“This is a critical moment for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region,” Ban told reporters in the capital, Kinshasa, following a meeting with President Joseph Kabila.

The “unprecedented” joint visit is in support of the UN-brokered peace agreement, which was signed in February by 11 African leaders and aims to end the cycles of conflict and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build peace in wider region.

“We believe it offers the best hope for peace in a generation,” Ban said. “But that agreement must translate into concrete actions. A peace deal must deliver a peace dividend for people.

Coinciding with the visit, the World Bank Group today announced $1 billion in proposed new funding to help countries in the Great Lakes provide better health and education services, generate more cross-border trade, and fund hydroelectricity projects in support of the peace deal.

“We made extraordinary efforts to secure an additional $1 billion in funding because we believe this can be a major contributor to a lasting peace in the Great Lakes region,” Kim said.

“This funding will help revitalize economic development, create jobs, and improve the lives of people who have suffered for far too long. Now the leaders of the Great Lakes region, by restarting economic activity and improving livelihoods in border areas, can boost confidence, build economies, and give new opportunities for millions of people.”

In addition to meeting with President Kabila and other Government officials, Ban and Kim will also meet parliamentarians and representatives of civil society. As part of their visit, both men will travel tomorrow to the eastern city of Goma.

Recent days have witnessed renewed clashes between rebels from the 23 March Movement (M23) and the DRC national armed forces in Goma, which was the scene of intense fighting late last year.

In the first four months of the year the balance of the budget showed a deficit of EUR 2.425 billion against a deficit of EUR 9.148 billion in the same period last year and a target for a deficit of EUR 5.74 billion this year.

The primary deficit amounted to EUR 306 million, down from EUR 1.73 billion in the January-to-April period last year and a target for EUR 3.613 billion this year. Net state budget revenues came to EUR 15.743 billion in the year to end-April, posting a rise of EUR 786 million or 5.3% from the target of 4.957 billion.

The revenues from the Public Investments Programme posted an increase of EUR 655 million from the target, reaching up to EUR 1.715 billion. State expenditure came to EUR 18.168 billion, posting a considerable decline by EUR 2.53 billion from the target set by the budget, and of 28.2% or EUR 7.123 billion from the same period last year, when Greece paid interest for the bonds included in the debt restructuring (PSI).

Meanwhile, Finance Ministry sources told tovima.gr that the troika representatives are expected to return to Athens on the 4th of June for the next evaluation.

The EUR 4.2 billion loan installment that Greece collected last Friday was used to pay off bonds worth EUR 5.6 billion on Monday that the European Central Bank held.

FinMin Yannis Stournaras is focusing on collecting the remaining 3.3 billion euros loan, which has conditionally been approved by the Eurogroup. The three conditions are to submit a detailed plan for combating corruption, a new plan for indebted households and the deregulation of the energy market.

However, the recent European Commission’s report indicates that the Greek government has not implemented many of the agreements. Of the 420 necessary actions stipulated in the terms of the third bail out loan (December 2012) 139 of them have not implemented, a rate of 33%. The Ministries of Labor and Health have the highest “fail” rates.

The government’s financial staff has a lot to prepare for in time for the troika visit, such as reducing the number of tax offices to 140 for the entire country, voting in the new law on the taxation of real estate property (by the end of June) and increasing the jurisdiction of General Secretary of Public Finances.

“With this CERF funding, UN agencies will be able to better meet the needs of the influx of people fleeing the increasingly desperate situation in Syria,” said the acting Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan, Andrew Harper.

“With the hard climate expected during the approaching summer, the most urgent and basic need is to provide clean water and shelter,” he added in a news release issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The Jordanian Government, which estimates that there are currently more than 500,000 Syrian refugees in the country, requested UN support to set up and service a new camp in Azraq town to take the pressure off the Za’atari camp, which has reached full capacity with over 100,000 people.

The CERF allocation will support the first phases of the establishment of the new camp, which is expected to accommodate up to 110,000 refugees by the end of the year.

The funds will be channelled through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to assist the first 50,000 vulnerable refugees in need of life-saving shelter and non-food items as well as water, sanitation and hygiene services in the new camp.

Yesterday the UN reported that the total number of people in need of assistance as a result of the ongoing conflict in Syria is now 8.3 million, representing about 38 per cent of the country’s population. This figure includes some 6.8 million in need inside Syria and 1.5 million who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

OCHA has called the situation in Syria a “humanitarian catastrophe” and warned that funding for the response has not kept pace with the growing needs. UN aid agencies and their partners, who appealed for $1.5 billion at the start of the year for the humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis, are expected to announce a revised funding appeal early next month.

Launched in 2006, CERF enables the fast delivery of life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters and other crises worldwide. It is funded by voluntary contributions from Member States, non-governmental organizations, regional governments, the private sector and individual donors.

Since May 2011, the Fund has provided more than $84 million to support life-saving operations in Syria and in neighbouring countries.

“Africa has been relentless in its quest to turn the AIDS epidemic around,” said the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Michel Sidibé.

