Paris, France -- Eating some common food preservatives is linked to a slightly higher risk of eventually developing cancer and diabetes, according to two large French studies published Thursday. However, outside experts called for more research and emphasized that these kinds of observational studies cannot demonstrate a direct cause-and-effect relationship....

UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 people were "enduring famine-like conditions" that were already leading to deaths.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 35 people were killed in seven Israeli drone and air strikes in various locations, and two others by Israeli fire while waiting for food aid in the Netzarim zone in central Gaza.

Cairo, Egypt - Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official said Saturday ahead of talks with mediators. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo to discuss with Egyptian mediators ways out of the...

The World Food Programme says it has run out of food in Gaza, warning that hot meal kitchens—Gaza’s last major source of aid—will shut down in the coming days.

After 18 months of war, the situation in Gaza "is probably the worst" now, the United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday. WFP, one of the main providers of food assistance in Gaza, said it had "delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza...

Rome, Italy -- The benchmark for world food commodity prices rose in November to its highest level since April 2023, increasing by 0.5 percent from October, driven by surging international vegetable oil quotations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations said Friday. The FAO Food Price Index, which...

Cairo, Egypt -- Egypt's economy has been in crisis for years, but as the latest round of International Monetary Fund-backed reforms bites, much of the country's middle class has found itself struggling to afford goods once considered basics. The world lender has long backed measures in Egypt including a liberal currency...

Deir El-Balah, Palestinian Territories -- Amira al-Taweel scoured pharmacies in northern Gaza for milk to feed her child but could not find a single bottle to satisfy his hunger. "Youssef needs treatment and milk, but there' none available in Gaza," the 33-year-old mother told AFP at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central...

Rome, Italy -- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released a new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, raising its forecast for world cereal production in 2023/24 to 2.841 billion tons, reflecting expectations of greater outputs of maize, rice and wheat. Global cereal utilization in 2023/24...

Israel said it was targeting a "Hamas gunman" when it killed in Gaza seven aid workers whose deaths caused an international outcry, with its military admitting violations of its own rules of engagement. The drone team who killed them made an "operational misjudgement of the situation", an internal Israeli military...

"If it is true that the convoy was deliberately attacked because it was supposed to contain a terrorist, and that civilian lives were therefore sacrificed, I do not know of any (political) system in which this would be justified," he told Polish public radio Trojka.

Gaza's health ministry said Israeli troops were shooting and firing "shells and (conducting) violent raids in its surroundings in preparation for its storming".

The funds, according to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), would support UNRWA's "humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip", where the Israel's war has raged for more than five months. The funding will provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 20,000 families.

According to Cyprus foreign ministry spokesperson, the ship will depart for Gaza today even as US charity World Central Kitchen said that the Jennifer had been loaded with 240 tonnes of food but that rough weather made it hard to predict when it would set sail for the Gaza Strip.

A US charity said its team in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip had finished unloading the first maritime aid shipment to reach the besieged territory. "All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza," World Central Kitchen said in a statement, noting that the aid was "almost 200...

The annual consumer price index (CPI) came in at 3.2 percent last month, the Labor Department said, while the "core" measure stripping out volatile food and energy prices edged down slightly to 3.8 percent.

ROME, ITALY – The situation in the Red Sea has not yet been reflected in the pace of prices for foods monthly reflected in the FAO Food Price Index, Monika Tothova, the economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said. “Following on its 2023 and...

In his annual State of the Union address to Congress, President Joe Biden said the US military would "lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water medicine and temporary shelters."

Rome, Italy - The UN's food agency on Thursday said it was pressing Israel to allow it to use the Ashdod port north of Gaza to make it easier to reach starving Palestinians. "We have several requests with the Israelis," World Food Program (WFP) Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told AFP in...

While negotiators in Cairo tried to surmount tough stumbling blocks, fighting again raged in Gaza where the UN warns famine looms and desperate crowds have stopped and looted food aid trucks. Gazans were waiting to collect bags of flour outside an office of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA,...

Global condemnation flowed after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident which the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said killed over 100 people. The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38...

The set of rules will streamline authorization requirements and ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses, according to a press release. It will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than $119 billion every year, it added.

Dubai, UAE-- The food and beverage sector in Dubai has attracted new FDI worth $577 million from 2019 to 2023, which was made by 48 international companies from 23 countries, according to data from FDI Intelligence. The UAE’s food and beverage sector generated $16.4 billion in retail sales, including fresh...

The World Food Program (WFP) resumed deliveries on Sunday after a three-week halt but its convoy "faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order", it said. Twenty weeks into Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies have warned that food and safe water...

Bustanica is the world's largest indoor vertical farm.

AMMAN, JORDAN – A total of 35 Jordanian companies are taking part in Gulfood 2024, the world's largest annual food and beverage trade exhibition, in Dubai, UAE.The Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) is coordinating the country's participation in the event, which will open next Monday at Dubai World Trade Center.The JEA’s...

