Never before had the chief executive officer of fast-food chain McDonald’s Germany sat at the table when Chancellor Angela Merkel met with captains of the country’s biggest corporations. [...] But the CEO, Holger Beeck, was there in September at the Bundeskanzleramt because McDonald’s has hired 900-plus refugees, more than any other company at the meeting. The subject of the meeting was integrating those fleeing war in Syria and other dire conditions.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Information announced Thursday the launch of a campaign to support and aid Aleppo and Syrians in need. The ministry has launched a one-week plan on Wednesday to broadcast programs on aiding Aleppo on Kuwait TV, Assistant Undersecretary for Television Affairs Majeed Al-Jazzaf told KUNA. 

Thanks to unprecedented international cooperation, the world is making impressive progress in the fight against malaria. [...] And this progress is not limited to malaria. Many countries have reduced new HIV infections by 50 percent or more over a similar period, and the infection rates for other debilitating tropical diseases have fallen significantly in recent years.

The Energy Africa Compact signed by the U.K.'s Department for International Development with the Ugandan government aims to improve access to, and innovation in, solar energy in the country. [...] Energy Africa Compact agreement with Ugandan officials will work towards improving access to solar energy to the estimated 30 million people in the country without access to electricity.

“Upholding human rights is in the interest of all. Respect for human rights advances well-being for every individual, stability for every society, and harmony for our interconnected world,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

“Human rights” can sound like an abstraction, something spoken of only at the highest levels of government. But the work governments do on human rights has consequences and can even make the difference between life and death. As we celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10, we look at how international campaigns in four human rights areas improved the lives of people around the world.

Australia has a 64-year history of utilising volunteers in its aid program that has inspired similar programs in New Zealand, Canada and the United States, according to the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Still, the Australian Volunteers for International Development program is just a small piece of Australia’s aid program. 

A diverse group of global stakeholders -- businesses, national governments, non-profits and universities, and so many others -- are embracing the transition away from carbon intensive energy and toward an economy built on clean energy technologies.