News headlines in December 2021, page 8

BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 20 (IPS) - Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are trying their best to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic by rapidly rolling out vaccination programmes and putting in place public health interventions to reduce its impact. At the end of November, there were 262 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5.2 million deaths globally. About 60 per cent of all COVID-19 cases and half of all COVID-19 related deaths were in Asia and the Pacific. About 7.8 billion vaccines have been administered globally, and vaccine supply is generally improving.

Now is the time to explore whether a political process in Syria can meaningfully move forward in 2022, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Monday. 

There is now “consistent evidence” that the Omicron variant is outpacing Delta, as COVID-19 continues to account for around 50,000 deaths worldwide every week, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.

MEXICO CITY, Dec 20 (IPS) - In a ceremony in early October, the president of Ecuador and my opponent in the presidential elections, Guillermo Lasso, issued a warning to those "daring who seek to scrutinize" his assets. He was referring to the Pandora Papers published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which revealed how dozens of world leaders - including Lasso - hid billions of dollars to avoid paying taxes.

NEW YORK, Dec 20 (IPS) - The UN’s 76th anniversary in 2021 arrived at a time of great upheaval and change. If the world is to transition from COVID-19 and we are to deliver on our promises to future generations - to secure a world where everyone can thrive in peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet – then 2022 must be the year we change both gear and discourse.

The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan has strongly condemned the killing of a UN-contracted aid worker on Sunday, that also left another injured, after the convoy they were travelling in came under attack.

Roughly 7.7 million people in Somalia will need assistance and protection in 2022, a 30 per cent rise in just one year, the UN and partners said on Monday, launching a nearly $1.5 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the country. 

SINGAPORE, Dec 20 (IPS) - While the COVID-19 impact has been predominantly negative, the pandemic appears to have sparked increased interest in developing agricultural technology (agtech) to improve the efficiency of food systems, from input supplies through farming and processing to delivery and retail.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 20 (IPS) - The 21-month-long corona virus pandemic has triggered three new phrases in the UN lexicon: “vaccine famine, vaccine apartheid and vaccine nationalism”.

And the largest number of victims facing the triple threats are from developing countries, mostly in Africa, as reflected in grim statistics.

Reports of “utter devastation” caused by Super Typhoon Rai have continued to come in from the Philippines, where the UN is helping respond to urgent needs.