News headlines in April 2021, page 8

Apr 23 (IPS) - The occasion of World Malaria Day amidst a global pandemic warrants an examination of the intersection between our decades long battle against the world’s oldest known fever and the newest known pathogen fueling a global pandemic.

A shipwreck off the Libyan coast has reportedly claimed the lives of 130 people, despite SOS calls for help, the UN migration agency IOM said on Friday. 

Twenty-three tonnes of urgently needed aid items have reached the eastern Ukrainian province around Donetsk, after a humanitarian convoy crossed the contact line into non-Government-controlled territory, the UN said on Friday. 

At a time of uncertainty and confinement, books open the door to freedom, transporting readers beyond time and borders, the head of the UN’s educational and cultural agency, UNESCO, said on Friday. 

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 (IPS) - It has been about a year since anti-government demonstrations and a coup in Mali, which saw 18 people, including a 12-year-old boy being killed. But there has been no justice for the families of those injured and killed by defence and security forces during last year's May to August protests.

GENEVA, Apr 23 (IPS) - Despite its 229 million cases and 409,000 deaths in 2019, malaria is an overlooked epidemic. The emergence of COVID-19 has thrown health systems into disarray and forced countries to shift their focus from malaria to the pandemic response, threatening to reverse 20 years of malaria gains.

BERLIN/COLOGNE/NEW YORK, Apr 22 (IPS) - One of the most recently established international UN days is the day of multilateralism and diplomacy for peace. First observed on 24 April 2019 to promote UN values and to reaffirm the faith of people in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the relevance and the irony of this day is obvious.

BRATISLAVA, Apr 22 (IPS) - Independent journalism is facing a growing crackdown one year into the COVID-19 pandemic as governments around the world restrict access to information and muzzle critical reporting, media and rights watchdogs have warned.

Expectations are high for the first Palestinian elections in 15 years, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland told a virtual meeting of the Security Council on Thursday, urging international support for the process. 

Weather-related crises have triggered more than twice as much displacement as conflict and violence in the last decade, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Thursday.