Without action, "the situation will deteriorate," he warned. "Conflicts are multiplying. The climate crisis is set to spiral, as emissions continue to rise. And acute food insecurity has been increasing year on year."

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Acting WHO Representative in Sudan Peter Graaff has said that the humanitarian and health crisis in the African country is alarming. The conflict that started 10 months ago has spread to new areas, resulting in widespread displacement of civilians, some of whom have been forced to move...

UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged world powers to "restrain rather than enable" as fears of a looming ground incursion grew among more than one million Palestinians trapped in the territory's far south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send ground troops into the crowded Rafah area as...

Berrechid, Morocco -- Around this time every year, Moroccan wheat farmer Abderrahim Mohafid is usually preparing for his spring harvest, but this year his fields lay unusually bare. On the road leading up to his hamlet in Berrechid province, Morocco's historical breadbasket situated some 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) southeast of...

Palestinian Territories - Six-year-old Hind Rajab pleaded to be rescued, after her family's car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza City, leaving her alone, frightened and injured, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives. "I am so scared," she had said in a desperate phone call to the Palestine...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week said he had ordered troops to prepare to go in to the city, crowded with displaced Palestinians, as it hunts down those responsible for the deadly October 7 attacks on southern Israel. The announcement has prompted concern from foreign governments including the United States...

TEHRAN, IRAN – The country has exported more than 6.7 million tons of agricultural and food products worth US$4.8 billion during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 – January 20, 2024), an Iranian economic official said. Rouhollah Latifi, the spokesman of the Iranian House...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held a virtual meeting with ministers from the region to discuss a strategy for food security in the Middle East. Ministers responsible for agriculture and food security from the GCC countries attended the meeting. The meeting discussed...

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization said on Monday that nearly half the world's population was now covered by solid rules limiting trans fat in foods and urged lagging countries to catch up. The WHO appealed in 2018 for industrially produced fatty acids in foods to be eliminated worldwide by...

A study conducted between November 24 and December 7 found that all 2.2 million people living in the Palestinian territory were in a crisis level of acute food insecurity, or worse. The situation has only deteriorated since then, said Abeer Etefa, the WFP's senior Middle East spokeswoman.

Doha, Qatar--The Qatar Chamber (QC) discussed ways to enhance cooperation and exchange expertise with Korean companies in agriculture and food security. The issues were discussed in a meeting with a Korean delegation representing from the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI). The meeting was attended by QC board member and Chair of...

Bringing food and supplies to the besieged population of Gaza, which is increasingly at risk of famine, also depends on the opening of new entry routes into the territory, the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a joint statement.

Washington, US - Consumer inflation in the United States rose more than anticipated in December, government data showed Thursday, underscoring the bumpy road to cooling price increases as the presidential election looms. The Department of Labor's consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, was up 3.4 percent from a...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--The UAE Ministry of Investment has signed three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with India, setting out frameworks for the expansion of bilateral investment cooperation in the renewable energy, food processing and healthcare sectors. The agreements were signed by the respective Indian ministries, underscoring the UAE’s strong commitment to...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Everyone in Gaza is going hungry and about 2.2 million people are surviving day by day on almost nothing, routinely going without meals, said a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization B'Tselem. The desperate search for food is relentless, and usually unsuccessful, leaving the entire population – including babies,...

World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said. The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,...

AMMAN, JORDAN - Agriculture Minister Khaled Al-Hneifat said the ministry has been working hard over the past year to create an action plan to raise the country's ranking in the Global Food Security Index (GFSI). According to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), two of the initiatives taken to achieve this...

Dubai, UAE--The UAE leadership places utmost importance on supporting farmers to enhance the sustainability of the agricultural and food sector, ensure national food security and address climate change, according to Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment. She was speaking at the ninth meeting of the...

According to the Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau, the upward trend was mainly attributed to rising prices across all major groups impacting key indices, especially food, education, and clothing. The food and beverages sector experienced the most notable increase, with its index surging by 5.81% in November compared to the same...

Dubai, UAE -- The Arkiz Agricultural Project in Mauritania, which has been financed by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) with a $34 million loan, has been inaugurated to enhance water and food security in the country and contribute to the development of key developmental sectors. Saudi Fund for Development...

Doha, Qatar-- Inflation in Qatar is expected to fall in 2024, according to Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, the Minister of Finance. In a press conference on Thursday, the minister said that the inflation witnessed in Qatar in 2023 was temporary and associated with a specific period and reasons, such...

The agreement will bring AI innovation to food production.

Dubai, UAE-- The COP28 Presidency is focused on achieving a balanced package in the negotiations, according to Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General and Special Representative, noting that they hosted a stocktaking plenary to outline progress made at the technical level and hear feedback on building areas of convergence. During...