A new law that could legalise marriage for children as young as nine in Iraq would be “catastrophic”, setting back women’s rights by half a century, activists said. The proposal, an amendment to Iraq’s personal status law, would allow clerics of Muslim sects to govern marriage contracts. Public demonstrations were held last weekend by civil society and women’s rights groups against the amendment. The United Nations in Iraq (Unami) called for wider consultations and for women’s rights to be fully recognised and protected.

An earlier, more extreme version of the bill, provoked an international outcry when it was proposed, ahead of the elections in 2014. The earlier version also restricted women’s rights in terms of divorce, parenting and inheritance. Opposition to the current proposals, which were approved this month, has so far concentrated on their impact on child marriage. Suad Abu-Dayyeh, of Equality Now, based in Jordan, told the Guardian: “This bill contradicts international conventions and the national law in Iraq. If it is approved, in effect, each and every religious sect will follow their clerics. It will be catastrophic for women’s rights.(theguardian)…[+]

The Australian casino owner James Packer and the Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan probably never imagined they would be running a free drinks delivery service for the Israeli prime minister and his wife. But when Sara Netanyahu called an assistant of the two men to say the drinks had run out, it was the signal for Packer and Milchan to renew the supplies of champagne, courtesy of their own wallets and a private driver, according to alleged testimony in an investigation into sleaze claims against Benjamin Netanyahu.

The claims, widely reported in the Israeli media on Tuesday, are the latest leaks from a police investigation into the Netanyahus. If true, they would illustrate how brazen the couple were in demanding favours. According to the reports, first carried by Israel’s Channel 2 and Channel 10 on Monday night, Hadas Klein, an assistant to both Packer and Milchan, has given evidence describing how the Netanyahus would routinely call demanding cigars, champagne and even that the bill be paid for a building inspector.

While the Israeli prime minister has repeatedly denied the items represented anything more than goodwill between friends, the leak suggests that the Netanyahus always initiated the favours.(theguardian)…[+]

BONN – The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have set up an emergency post-disaster reconstruction financing initiative to help the Region recover from recent hurricane events.

The arrangement will support investments for infrastructure reconstruction projects in the Caribbean in the wake of the recent hurricanes. The new USD 24 million financing package is an addition to the USD 120 million Climate Action Framework Loan II signed in May this year, and which remains the EIB’s biggest loan to the Caribbean. Eligible investments under the new loan will include infrastructure reconstruction, with a focus on “building back better” and integrating climate risk and vulnerability assessments into the projects. This will help reduce the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries’ vulnerability to future natural disasters and worsening climate change impacts. As well as infrastructure, financing to communities for low-carbon and climate-resilience measures such as improved water resource management are also foreseen.

To date, CDB has committed all of the resources under the first Climate Action Line of Credit – USD 65.6 million – for seven projects. This co-financing is associated with total project financing of USD 191 million. Since CDB’s Climate Resilience Strategy was approved in 2012, 58% of projects financed have included climate change adaptation and/or mitigation elements in the climate-sensitive sectors of water, education, agriculture, and physical infrastructure such as sea defences, drainage, and roads. Using the Joint Multilateral Development Bank Methodology, climate financing represented 13% of total CDB project financing in 2015. In 2016, CDB approved USD 50 million for projects with explicit climate resilience and sustainable energy actions…[+]