News headlines in April 2022, page 13

Senior UN officials, including the Secretary-General, António Guterres, have expressed concern over a spate of violent incidents at the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, an important religious site for both Muslims and Jews.

A World Food Program-backed initiative to deliver millet seeds to vulnerable people is taking root in Odisha, India, where it is helping to ward off hunger and improve livelihoods.

LONDON / JOHANNESBURG, Apr 15 (IPS) - Russia’s war in Ukraine has left many communities facing catastrophe. In a world already wracked by multiple crises such as searing inequality and escalating climate change, this conflict is tearing through communities.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 15 (IPS) - The unprecedented flow of arms to Ukraine, and the rising miliary spending by European nations to strengthen their defenses, are threatening to undermine development aid to the world’s poorer nations.

The Darién Gap, a dangerous route that links South and North America, has long been used by migrants trekking north to the United States, in search of a better life, or simply fleeing violence at home.  As well as extreme physical challenges, they also risk attacks from smugglers, and other criminal groups.

A deal reportedly made by the United Kingdom to send some migrants for processing and relocation to the Central African nation of Rwanda, are at odds with States’ responsibility to take care of those in need of protection, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

Nairobi, Apr 14 (IPS) - A brutal war now engulfs the young lives of an estimated 7.5 million children in Ukraine. Caught in the crossfire of bullets and missiles as the conflict escalates, children and young people have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis.

The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine. 

The world’s best-known coral reefs could be extinct by the end of the century unless we do more to make them resilient to our warming oceans.

A UN brokered two-month renewable truce between the warring parties in Yemen is holding, Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Thursday, providing “light at the end of the tunnel”, and the possibility of a lasting peace.