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The United Nations has said it is discussing with Moroccan authorities UN offer to support in the assessment, coordination and response to the situation following the devastating earthquake that hit the North African Kingdom. During his daily briefing in New York, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for Secretary-General said Moroccan authorities are leading the response and have deployed massive efforts, including medical personnel and equipment. Many people are sheltering outdoors, with electricity, internet and roads having been cut off in some places, he added, affirming that roadblocks caused by the earthquake are gradually being lifted as rubble is being removed by Moroccan authorities. “This no doubt has an impact on children and UNICEF has already mobilized humanitarian staff to support the immediate response on the ground,” said the UN spokesperson. In close coordination with the Moroccan authorities and UN partners, UNICEF has voiced readiness to further support the humanitarian response as necessary to reach children and families affected with critical supplies and support, underlined M. Stéphane Dujarric.

This wave of solidarity demonstrated the unity of Moroccans and their ability to endure adversity with dignity, patience, and thoughtful responses. As soon as the shock of the earthquake subsided, a noteworthy solidarity movement, described as ‘the largest of its kind’ started, with thousands of Moroccans from within and outside the country rushing to assist the victims of the earthquake. Citizens from across the country came forward with initiatives to provide both in-kind and financial aid to the victims. Under the supervision of authorities, several public spaces were transformed into centres to collect food and various products. This solidarity movement also highlighted the active involvement of all, women and men, young girls and teenager boys, and even children, taking turns to load vehicles before they drive to the tremor-hit areas in the Haouz.

This was pointed out by African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina during his opening remarks at the 7th Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Ministerial Conference. “This presents an excellent opportunity for Korea to work together with the African Development Bank on a pan-African rice production initiative,” said Adesina. One million rice farmers will benefit, and 30% of these farmers are women. Choo summarised Korea’s priority areas for support to Africa as “ABC” – agriculture, bio-health and climate change, as well as energy transition. Korea pledged $105m to the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund – the highest amount ever pledged to the Fund.

ROME, Sept 13 (Reuters) - A five-month-old baby boy drowned during a rescue operation off the Italian island of Lampedusa after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized, ANSA and other Italian news agencies reported on Wednesday. The tragedy occurred as migrant landings on Lampedusa surged, leaving the small island struggling to cope. About 1,850 new arrivals landed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of migrants in Lampedusa to more than 6,700, ANSA said. Overall, about 123,860 boat migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, the latest interior ministry datashowed. On current trends, arrivals are near the peak recorded in 2016, when about 181,500 sea migrants arrived in Italy.

Egyptian startup Qardy, a marketplace and aggregator for debt financing, has partnered microfinance company Sandah to give MSEMs access to the necessary tools and resources. Founded in July 2022, Qardy facilitates loans for MSMEs, with founder Abdel Aziz Abdel Nabi saying the startup’s goal was to be the “Amazon of lending”. “Qardy aims to cut the waiting time to get a loan from nine months to around 18 days. “We are thrilled about this strategic collaboration with Sandah. Together we aim to expand our coverage to cover the full extent of MSMEs sector, providing them with tailored financial products to both manage their cash flow cycles and cover their working capital needs,” Nabi said.

Mastercard’s strategic partnership with Delivery Hero, the world’s leading local delivery platform, keeps fueling the growth of the e-commerce in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, according to an emailed press release. In 2020, the two companies unveiled a large-scale collaboration to digitalize Delivery Hero’s payment chain. As a result, the number of Mastercard food order transactions on Delivery Hero’s apps grew by over 100% between 2020 and 2022. Delivery Hero’s gross merchandise value (GMV) growth in the MENA region accelerated to 21% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, compared to 16% in Q1 2023 due to strong customer demand. “As part of our partnership with Delivery Hero, we are continuously innovating the consumer experience to enable a best-in-class proposition for consumers.