Antiretroviral treatment increased from less than 1 million in 2005 to 7.1 million in 2012, with nearly 1 million added in the last year alone. AIDS-related deaths were also reduced by 32 per cent from 2005 to 2011.

The UNAIDS Update on Africa, which was released to coincide with the beginning of the African Union’s (AU) 21st summit in Addis Ababa, which began Sunday and runs through 27 May, attributes this success to strong leadership and shared responsibility in Africa and among the global community. It also urges sustained commitment to ensure Africa achieves zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

“As we celebrate 50 years of African unity, let us also celebrate the achievements Africa has made in responding to HIV—and recommit to pushing forward so that future generations can grow up free from AIDS,” Mr. Sidibé said.

The report states that 16 countries—Botswana, Ghana, Gambia, Gabon, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—now ensure that more than three-quarters of pregnant women living with HIV receive antiretroviral medicine to prevent transmission to their child.

Despite positive trends, Africa continues to be more affected by HIV than any other region of the world, and accounts for 69 per cent of people living with HIV globally. In 2011 there were still 1.8 million new HIV infections across the continent, and 1.2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.

In the report, entitled Update, Mr. Sidibé emphasizes that sustained attention to the AIDS response post-2015 will enhance progress on other global health priorities. He also identifies five lessons in the AIDS response that will improve the world’s approach to global health. These are: focusing on people, not diseases; leveraging the strength of culture and communities; building strong, accountable global heath institutions; mobilizing both domestic and international financial commitments; and elevating health as a force for social transformation.

“These strategies have been fundamental to Africa’s success at halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic and will support the next 50 years of better health, across borders and across diseases,” he said.

The report also stresses AU leadership is essential to reverse the epidemic. At this year’s Summit, AIDS Watch Africa, a platform for advocacy and accountability for the responses to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria founded by African leaders in 2001, will review progress on health governance, financing, and access to quality medicines, among other areas, and measure whether national, regional, continental and global stakeholders have met their commitments.

The AU, UNAIDS and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) will also launch the first accountability report on the AU-G8 partnership, focusing on progress towards ending AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa.

“If a mosque is constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed by Golden Dawn will be created,” Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the far-right party, told supporters at a rally late on Sunday, AFP reported.

The threat came as a letter sent via post to the Muslim Association of Greece last Friday by Golden Dawn threatened Muslims in Greece with bloodshed giving them a month time to evacuate the country.

Police said they were examining the note, written in Greek, Arabic and English and on its backdrop carried the logo of the far-right party.

The Muslim Association condemned the letter saying that: “Every Muslim is any time ready and fearless to defend his faith, not caring for his life. Human dignity is challenged along with the sense of mutual respect and coexistence.”

Naim El Ghandour, president of the Muslim Association told Alyunaniya.com concerning the note that “even if we hypothesize that the note is 99 percent a provocation who can guarantee the remaining 1 percent?”

Golden Dawn, whose logo is reminiscent of a swastika, gathered enough votes to win almost 20 seats in the Greek parliament. Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants.

Meanwhile, the Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

Earlier this month, the Greek Ministry of Education announced that it will allocate the sum of EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund the construction of the controversial mosque in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

Athens Mayor George Kaminis, a supporter of the controversial mosque that some critics such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are trying to block has said that the pending opening of the first official mosque in Greece, being built in Athens by the government, will pave the way for more, as many as two or more in each district of the city.

“Overnight, shots were fired at an IDF patrol on the border in the central Golan Heights, damaging a military vehicle. No injuries were caused,” IDF said in a statement.

“In response, IDF forces returned precise fire at the source of the gunfire. They reported a direct hit. The IDF views the recent incidents in the north with concern and has lodged a complaint with UNDOF.”

A defense source told The Jerusalem Post, “They fired on our patrol. Whether they knew it was us or not I don’t know, but it’s the third time in a row this has happened [this week], at the same place and time. The fire was directed at us.”

Gunfire incidents across the frontier from Syria have recurred since the beginning of the conflict in Syria more than two years ago. However, there have been no major flare-ups in the region until now, with Syrian shells crashing in the occupied Golan and Israel firing in retaliation.

Israel’s Army Radio said Tuesday’s incident was the third consecutive cross-border shooting this week. Two instances of gunfire into the Israeli Golan Heights occurred on Monday morning.

Israel captured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed the area. Negotiations aimed at resolving that conflict fell apart in 2000.

Israel has not taken sides in Syria’s bloody conflict, but has been worried about the involvement of Lebanese group Hezbollah, in the fighting.

“While tropical storm Mahasen reached the coastline of Bangladesh on Thursday weaker than anticipated, the preparedness work undertaken by the Government and humanitarian partners saved countless lives,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a news release.

An estimated one million people were evacuated from 13 coastal districts in the 24-hour period prior to the storm hitting on Thursday. Through its Cyclone Preparedness Programme, the Government activated a number of measures including mobilizing thousands of community volunteers, sending alerts and information to at-risk communities and advancing cash payments, as well as collaborating with international humanitarian partners to ensure a coordinated response was on standby.

Preliminary assessments from the Government indicate that 13 people died and some 1.2 million people were affected by the storm.

