News headlines in April 2023, page 4

LOME, Togo, Apr 26 (IPS) - The writer is President, World Alliance for Mercury-Free DentistryThe Minamata Convention on Mercury, a stellar success story to date, has been favorably compared to the prototype success story for a treaty on toxins: the Montreal Protocol. Both had a single focused mission; both gained universal support across the globe; both matched technological innovation with environmental science to discard old polluting methods.

Around 90 per cent of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet in low-income countries, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online, according to a new UNICEF analysis, coinciding with the UN’sInternational Girls in ICT Day.

One year after the General Assembly adopted its so-called “veto initiative”, Member States met on Wednesday to discuss how it could contribute to a more efficient and impact-oriented UN.

Survivors of one of the world’s worst ever nuclear accidents at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine on 26 April 1986 have been reflecting on the events of that fateful day 37 years ago, as current employees consider the challenges of working at the plant which was seized by Russian troops following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The UN’s Special Representative for Sudan has called on the rival military factions which have plunged the country into chaos during 11 days of fighting to “fully adhere” to the agreed 72-hour ceasefire amid increasing concern at reports of inter-communal violence and attacks in the West Darfur region.

The rapidly deteriorating security situation in Haiti demands that the country remains at the centre of international attention and action, newly appointed UN Special Representative Maria Isabel Salvador said on Wednesday in her first briefing to the Security Council.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday launched a new initiative to help strengthen countries’ ability to plan for, and deal with, another deadly pandemic like COVID-19, as latest figures show a huge fall in COVID deaths this year.

MADRID, Apr 25 (IPS) - Apologies to those Western politicians and media who continue to say that Ukraine's brutal proxy war stands behind whatever catastrophes, disasters or crises occur in the Planet.

KARACHI, Apr 25 (IPS) - The announcement by Lucas film’s president, Kathleen Kennedy, about the upcoming three new live-action Star Wars films was enough for lawyer Maliha Zia to get euphoric.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 25 (IPS) - Several years ago, on a visit to a village in rural Zimbabwe, I met a small group of women with a story to share.

Having participated in a UNDP-supported adaptation project – including drought-resistant seeds and education in climate-smart agricultural practices – the women had significantly increased the productiveness of their home gardens.