The Caritas Annual Report shows our work in 2012 through five strategic priorities identified during the year: addressing poverty at home and abroad, responding to emergencies, upholding the dignity and rights of indigenous peoples, promoting environmental justice, and connecting effectively with our Catholic community.

Public donations topped $3 million last year, including a record Lent total of more than $900,000. We are grateful for the government’s New Zealand Aid Programme which contributed almost $1 million towards Caritas development and relief programmes.

OVERVIEW

Both Guatemala and Myanmar were affected by earthquakes during the reporting period. On 7 November, an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude struck the pacific coast of Guatemala, affecting more than 600,000 people followed by a second quake of 6.2 magnitude on 11 November. There were no immediate reports of major infrastructural damage caused by the second earthquake. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake which struck in Myanmar on 10 November, meanwhile, damaged infrastructure but the full extent of the impact remains unclear.

Despite a four-day truce which was supposed to come into effect on Friday 26 October, fighting has continued to escalate in Damascus province, Aleppo, Idlib, Daara and Deir Ezzor in Syria manifested by a new wave of airstrikes by the Syrian forces and attacks by the rebels on strategic army checkpoints and air bases.

This week, renewed violence between Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims took place in Rahkin state in Myanmar, affecting an estimated 28,000 people. Sectarian violence between the two communities in June already left more than 75,000 people displaced. Despite a four-day truce that was supposed to come into effect on Friday 26 October, fighting has continued in Damascus province, Aleppo, Idlib, Daara and Deir Ezzor in Syria. The number of flood-affected people in Chad has risen to 700,000, up from 445,000 in September, with 16 of the country’s 22 regions affected.

Snapshot, 8 to 15 October

This week, flooding caused by heavy rains affected more than 1.3 million people in Nigeria. Flooding also affected more than five million people in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab in Pakistan and around 226,000 in Bogra State in Bangladesh. A heavy tropical cyclone hit the south-west coast of Bangladesh on 11th October 2012 displacing 20,000 people and affecting more than 100,000. Armed violence continued to escalate in Syria with heavy fighting occurring in Homs, Daraa, Deir Ezzor, Idlib, Latakia, Aleppo and Damascus.

APEC lends support for health innovation, eyes greater worker productivity, economic sustainability

Issued by the APEC Health Working Group

St Petersburg, Russia, 28 June 2012 – APEC member economies participating in the APEC High-Level Meeting on Health & the Economy Wednesday recognized the urgent need for APEC member economies to invest in the health of their populations at all stages of life in order to fully capture the economic returns of a healthy and productive populations.

Asia-Pacific actions to address climate change will have global impact

Jakarta -- Countries in Asia and the Pacific are at a crossroads and must now strike a balance between rising prosperity and rising emissions. Their success or failure will have repercussions worldwide, predicts a new report released today by the United Nations Development Programme.

ADB Assistance to Developing Asia Tops $21.7 Billion in 2011

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $21.72 billion in financing operations last year, a 14.5% increase on ADB’s previous year’s financing, according to its 2011 Annual Report, released ahead of the organization’s 45th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, to be held from 2 to 5 May in Manila, Philippines.