“While unfortunately there has been a loss of life, the Government demonstrated its commitment to disaster risk reduction and hase taken the necessary preparedness steps to prevent a catastrophe” said acting UN Resident Coordinator Pascal Villeneuve.

“This part of the world is regularly hit by major cyclones and so everyone took the threat extremely seriously and made sure the right measures were in place, and ensured communities in the path of the storm were safe and well informed.”

OCHA said it would continue to work with Bangladesh to restore livelihoods, shelter and provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene in affected areas.

Bangladesh has extensive experience in disaster risk reduction since adopting a series of preparedness measures following Cyclone Bhola in 1971 that killed more than 400,000 people. In 2009, when Cyclone Aila struck, many volunteers helped move thousands of people out of the disaster area, ultimately saving lives. The death toll from that tragedy was less than 200.

“Providing education to girls and women is not against religious beliefs,” said Director General of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, wrapping up a three-day visit to the country. “It enhances their opportunities to contribute to the development of their societies, to feel an integral part of them, and to benefit their families.”

In the capital, Kabul, Ms. Bokova visited the Ayesha-e-Durrani High School, named after the first Afghan women to open a school for local girls. Shuttered and damaged just a decade ago, today 1,600 students are enrolled in the school which includes computer and science laboratories.

“Here in this school I see the results of our work,” said Mrs. Bokova. “I have come here with a strong message of support. You are a country of ancient traditions and young talent.”

Despite positive changes in the education sector, three million Afghan children remain out of school. Of these, 70 per cent of these are girls, according to the latest figures cited by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

During a meeting with President Hamid Karzai and other senior officials, Ms. Bokova praised the Government for promoting girls’ education and enhancing literacy in the country and reiterated UNESCO’s continued support on such issues.

She also noted that while difficult to change mindsets and traditional, Afghan women need to be given assurances that they are full members of society.

Before returning to Paris today, Mrs. Bokova met with students and workers in Afghanistan’s cultural sector, and toured the country’s rebuilt National Museum.

UNESCO has been working with the museum, whose curators preserved some archaeological pieces by hiding them during decades of war, to create programmes that showcase Afghanistan’s vast and unique cultural legacy. Recently some important historical sites have come under threat from mining interests and the Director General urged authorities to step up their efforts to preserve the country’s heritage.

“Countries across the world strive to reconcile modernity and preservation of their cultural heritage assets,” she said. “The cultural heritage of Afghanistan will be the future economic and social asset of your country, it will provide self confidence and pride to the people of Afghanistan.”

“Greece is determined to fight and win this battle; there is no other alternative for us. And we are winning,” Samaras said in a speech addressed to Greek and Chinese businessmen, enet.gr writes.

The Premier repeated that the fears of a “Grexit” are now becoming the certainty of a “Greekovery”. “Having achieved a safe political, fiscal and financial environment, we are currently implementing innovative structural changes,” Samaras said.

The Prime Minister invited investment in the fields of shipping, tourism, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and new technologies, using Cosco’s presence in the port of Piraeus as an example of a successful Chinese investment in the country.

Samaras went on to praise the Greek and Chinese civilisation, pointing to the countries’ long history and their world-renowned philosophers. “We should not forget that Socrates and Confucius lived at the same period and are world-widely acknowledged as the fathers of philosophy,” he said.

“Confucius spoke about the path to wisdom. Plato wrote about the path to virtue,” Samaras concluded. “Let us join our forces, to establish our own common path to a very prosperous future.”

Meanwhile at a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science Samaras said: “Chinese Culture and Greek Culture gave “meaning” to human societies, across the borders and across the ages. They both provided time-transcending ideals, principals, norms, rationality, ethics and aesthetics that enriched spirituality, beyond short-lived intellectual fashions, trivial concerns or momentary impressions.”

“Indeed, we are so different in size, location on the globe and social systems. And yet so similar in other respects: we both suffered dramatically from foreign aggression and occupation during the Second World War. Our peoples fought on the same side of the anti-fascist war and endured a lot of suffering. And this binds us together even more. Finally, we both went through periods of painful transformation after the War. And we have covered a very long way in a very short time these last decades… In a short and shallow perspective, we seem to be on different “trajectories” or in opposing “phases”. But in a broader and longer perspective, our destinies are closer than most “outsiders” can suspect.”

The latest action comes despite repeated calls by the international community, including Mr. Ban and the United Nations Security Council, for DPRK to refrain from any actions that might exacerbate tensions on the Peninsula.

In February, the DPRK conducted its third, long threatened nuclear test, a move that was in violation of Security Council sanctions and drew widespread condemnation, including from the Secretary-General.

The test prompted the Security Council to tighten sanctions on the country’s trade and banking, as well as travel by targeted officials. The DPRK then reportedly said it was cancelling the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War.

Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said today that the Secretary-General remains concerned about provocations and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, “particularly given the risks of miscalculation and dangerous escalation.”

The Secretary-General stands ready to help facilitate the process of peace and trust-building on the Korean Peninsula, the spokesperson added.