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‘Very limited time to react’: Texas flash floods expose challenges in early warning

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‘Very limited time to react’: Texas flash floods expose challenges in early warning

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that the tragedy highlights growing global challenges around extreme rainfall, warning dissemination and community preparedness.

Flash floods are the most lethal form of flooding, responsible for over 5,000 deaths annually and 85 per cent of all flood-related fatalities worldwide, according to WMO data, and result in economic losses of more than $50 billion annually.

Unlike slow-onset river floods, flash floods leave very limited time for reaction,” the agency said in a news release on Wednesday.

That makes accurate short-term forecasting and community preparedness essential.

One-day precipitation totals from NASA’s IMERG multi-satellite precipitation product show heavy rainfall over central Texas on July 4, 2025.

Months of rains in hours

Overnight 3 into 4 July, torrential rains – up to 46 centimetres (about 18 inches) in a matter of hours – sent a wall of water surging through Kerr County’s Guadalupe River basin at around 4 AM, catching many residents and vacationers off guard.

The US National Weather Service issued timely alerts – including a flash flood watch more than 12 hours in advance, upgraded to a flash flood emergency about three hours before impact.

The warnings were disseminated by Weather Radio, emergency management systems and television and radio stations, but many people, including hundreds of children at summer camps, were not reached in time.

Floodwaters surged dramatically as the Guadalupe River rose nearly 8 metres (about 26 feet) in about 45 minutes.

Among the hardest hit was the all-girls summer camp, Camp Mystic, along the river, where at least 27 campers and counsellors died, according to media reports. Texas state authorities report that more than 160 people remain missing.

The disaster has triggered one of the largest search-and-rescue efforts in state history.

More frequent and severe floods

Flash floods are not new, but their frequency and intensity are increasing in many regions due to rapid urbanization, land-use change and a warming climate.

A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and so this means that extreme rainfall events are becoming more frequent,” WMO said.

The Texas disaster joins a string of recent catastrophic floods. In 2022, flash floods in Pakistan killed over 1,700 people and displaced millions. In 2024, floods in Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw $36 billion in economic damages.

And just this week, a flash flood along the Nepalese-Chinese border swept away the main bridge linking the two countries.

In September 2022, Pakistan was hit by devastating flooding which left large swathes of the country under water.

In September 2022, Pakistan was hit by devastating flooding which left large swathes of the country under water.

Supporting countries

To help countries predict such hazards, WMO operates the Flash Flood Guidance System, a real-time forecasting platform used in over 70 countries. It integrates satellite data, radar, and weather models to detect local flash flood threats and supports training programs to build national capacity.

Beyond technology, the agency plays a convening role by building national capacity, certifying experts, and facilitating real-time coordination between forecasting agencies and disaster managers.

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The UN warns to deepen the health crisis in Gaza in the midst of mass incidents

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Through the Gaza Strip, while people are desperately looking for food, mass incidents are reported almost daily, the UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, journalists during his regular briefing in New York, told journalists.

Hospitals, already under a huge stump, find it difficult to face and the lack of essential supplies – including fuel and drugs – exerts even greater pressure on overloaded teams.

The war also had a devastating impact on health workers. According to the Gazan health authorities, more than 1,500 medical staff have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

Medical supplies arrive – but much more is necessary

The World Health Organization (WHO) said 11 trucks carrying medical aid, including surgical supplies, assistance devices, orthopedic instruments and other essential medical items, had entered the band on Tuesday.

These supplies should be distributed in various Gaza health establishments.

“The health needs remain immense. Many more medical supplies are necessary. We are urgently called on the entry without hindrance of fuel, food and health aid in Gaza through all possible routes, “said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is a general manager, in an article on social media.

Mr. Dujarric echoes this message, calling for the opening of all passages and corridors “to ensure coherent, frequent and large -scale distribution for people in need, wherever they are.”

