News headlines in June 2022, page 15

With livelihoods in tatters and hopes almost shattered, the Lebanese are “hanging on by a thread,” the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator said on Thursday, announcing the extension of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) to address the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Nairobi, Jun 16 (IPS) - Clad in traditional regalia and necklaces of richly coloured beads that form magnificent patterns around their necks, an army of women from the pastoral Rendile community that resides at the heart of Marsabit, a county in Kenya’s arid north, is on a mission.

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday began distributing food vouchers to pregnant women in underserved districts of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, marking the start of the UN agency’s emergency response in the country, which is facing its gravest political and economic crisis since independence.

A staggering 100 million people have now been forced to flee their homes globally, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday, highlighting worldwide food insecurity, the climate crisis, war in Ukraine and other emergencies from Africa to Afghanistan as leading causes.

KINSHASA, Jun 16 (IPS) - Nine of the 16 oil blocks to be auctioned in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) next month overlap Protected Areas, according to a review of official government maps by Greenpeace Africa.

URBANA, Illinois, USA, Jun 15 (IPS) - This September, the White House will convene a conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Leading up to the conference, the White House is organizing several virtual listening sessions across America to hear firsthand from people impacted by food insecurity and to collect ideas about how to end hunger and hunger-related diseases and disparities.

As the UN marks the International Day of Family Remittances on Thursday, there is concern that economic contraction and job losses in Russia - likely to now rise further as a result of sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine - are already having an impact on remittance-dependent communities in Central Asia, according to experts with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

KIGALI, Jun 15 (IPS) - A few years ago, after coming up with a project of launching the first-ever unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in Rwanda, entrepreneur Mamy Muziga Ingabire identified the need to provide farmers with information related to their activity – such as the health status of crops.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned a weekend attack in Burkina Faso that left dozens of civilians dead and displaced scores more, his Spokesperson said on Wednesday. 

The Afghanistan people are experiencing some of “the darkest moments” in a generation the UN human rights chief told Human Rights Council on Wednesday.