News headlines in January 2022, page 16

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Jan 12 (IPS) - The most violent protests of the past 30 years have erupted across Kazakhstan — exposing decades of inequality, injustice, and corruption. The protests of an unprecedented scale have rocked cities across Kazakhstan for days, as the population grew increasingly dissatisfied with the country’s leadership.

Geneva, Jan 11 (IPS) - UN agencies have asked for a record USD 4.4 billion in aid for Afghanistan to avert a full-blown humanitarian crisis that could see hunger, distress, and death and a mass exodus of people from the country.

Global growth will slow down over the next two years in the face of “fresh threats” from COVID-19 variants and rising inflation, debt and income inequality, the World Bank said on Tuesday in its latest report.

At least four children have been killed and multiple others have been maimed during an escalation of conflict over the past week in Myanmar, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday. 

As the death toll from the recent unrest in Kazakhstan mounts to 164, the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday requested “prompt, independent, impartial investigations” into the killings, and whether “unnecessary and disproportionate use of force was made by security forces”.

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, Jan 11 (IPS) - Jan André is a cheerful and outgoing young man, a superb dancer, and aspiring schoolteacher. Indeed, he wants to become the best schoolteacher in Costa Rica. Fortified by his own will and the encouragement of his family, he overcame violence and adversity to become an outstanding university student.

Current COVID-19 vaccines may need to be updated to ensure their continued effectiveness against Omicron and future variants, an expert group appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. 

A decade after civil conflict erupted in Mali, hopes for an early resolution to insurgency and strife have not materialized, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the country, El-Ghassim Wane, told the Security Council on Tuesday.  

With forecasts indicating more than 50 per cent of Europeans are likely to become infected with the Omicron variant in the next six to eight weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that health workers still bear the greatest burden.

Authorities in Tunisia are being urged to immediately release - or properly charge - former justice minister Noureddine Bhiri, and another man, who have been detained under suspected terrorism offences, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.