Risk of disease increasing

In the context of access challenges, the spectrum of epidemics of fatal diseases also increases.

In northern Gaza, 10 water wells have ceased to operate due to the lack of fuel, and 25 others only partially work and could stop.

“Shorter pumping hours, reducing water production and limited collection of solid waste provides fertile land for diseases to spread – especially in vulnerable people, including children, the elderly and pregnant women,” said Dujarric.

No hygiene item has entered Gaza since early March 2025, he noted, added that the continuous shortage of cleaning and sanitation supplies seriously affects the health and stacking of an effective medical response.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

UN warns of deepening health crisis in Gaza amid mass casualty incidents

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UN warns of deepening health crisis in Gaza amid mass casualty incidents

Across the Gaza Strip, as people desperately search for food, mass casualty incidents are reported almost daily, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters at his regular briefing in New York.

Hospitals, already under immense strain, are struggling to cope and lack of essential supplies – including fuel and medicines – is placing even greater pressure on overstretched teams.

The war has also had a devastating impact on health workers. According to Gazan health authorities, more than 1,500 medical staff have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

Medical supplies arrive – but much more is needed

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 11 trucks carrying medical aid, including surgical supplies, assistive devices, orthopaedic instruments and other essential medical items, had entered the Strip on Tuesday.

These supplies are set to be distributed to various health facilities across Gaza.

“The health needs remain immense. Much more medical supplies are needed. We urgently call for the unimpeded entry of fuel, food, and health aid at scale into Gaza through all possible routes,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO General-Director, said in a post on social media.

Mr. Dujarric echoed that message, calling for the opening of all crossings and corridors “to ensure the consistent, frequent and large-scale distribution of aid to people in need, wherever they are.”

Disease risk rising

Against the backdrop of access challenges, the spectre of deadly disease outbreaks is also rising.

In northern Gaza, 10 water wells have stopped functioning due to lack of fuel, and another 25 are operating only partially and could soon shut down.

“Shorter pumping hours, reduced water production and limited solid waste collection provide fertile ground for diseases to spread – especially among vulnerable people including children, older people and pregnant women,” Mr. Dujarric said.

No hygiene items have entered Gaza since early March 2025, he noted, added that the ongoing shortage of cleaning and sanitation supplies is severely affecting health and impeding an effective medical response.

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“ Time very limited to react ”: the sudden floods of Texas exhibit the challenges in the early alert

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The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (Wmo)) said That tragedy highlights growing global challenges around extreme precipitation, warning dissemination and community preparation.

Sudden floods are the most deadly form of flood, responsible for more than 5,000 deaths per year and 85% of all deaths linked to floods worldwide, according to OMM data, and cause economic losses of more than $ 50 billion per year.

“” Unlike river floods with slow appearance, sudden floods have a very limited time for the reaction“Said the agency in a press release on Wednesday.

“” This makes short -term forecasts and preparation for the essential community.“”

Total of the precipitation of a day of the Imerg Multi-Satellite precipitation product of NASA show strong precipitation on the center of Texas on July 4, 2025.

Months of rains in hours

At night 3 to 4 July, the torrential rains – up to 46 centimeters (about 18 inches) in a few hours – sent a wall of water through the Guadalupe river basin from the County of Kerr around 4 am, catching many residents and holidaymakers off -turn.

The US National Weather Service has published timely alerts – including surveillance of lightning floods at more than 12 hours in advance, passed to an emergency of sudden floods approximately three hours before the impact.

Warnings were broadcast by meteorological radio, emergency management systems and television and radio stations, but many people, including hundreds of children in the summer camps, have not been reached in time.

Flood waters have increased spectacular while the Guadalupe river increased by almost 8 meters (about 26 feet) in about 45 minutes.

According to the media, among the hardest hardest, the summer camp, the Mystic camp, along the river, where at least 27 campers and advisers died. Texas state authorities report that more than 160 people remain missing.

The disaster has sparked one of the greatest efforts to research and rescue the history of the state.

