News headlines in April 2022, page 22

The UN chief on Tuesday together with the Security Council, strongly condemned an attack by suspected militia members, on peacekeepers serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which left one Nepali ‘blue helmet’ dead.

The world’s plant protection body met on Tuesday, aiming to set new plant health standards to both safeguard human wellbeing and preserve food security, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 05 (IPS) - “The migrants try to organize themselves to stay safe,” a humanitarian worker told me as we stood near a town square in Reynosa, Mexico, steps away from the U.S. border. More than 2,000 people from many countries, blocked from asking for asylum in the United States, were packed into this square block, living under tents and tarps, amid port-a-potties and cooking fires. Children were everywhere.

The introduction of a series of measures in El Salvador in response to a rise in gang killings, has prompted the grave concern of the UN human rights office, which noted on Tuesday a pattern of “unnecessary and excessive use of force” by police and military forces.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday urged authorities in Sri Lanka to defuse tensions peacefully, after a state of emergency was declared in response to protests over the country’s deepening economic crisis.      

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Apr 05 (IPS) - When driving at night in Zimbabwe, watch out for a pair of eyes on the road and slow down. You may hit a giraffe inside a pothole. So goes an often-told joke.

UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday added his voice to the growing international calls for a war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 05 (IPS) - On the battleground that has become African wildlife conservation, rural communities find themselves in the middle of a tug-of-war that is bound to the past on one side, and their future, on the other.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Apr 05 (IPS) - Food systems are under severe stress around the world now. The thresholds of tolerance are already exceeding limits with millions facing acute food and water scarcity throughout all continents. Over a quarter of Africa’s population are facing hunger and food insecurity. Conflict, droughts, flooding, rising unemployment, inequality, economic crises, and the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic have been ravaging the Continent on an unprecedented scale.

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 05 (IPS) - The world is sailing into a perfect storm as key leaders seem intent on threatening more war, albeit while proclaiming the noblest of intentions. By doing so, they block international cooperation to create conditions for sustainable peace and shared prosperity for all.