News headlines in April 2022, page 16

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, welcomed the setting up of a new Heads of State and Government Group to get the world back on track to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart and lung disease, by a third – in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - and promote mental health and well-being.

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 12 (IPS) - The evening news programs of the three dominant U.S. television networks devoted more coverage to the war in Ukraine last month than in any other month during all wars, including those in which the U.S. military was directly engaged, since the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, according to the authoritative Tyndall Report. The only exception was the last war in which U.S. forces participated in Europe, the 1999 Kosovo campaign.

A top UN-appointed human rights panel issued an appeal on Tuesday for faster progress towards finding the remains of those who disappeared during deadly violence that split the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, decades ago.

The threat of famine is very real in Somalia and South Sudan and urgent action is needed now to avoid a catastrophe, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.

The war in Ukraine has created immense human suffering but it is also putting the fragile recovery of global trade at risk, and the impact will be felt across the planet, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Tuesday. 

The Asia and Pacific region’s economic recovery from COVID and other global shocks, must be anchored in an inclusive “new social contract”, to protect the vulnerable in the years ahead, according to a new Economic and Social Survey of the region, published on Tuesday by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 12 (IPS) - After two years of human devastation, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 while trying to balance the protection of public health and livelihoods.

For countries in Asia and the Pacific, this is challenging not only because national coffers are heavily strained by record public spending to mitigate pandemic suffering, but also due to deeper structural economic issues.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 12 (IPS) - While the West has closed its ranks in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the response in Africa has hardly been uniform.

Following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, various constituencies within the international community have reacted with a mixture of shock, anger, and trepidation as they ponder the invasion’s implications for international security.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 12 (IPS) - As China increases lending to other developing countries, ‘debt trap’ charges are growing quickly. As it greatly augments financing for development while other sources continue to decline, condemnation of China’s loans is being weaponized in the new Cold War.

NEW YORK, Apr 11 (IPS) - Look around the world at this very moment. Whether we look at it in stark numbers and statistics, whether we look at it as a generational loss of basic human rights, including the right to an education, or whether we look inwardly and feel the unspeakable human suffering and devastation taking place, we all agree: we are at a historically low point in our collective humanity.