U.N.

ROME – FAO’s communications chief lashed out at Italian Insider’s coverage as “highly inaccurate” and “shameful” this month as Lamberto Dini strongly denied influencing staffing at the UN agency.

ROME -- FAO protocol chief Paola Dini has become a key figure in the agency's magic circle, accompanying Director General José Graziano da Silva to Calabria for his honourary citizenship recently,

ROME --The tragedy of a Japanese FAO staffer who jumped to his death raises questions whether the U.N. agency gives sufficient priority to staff welfare, UN sources say.

ROME– FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva has strongly denied he is favouring Latin Americans since he took office at the food agency in January.

 ROME– Christian Mersmann, the respected head of the UN’s Global Mechanism combating desertification, was sacked with two days’ notice by IFAD chief Kanayo Nwanze, UN sources said.

ROME– Aid to Ethiopia from donors and organisations including the UN World Food Programme “directly supports political oppression,” says a Human Rights Watch report.

ROME– At least 900 staff walked off their jobs at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation last month in protest at redeployment policies by the agency's new director general, FAO sources said.

KABUL -- In Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province, 120 girls and 3 teachers have been hospitalized after toxic substances were sprayed into the classrooms - only a month after 150 others fell ill

UN World Food Programme (WFP) staff work through gunfire, shells, earthquakes and radiation alerts in the field.

 ROME – As many as 17 staff at the UN World Food Programme (WFP) were dismissed for fraud or embezzlement during a year of disciplinary proceedings, WFP sources say.

ROME – A corrupt FAO employee in Sri Lanka used connections to Tamil Tigers fighters to intimidate bosses and avoid dismissal for bilking as much as dlrs 1.57 million fr

ROME -- In 100 days of office as FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva has impressed staff by his determination to turn around the UN agency but raised questions over an "autocratic" style.

ROME -- Families of WFP staffers "crack at the seams" and their children "can grow up alienated, rootless ... with heavy emotional 'baggage,' a study by the agency finds.

ROME -- A secure supply of whisky, single malt or Jack Daniels, is vital for WFP workers dealing with emergencies around the globe, top executives at the UN agency jest.