News headlines in January 2022, page 22

As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to surge across the world, the UN health agency on Tuesday said that it was crucial that more is done to help all countries receive lifesaving coronavirus jabs as quickly as possible.

The first drive to verify data relating to around 1.4 million Afghan refugees on the move over past decade in Pakistan has been concluded, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.

The Secretary-General, António Guterres, has welcomed a joint statement issued on Monday by five nuclear armed States on the prevention of nuclear war and the avoidance of the arms race. 

NEW YORK, Jan 04 (IPS) - This past year, uncertainty blanketed our world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the rapidly advancing climate crisis, the pervasive nature of new technologies, and encroaching authoritarianism have all shown that our world is changing fast and in ways that fundamentally affect how we live.

NEW YORK, Jan 04 (IPS) - The Corona-19 pandemic has had an unparalleled and relentless toll on the world in areas beyond health alone. The World Bank’s latest report on global poverty raises concerns as to the severity of the impact of the pandemic on efforts to fight poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2).

Goa, India, Jan 03 (IPS) - For over two decades, Nina tossed around like a leaf in a storm. While a teenager, she was lured into the sex trade, and pimps kept a huge chunk of the money that she earned as a sex slave. Nina was often bruised. Once, she refused sex with a man who did not want to use a condom. He beat her so severely that she had found it difficult to breathe.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Volker Perthes, regretted on Monday the Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s decision to step down.

AUSTRALIA, Jan 03 (IPS) - The new Yangtze River Protection Law (YRPL), which came into effect on March 1, 2021, is China’s first legislation on a specific river basin. The Yangtze River is China’s longest and largest river system, stretching over 6,300 kilometres and has over 700 tributaries. With a drainage basin covering more than 1.8 million square kilometres, approximately one-fifth of China’s total land area, the river basin is home to over 40% of the country’s population.

The winner of this year’s Photography4Humanity prize is Indian photographer Apratim Pal, for his picture “A Thirsty Earth”, which captures both the environmental and human costs of the escalating climate crisis in West Bengal, India.

Mona Ataya, a Palestinian-Lebanese entrepreneur based in the United Arab Emirates, runs the largest online marketplace for mothers in the Middle East. In recognition of her achievements, she has been chosen as one of the six eTrade for Women Advocates for 2021-2022, by the UN trade agency, UNCTAD.