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Added on the 08/03/2018 14:59:30 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
The UN rights chief warns that the world needs to change paths to avoid a future filled with military escalation, repression, disinformation, deepening inequality and rampant climate change. "We are at a fork in the road: We can either continue on our current path — a treacherous ‘new normal’ — and sleepwalk into a dystopian future, or we can wake up and turn things around for the better, for humanity and the planet," Volker Turk tells the United Nations Human Rights Council. SOUNDBITE
The United States warns Israel that staging a military push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah without proper planning would run the risk of becoming a "disaster." State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel says Washington has "yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation," adding: "To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area" where one million people are sheltering "would be a disaster." SOUNDBITE
The European Central Bank is "very attentive" to economic risks posed by the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, ECB president Christine Lagarde says after a meeting held exceptionally in Athens. Referring to the crisis in the Middle East as well as the war in Ukraine, she says: "We are monitoring the situation, we are very attentive to the economic consequences that that could have, whether in terms of direct or indirect impact on energy prices, or the level of confidence that economic actors will continue to display." SOUNDBITE
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warns that if central banks move too aggressively to tamp down price pressures, it could trigger a "prolonged" economic downturn. SOUNDBITE
A perfect storm of doom has been pummeling the global economy in recent months, undermining global growth expectations, but the IMF warns the worst-case scenario is plausible, which would cut growth to one of the lowest levels in the past five decades. SOUNDBITE