Timor-Leste vows never to turn back on refugees as UNHCR office closes José Ramos-Horta, president of Timor-Leste, presents gifts to UNHCR’s James Lynch at a ceremony today marking the closure of the refugee agency’s office in Dili./© UNHCR/K.McKinsey DILI, Timor-Leste, January 12 (UNHCR) – In a ceremony filled with personal reminiscences, Timor Leste’s President José Ramos-Horta on Thursday […]

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Afghanistan: UN-backed survey shows sharp rise in opium production and prices Poppy field in Afghanistan. Photo: UNODC The price of opium in Afghanistan rose dramatically last year, according to a joint survey by the United Nations and the Government that was released today, which also shows that the farm-gate income from the narcotic probably amounted to over […]

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Haitian earthquake boosted global commitment to disaster risk reduction Participants in the cash-for-work programme, through which UNDP has been providing short-term employment to 75,916 Haitians so far who are laying the foundations for long-term recovery while earning an income.  Geneva, 12 January 2012 – On the occasion of the two-year commemoration of the Haitian earthquake today, […]

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Despite end-of-year decline, 2011 food prices highest on record – UN Photo: NobbiP Global food prices declined in December, but the overall annual average was the highest ever on record, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. Last month, FAO’s Food Price Index level was 211 points – 27 points below its […]

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Gym benefits help Medicare plans recruit healthy seniors Medicare Advantage plans are not allowed to exclude unhealthy (and costly) seniors, but new research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that they have effectively used gym memberships to bring healthier (and more profitable) members into their subscriber base. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Because healthy enrollees cost […]

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New Web Resource Helps Doctors Assess Life Expectancy of Older Patients A team led by researchers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has completed the first systematic review of prognostic indices used to calculate a patient’s life expectancy, and created a website that puts these […]

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Study Offers Clue As to Why Alcohol is Addicting UCSF Gallo Scientists Show That Drinking Releases Brain Endorphins … Drinking alcohol leads to the release of natural brain opioids in humans (Video) Drinking alcohol leads to the release of natural opioids in areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward, according to […]

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Haiti: UN urges investing in water and sanitation services to combat cholera Women carry jerry cans of chlorinated water which is being used to contain cholera in eastern DRC. Photo: IRIN/Tiggy Ridley Dramatic improvements in water and sanitation services are needed to eliminate cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, health experts who took part […]

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Violence against women: Prevention, protection and empowerment in Haiti Among the many peacekeepers deployed by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti and assigned to protect the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from insecurity, nearly 500 are women. Photo: Hadrien Bonnaud It is a lesser known reality of the earthquake that devastated Haiti […]

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Reaping benefits of exercise minus the sweat. Researchers isolate messenger protein linking exercise to health benefits “There has been a feeling in the field that exercise ‘talks to’ various tissues in the body,” said Bruce Spiegelman (right), a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. “But the question has been, how?”/ File photo by […]

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