News headlines in January 2022, page 6

Four days after ISIL terrorists launched apparently coordinated attacks on a large prison in northeast Syria in a bid to free fighters detained there, the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, described the still unfolding situation on Tuesday as “deeply troubling”.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet deeply deplores this week’s military takeover in Burkina Faso, her office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

The global economy is entering 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Tuesday, in an update to their World Economic Outlook (WEO). 

BRUSSELS, Jan 25 (IPS) - On 28 October, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed the militant Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara to head a presidential task force on legal reforms, shocking many in Sri Lanka and beyond. Gnanasara is the public face of the country’s leading anti-Muslim campaign group, Bodu Bala Sena (Army of Buddhist Power, or BBS). He is widely accused of inciting inter-communal violenceincluding two deadly anti-Muslim pogroms in June 2014 and March 2018.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 25 (IPS) - Many factors frustrate the international cooperation needed to address the looming global warming catastrophe. As most rich nations have largely abdicated responsibility, developing countries need to think and act innovatively and cooperatively to better advance the South.

LIMA, Jan 24 (IPS) - It's nine o'clock in the morning and Mauricia Rodríguez is already peeling garlic to season the day's lunch at the Network of Organized Women of Villa Torreblanca, one of more than 2,400 solidarity-based soup kitchens that have emerged in the Peruvian capital in response to the worsening poverty caused by the partial or total halt of economic activities in the country due to COVID-19.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Jan 24 (IPS) - Education lifts millions out of poverty, but because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out gains made in recent decades, a holistic approach to providing education in crises is crucial, says German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze.

Secretary-General António Guterres is urging the world to “build a culture of peace” through the power of sport, calling for nations to observe the Olympic Truce, endorsed last week through a resolution of the UN General Assembly.  

Following Sunday’s coup in Burkina Faso carried out by sections of the armed forces, the United Nations’ Secretary-General is following the developments in the landlocked West African nation with deep concern.

Well below zero temperatures hitting Syria this week have turned camps for internally displaced people into disaster zones, the UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator warned on Monday.