BREAKING NEWS

Report: In budget squeeze, UNESCO halts all spending

UNESCO announced Thursday that it will suspend all spending programs until the end of the year, after the United States halted its payments to the UN organization after it granted the Palestinians full membership, AFP reported.
"This deficit corresponds to the sum due from the United States for the year 2011," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said, adding that "the United States have a habit of paying their contribution at the end of the year for reasons of their own budget calendar," according to AFP.
"We will not receive this sum. We will therefore have to take radical measures," she added, saying that she "suspended the entirety of [UNESCO] undertakings" until the end of the year, according to the report.