to health care in the US as a key reason.

Shared by Tom McDermott Last week we posted an article and link to the Jubilee Report: Tackling the Debt and Development Crises .  The article below ties closely to the issues discussed in the Jubilee Report, including how can countries escape from unsustainable debt traps? 

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol More disquieting news about the dangers of techno-politics and what is affecting humans. Nobody seems to have answers to this new menace to humanity.

Shared by Tom McDermott This article by the former USAID communications lead raises a question - how well has any agency for international humanitarian or development aid done in 'selling' the public in donor countries on the importance of the work it does? 

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol Interesting information. This is not Big Brother watching, it is Big Brother and his WholeFamily spying on us. Enjoy Fouad Click here for the article Summary This in-depth investigation reveals how smart home devices — from TVs and thermostats to doorbells and security cameras — quietly collect vast amounts of personal data and feed it into a sprawling, opaque data-broker economy.

Shared by Baquer Namazi   Link: Click here for the article Summary On June 23, 2025, Israel launched an airstrike on Tehran’s Evin Prison during working hours, targeting the front gate and nearby judicial complex.

We post links to news stories relevant to UNICEF, the UN, child rights and so forth each day.  We encourage readers to check these articles each day, either by visiting our website or by subscribing to the daily 'Follow It' emails.  Some readers, however, read News & Views only once a week, so we are experimenting with an AI overview of the stores we linked during the week.  Please let us know if you find this linking useful. Gaza: Starvation, Shootings, and Blockade Renewed Haaretz reported that Israeli forces were ordered to shoot unarmed civilians queuing for food, leading to over 400 deaths. Israel denies the charge but has opened an internal probe. Médecins Sans Frontières called the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a "slaughter masquerading as aid," while Gaza authorities report finding oxycodone in U.S.-backed flour sacks. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell called Gaza an "absolute hellscape," and UNICEF R...

 

 

Pope Francis’ Jubilee Commission Calls for a Radical Overhaul of the Global Financial System In June 2024  Pope Francis convened a high-level commission in June 2024 to address the worsening debt, development, and climate crises facing the Global South.

The United Nations this week celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the signing of its Charter in San Francisco on June 26,1945.

How we landed here I preserved this T-shirt as a souvenir, which I bought in Bangkok in 1991 while I was with UNICEF in Vietnam. 

Shared by Kul Gautam Here is a powerful testimony by Bill Gates to the US Senate Appropriations Committee about the importance of foreign aid health programs, and how cutting aid costs can lead to millions of lives being lost and the risk of the spread of deadly diseases that put Americans and the whole world at risk. What a contrast with the despicable statement by RFK suspending US funding for GAVI on trumped-up charges of not following unproven, exaggerated fringe views on vaccine safety.

Shared by Niloufar Pourzand and Gautam Banerji View this email in your browser Dear former UN Colleagues,

Article shared by Robert Cohen and Kul Gautam, Comments by Kul Gautam A must-read column by Nick Kristof. He offers fitting answers to critics of foreign aid who blame it as wasteful & ineffective, and why we must redirect those funds to tackle domestic problems in the US & Europe.

Article shared by John Gilmartin Another bomb launched through Bobby Junior. GAVI is today's target.