More frequent and severe floods

Sudden floods are not new, but their frequency and intensity increase in many regions due to rapid urbanization, the change of land use and a climate of warming.

“” A warmer atmosphere contains more humidity and this therefore means that extreme precipitation events become more frequent“Said WMO.

The Texas disaster joins a series of recent catastrophic floods. In 2022, sudden floods in Pakistan killed more than 1,700 people and moved millions. In 2024, floods in Europe, the Middle East and Africa experienced $ 36 billion in economic damages.

And just this week, a sudden flood along the Nepalese-Chinese border swept the main bridge connecting the two countries.

In September 2022, Pakistan was struck by devastating floods that left large sections of the country underwater.

Country of support

To help countries predict these dangers, WMO uses the flash flood orientation system, a real-time forecasting platform used in more than 70 countries. It incorporates satellite data, radar and weather models to detect local threats from sudden floods and supports training programs to strengthen national capacities.

Beyond technology, the agency plays a competition role by strengthening national capacity, certifying experts and facilitating real-time coordination between forecast agencies and disaster managers.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

The Ukrainian baker goes beyond adversity

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The story of Mrs. Honcharenko, like her bread, has crossed layers of loss, resilience and hope. Before 2014, she lived in Horlivka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, working as a doctor in a mine and raising four children with her husband, Dmytro. Life was stable, full of routine and love.

When the fights in Donetsk broke out that year, the family had to leave everything and move to Totretsk nearby, which remained under the control of the Ukrainian government.

“The first months, I felt completely lost,” she recalls. “Then I came across an ad for an entrepreneurship. He asked, “What do you know?” And I immediately thought – the pancakes! I was doing them all the time for my family.

© Iom / Anastasia Rudnieva

Hanna Honcharenko directs a bakery in Dnipro in eastern Ukraine,

From this memory, a company was born. She bought a pancake manufacturer and a coffee machine and rented a small space. But it was bread that really called him.

“Everyone in my family cooked: my mother, my grandmother, but I have never been very good in this area. I failed again and again. However, I continued to try. I knew that one day it would work. ”

It did. Today, Ms. Honcharenko’s bakery sells more than 20 types of bread.

Table of Contents

Oven dough

In 2019, she received a subsidy from the International Organization for Migration (Iom) This allowed him to buy a large oven – the heart of his business. He cooked bread through two cities, survived bombing and was repaired and moved.

“When the large-scale war started, everything I could think was how to get out the oven,” she said. “No money, no documents – the oven. Without that, I couldn’t start again. »»

In 2022, Ms. Honcharenko and her family were forced to move again – this time in Dnipro. They excited their personal effects, their dog, their oven, and started again.

A few weeks later, the bakery reopened.

© Humanitarian Mission Proliska

The Donetsk region in Ukraine was strongly bombed during the war.

“My son, who had never shown any interest in cooking before,” said, “I’m going to cook with you. My daughter-in-law took over the counter and my husband renovated the locals.

Today, Ms. Honcharenko directs two bakeries in Dnipro – one managed by her and the other by her son. In 2023, Iom provided additional support to help him buy new equipment for the second location. Assistance has enabled the family to extend the business and create more job possibilities for other displaced people.

Rising star

The menu includes more than 20 types of bread, cookies, croissants, nuts, cinnamon rollers and its bestseller: the Donbas poppy seed roller, with three times more poppy seeds than the dough. “We always have queues for that,” she smiles. “Some recipes have not succeeded in the new city, but others have become emblematic. I learn with my clients. ”

The displaced people were its first customers in Dnipro.

© Iom / Anastasia Rudnieva

The best -selling poppy seed roll, a special family recipe.

“I wrote on social networks:” You are welcome to come for tea and a conversation. Stop. And people did it.

