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A powerful new film featuring UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham was released to illustrate the brutal reality that physical and psychological abuse can mark children forever on Dec 05.

In a paper presented to the European Union (EU) on December 5, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, called for a far-reaching reform of Europe’s global engagement with refugees, including the European asylum system.

All EU citizens and third country nationals entering or leaving the EU will be checked against databases, e.g. of lost and stolen documents, under a draft law informally agreed by MEPs and EU ministers on Monday.

Civil Liberties Committee MEPs voted by 37 to 4, with 7 abstentions, to back an informal deal on the draft law, struck by Parliament, the Council and Commission on 17 November. For a preparatory act to be criminalised, it must have been carried out intentionally or knowingly, the text says. Parliament’s negotiators inserted a clause stressing that fundamental rights and freedoms must be respected.

Following a more than five-year hiatus, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) resumed its school meals programme in Sudan’s Blue Nile State this week for more than 7,000 students in 21 schools.

On the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nov. 17 arrival in Ecuador for a state visit, that country’s President Rafael Correa stated that Xi’s visit “was the most important visit by a head of state in Ecuador’s history,” adding that China’s involvement in Ecuador’s economic development had “changed Ecuador’s history” forever.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. will develop their current drone technology into new cutting-edge unmanned aerial vehicles for use by UK Royal Air Force.

Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 2 December highlighted the challenges people with disabilities face despite progress made since the adoption of a global treaty to promote their rights a decade ago.

The Irish Government announced a contribution of EUR 1.5 million to support emergency operations by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique, where 1.4 million people are unable to meet their food needs due to an El Niño-induced drought on Dec 02.

A total of 108,750 poor rural households in four regions of Ethiopia are expected to benefit from a financial agreement signed between the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Ethiopia to boost small-scale irrigation schemes on Dec 02.