News headlines in January 2023, page 20

ARLINGTON, Virginia, Jan 05 (IPS) - More than 10 months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies continue to seek the most effective military, humanitarian, political, and economic means of assisting Ukraine.

BRATISLAVA, Jan 05 (IPS) - As European households brace for energy shortages this winter and leaders draw up support packages to help people heat homes in the coming months, experts fear that the largest minority on the continent, the Roma, will be left behind.

A child or young person died every 4.4 seconds in 2021, and millions more could lose their lives by 2030 unless all women and children have access to adequate healthcare, two UN reports published on Thursday have revealed. 

An additional nine million people risk being pushed into poverty on top of the 33 million affected by last summer’s devastating floods in Pakistan, the UN development agency, UNDP said on Thursday, ahead of next week’s International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva.

The United Nations remains ready to support efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East exacerbated this week by the visit of Israel’s new National Security Minister to a disputed holy site in Jerusalem, the Security Council heard during an emergency session on Thursday. 

Any use of chemical weapons anywhere is simply “unacceptable”, the deputy head of the UN Disarmament Affairs office (UNODA) told the Security Council on Thursday, briefing on efforts to eliminate the scourge from the battlefields and towns of Syria. 

The unusually warm conditions in Europe that marked the festive season broke records – and likely skiers’ hearts - in several countries on the continent, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed.

BRUSSELS, Jan 04 (IPS) - Three years after the coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the Chinese government began in December to abruptly scrap its harsh containment policy known as "zero-Covid."

Jan 04 (IPS) - A bus rapid transport (BRT) system in Peshawar is benefiting female students and working women by providing a safe journey – something women passengers could not take for granted on regular public transport.

A UN Security Council Resolution that ensures millions of people in northwest Syria receive lifesaving aid through cross-border deliveries from Türkiye, must be extended, a group of independent human rights experts said on Wednesday.