“I want to keep this feeling, no matter how much we grow up,” she said. “I dream of hiring families: mothers and girls, husbands and women, brothers and sisters working side by side. Because the family is a support pillar. You cannot count on anyone as you can count on your family. ”

Its history is only one of the many. Since the start of the Russian Invasion on a large scale in 2022, the IOM has supported more than 1,800 Ukrainian micro-enterprises and small businesses with subsidies and consultants to help them adapt to the challenges of an economy in wartime.

The OIM says that he remains determined to stand with entrepreneurs across Ukraine, helping them to rebuild, grow and continue despite uncertainty.

However, uncertainty persists. She admits that she is always afraid, especially since the attacks on Ukrainian cities continue to affect daily life and customer participation.

“When it’s strong at night, it’s calm in the morning,” she said. “But we open anyway. Someone has to continue life. »»

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

Yemen deserves hope and dignity, the Security Council intends to

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Yemen continues to deal with a disastrous humanitarian crisis, motivated by acute hunger, economic collapse and regional instability, UN Security Council on the Security Council said on Wednesday.

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Originally published at Almouwatin.com

Press briefing – Foreign Affairs Council of 15 July 2025

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Press briefing – Foreign Affairs Council of 15 July 2025

Press briefing ahead of the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council will take place on 11 July 2025 at 15.30.

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Digital Europe Programme: call for experts

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Digital Europe Programme: call for experts

The EU’s digital strategy has the ambition to foster Europe’s ‘Digital Decade’ with strengthening its digital sovereignty and set global standards for digital data, technology, and infrastructure. Under Horizon Europe: Digital, HaDEA is funding projects that facilitate the development of human-centred, key and emerging digital technologies.

To evaluate project proposals submitted under the upcoming Digital Europe Programme calls, HaDEA is looking for experts with knowledge and professional experience in one or more of the following (or related) areas: 

  • Digital Transformation of SMEs
  • Quantum
  • Generative AI
  • Virtual Worlds
  • Disinformation
  • AI factories
  • Data Spaces
  • Financial management of masters and trainings
  • Lump Sums

You can register as an expert via the Funding & Tenders Portal.

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The delay in the American rate deepens the uncertainty of trade, warns the best economist of the United Nations

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While the 90-day initial break on so-called “reciprocal” rates offered a certain relief compared to the expected increases of up to 50%, the United States has rather imposed a basic tariff of 10%, added in addition to existing tasks. This means that many countries-especially development economies-have faced higher costs exporting goods to the United States.

The price suspension, which originally expires, has now been extended until August 1, extending uncertainty, told Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Shopping Center (ITC), during a regular press briefing at the United Nations Bureau in Geneva (UNOG).

She warned this decision adding to a “double shock” of assembly of the increase in commercial restrictions and deep cuts with development aid, which strike the most harsh developing countries.

ITC is a joint United Nations United Nations United Nations (WTO) trade agency supporting businesses in developing countries.

Real consequences

“” Economic uncertainty has real consequences on countries and sectors“Said Ms. Coke-Hamilton, citing the volatility of gold and precious metals flow like a case.

After the United States has exempted these products from new prices, commercial volumes have increased-with imports of gold in Switzerland up 800% in annual shift in May, based on American import data.

Coke-Hamilton said that since the start of the year, ITC has followed more than 150 new restrictive trade measures worldwide.

A superimposed on the disturbances of the existing global trade since the start of the war in Ukraine, the resulting tension had a disproportionate impact in the least developed countries (PMA), which are often confronted with the steepest prices and the narrowest budgetary space to respond.

A “perfect storm” is preparing

Lesotho, for example, faces a 50% price on clothing exports to the United States, threatening its largest industry and tens of thousands of jobs. The Viet Nam, although having negotiated a lower rate, faces a 20% levy-double the current reference rate-potentially reshaping its $ 937 million to automatic trade and car linked with the United States.

Coke-Hamilton has also reported concerns about development funding reductions, noting that G7 countries should reduce assistance spending by 28% next year-the greatest drop in five decades.

