News headlines in January 2024, page 2

Escalating armed violence in Haiti has triggered a profound humanitarian crisis, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Wednesday.

The war in Gaza has resulted in an unprecedented level of destruction to its economy which will take tens of billions of dollars and decades to reverse, UN trade and development body UNCTAD said in a new report on Wednesday.

It’s another day of intense activity across the UN as the crisis in the Middle East stemming from the war in Gaza continues, both in the region and at UN Headquarters in New York. The Security Council is due to meet at the top of the hour to review the world court’s provisional ruling on genocide allegations, and the UN chief will brief the top UN committee on Palestinian rights with the latest on the struggle to stop the fighting and provide lifesaving humanitarian relief in Gaza. Follow lives updates here…

Deadly clashes and shelling continued in Khan Younis in southern Gaza overnight into Wednesday as top UN humanitarians and NGO chiefs warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of defunding UNRWAthe UN agency for Palestinian refugees facing allegations of collusion with Hamas.

ABUJA, Jan 30 (IPS) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s week-long tour across four African countries was aimed at strengthening the US-Africa relationship—a relationship, according to some commentators, already waning as China and Russia are increasing their influence.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30 (IPS) - The consequences of the investigation into the 12 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staffers allegedly linked to the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel have led to major donor countries pulling their support from the UN agency. However, the agency has appealed to the governments to continue the aid the the face of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 30 (IPS) - Quadrupling in size since 1950, the working age population in Asia and the Pacific now accounts for 67.2 per cent of the total population in the region and is set to peak at 3.3 billion by the mid-2030s.

Experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council unequivocally condemned the recent execution of an American inmate by nitrogen gas inhalation – the first time ever that the method has been used.

The UN and partners launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia on Tuesday, calling for $1.6 billion to assist 5.2 million people across the Horn of Africa nation.

Donor funding cuts stemming from Israel’s allegations against a dozen staff members at the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, will be felt within weeks, the UN Spokesperson said on Tuesday, as fears grow that consequences on the ground could contradict recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders for temporary measures to prevent “genocidal acts” in Gaza.