Page 28 - Lobal Issues News Today

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 (IPS) - The United Nations and its Member States are up against what the Secretary-General António Guterres calls existential challenges for the world, and they must be organized in taking a united approach to addressing these issues through ambitious plans and widespread reform.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 12 (IPS) - Let’s call her Anita. Four years ago, her life took an unexpected turn when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything she knew. As businesses closed and economic uncertainty loomed, Anita, like countless others, found herself forced out of work. Providing for her three young children became a daily struggle, prompting her to seek informal work as a subsistence agricultural worker to ease the financial burden.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday appealed for restraint in the face of an Israeli military incursion in Rafah, warning of the risk of further atrocity crimes in the Gaza war.

KATHMANDU, Feb 12 (IPS) - Studies have long shown that some women’s lower status in Nepali households could mean that they eat last and less and as a result lack nutrition. Experts are now looking into how this could affect their mental health, and if the growing impacts of climate change might amplify the process.

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador, Feb 12 2024 (IPS) - “For a couple of years now we’ve been seeing the violence growing so fast,” said José, who asked not to give his last name for fear of reprisals he may face in Monte Sinai, a low-income neighborhood in Ecuador’s most populous city, Guayaquil.

As the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, a senior UN official on Monday voiced deep concern over the escalatory trajectory of the war with intensifying attacks on civilians.

Migratory species globally are facing critical challenges, with nearly half in decline and over 20 per cent threatened with extinction, a landmark UN report has pointed out.

Two critical lifelines for millions of people in northwest Syria have been extended for an additional three months, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.

As international efforts continue to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, the head of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians, warned on Tuesday that those in the enclave remain deeply traumatised by the war with Israel and afraid of a full-scale assault on Rafah in the south.

WASHINGTON DC, Feb 13 (IPS) - In the early 1970s, conflict in the Middle East set off a spike in oil prices that left central banks around the world scrambling to control inflation. After a year or so, oil prices stabilized and inflation started to retreat. Many countries believed they had restored price stability and loosened policy to revive their recession-hit economies only to see inflation return. Could history repeat?