“” A perfect storm is preparing – just as trade becomes more unpredictable, external support thanks to help also reduces“She said.

Navigate the challenges

To answer, it urged developing countries to focus on three strategic responses: strengthen regional value chains, invest in added value to reduce dependence on basic products and prioritize small businesses.

“” Stability can come from the ground“She said.

“” Although uncertainties are in advance both in the landscapes of trade and aid, developing countries can always find ways not only to deal with these challenges, but to play an active role in the implementation of greater stability.“”

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

In South Asia, anemia threatens women’s health and economic future

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The warning, published jointly by the United Nations agencies and the regional socio-economic Saarc on Wednesday, underlines the status of South Asia as a “world epicenter” of anemia among adolescent girls and women.

It is estimated that 259 million already suffers from the condition, which alters the body’s ability to transport oxygen, contributing to chronic fatigue, poor maternal results and the reduction of educational and economic participation.

“” This is a call for Clarion actionSaid Sanjay Wijsekera, regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), which with the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and Saarc have prepared the analysis.

“” When half of all adolescent girls and women in South Asia are anemic, it is not only a health problem – it is a signal that systems fail them.“”

A very large but avoidable condition

Anemia does not only affect women and girls – it contributes 40% of low -world birth weights in the world and affects children’s growth and learning, especially in the poorest households.

The economic assessment is amazing: Anemia costs in South Asia, around $ 32.5 billion a year, perpetuating poverty cycles and poor health.

However, the condition is avoidable and treatable. The proven solutions include iron and folic acid supplementation, regimes rich in iron and vitamins, better sanitation and stronger infections and maternal health services.

Experts stress that multisectoral collaboration is essential for sustained progress.

A nurse speaks to women of nutrients in the Sabarkantha district of Western India, many women and girls suffered from iron deficiency.

Crucial integrated efforts

In almost all countries, progress depends on the strengthening of health systems, the expansion of nutritional programs and the achievement of adolescent girls and women in marginalized communities.

Sri Lanka, where 18.5% of reproductive women are anemic, increases its national nutrition initiative, focusing on the most affected districts.

India and Pakistan also see encouraging signs. In India, high washing states integrate iron supplementation in school and maternal care programs. Pakistan has piloted community nutrition initiatives linked to reproductive health services, allowing early detection and monitoring care.

In Bangladesh, health initiatives in schools reach adolescents with fortified meals and health education, coordinates between the Ministries of Health, Education and Agriculture.

Community -based action operates

The Maldives and Bhutan prioritize early prevention through infant nutrition campaigns, food fortification and public awareness. Although smaller in the population, the two invest in the surveillance of anemia and inter -ministerial collaboration.

Nepal is distinguished by its fair results: since 2016, the country has reduced anemia in women of reproductive age by 7%, with larger decreases in poorer areas. His women volunteers of community health are essential, providing advice and references in remote regions and linking vulnerable households to public services.

The Kumari Gurung man, a public health nurse in the province of Karnali, attributes the achievements to a range of efforts focused on the community.

“Pregnant women receive eggs, chicken and nutrients thanks to programs like Sutkeri Poshan Koseli (Nutrition gift for new mothers), “she said. »Speption in cash also helps transport in hospitals, supporting safer births and better nutrition. “”

A nurse checks the weight of a pregnant woman and the vital signs in a clinic in Galigamuwa, Sri Lanka.

Everyone has a role

The end of anemia requires leadership and teamwork. Governments must lead, but communities, health workers, schools and families all play a role.

Stronger health systems, better data and coordinated actions in all sectors can help girls and women reach their full potential – build healthier communities and stronger economies.

“” Young people and mothers are at the heart of the development objectives of South Asia. Ensure that they are in good health, nourished and authorized is not only a moral imperative, it is a strategic investment in the future of our companies,“Said Md. Golam Sarwar, Secretary General of Saarc.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com