As many as 29 additional blank sailings have been scheduled on the Transpacific, and 18 more on Asia-Europe, according to the latest update from Sea-Intelligence. Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence says: "With the upcoming Golden Week holiday in Asia in early October 2023, as factories close and container demand to and from Asia declines, shipping lines respond by blanking sailings to match supply with the lower demand. However, when we initially looked at the 2023 Golden Week blanked capacity – two weeks ago – the carriers had not scheduled blank sailings even close to what was required to match the blanked percentages of pre-pandemic years." Scheduled capacity reductions on Asia-North America West Coast have gone up from 3.7 percent to 14.1 percent, from 2.2 percent to 16.1 percent on Asia-North America East Coast, from 6.8 percent to 19.9 percent on Asia-North Europe, and from 7.7 percent to 21 percent on Asia-Mediterranean. This means that carriers are now on track to blank capacity in line with both 2019 and the 2017-2019 average, the update added.

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The Oslo Accords were ‘inherently designed’ to serve Israel’s economic and security dominance over the Palestinians, experts say. Many Palestinians were in a “state of misery”, Ersheid recalled, until the US-brokered accords were announced. Before the accords were signed, Israel mainly dealt with the daily life of Palestinians “from a security perspective”, Ersheid said. But the realities of Israeli occupation and its “brutality” were still very much apparent, prior to the first Intifada, Ersheid added. This fragmentation was “exacerbated by political rifts” over the accords, Khalil said.

ROME/BERLIN: A five-month-old baby boy drowned during a rescue operation off the Italian island of Lampedusa after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized, ANSA and other Italian news agencies reported on Wednesday. The tragedy occurred as migrant landings on Lampedusa surged, leaving the small island struggling to cope. About 1,850 new arrivals landed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of migrants in Lampedusa to more than 6,700, according to ANSA. The boat the baby was travelling on capsized shortly before it was intercepted by the Italian coastguard. Skirmishes between police and hundreds of migrants trying to leave the island erupted on the docks but were quickly quelled, ANSA said.

UN Children’s agency has voiced readiness to further support Moroccan children and families affected by the powerful quake that hit last Friday the North African Kingdom, killing over 2,900 people, according to an updated death toll. UNICEF said it would work in close coordination with Moroccan authorities and UN partners to provide critical supplies and services to children, who are always the most vulnerable in any emergency situation and need urgent assistance. In the long term, the children and families affected by the devastating quake will need shelter, safe drinking water, health and medical help, and food and nutrition support, said the UN agency. Child protection services including psychosocial support will be critical in helping children and parents process their distressing experiences, underlined UNICEF, affirming that getting children back into school is also critical for their long-term recovery. The Royal Armed Forces have deployed importance human and logistic resources, including Search & Rescue teams, a field hospital.

Rescue teams stepped up a massive effort to bring relief to devastated Moroccan mountain villages Wednesday as the chances faded fast for finding survivors from the powerful earthquake which killed 2,900 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. A rescue team recovers the body of a woman who was killed by the earthquake in the town of Imi N'tala outside Marrakech, Morocco on September 12, 2023. Advertising Read moreVehicles packed with supplies were inching up winding mountain roads to deliver desperately needed food and tents to survivors of the nation's deadliest quake in more than six decades. Morocco is now well past the 72-hour window when rescues are considered most likely, yet survivors are in some cases found well beyond that period. But the need was most desperate in remote and poor mountain villages, many only reachable by winding dirt roads, where traditional adobe homes crumbled to rubble and dust.

Opinion by Arezki Daoud:The military junta in Mali is now confronted with the realities of war. A car bomb attack on September 8 “caused around ten deaths… among the Malian Armed Forces”. Army-Tuareg war reignites in north MaliArmed groups from northern Mali on Tuesday claimed to have captured the key town of Bourem, situated between the ancient cities of Gao and Timbuktu, after fighting against the national army. “Unidentified armed groups had encircled the camp and roamed through the town,” local resident Mahamoud Ould Mety said by telephone. We can hear more firing, the FAMA (Malian Armed Forces) are everywhere in the town in numbers,” he added.