News headlines in February 2024, page 6

The top UN aid official in Ukraine deplored new attacks on the cities of Odesa and Dnipro on Friday, as the full-scale Russian invasion of the country enters a third year.

The UN Secretary-General addressed the Security Council on Friday, underscoring the fundamental need to honour the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as the full-scale invasion by Russia of the country marks its second anniversary.

The UN’s top human rights official on Friday made a strong call for accountability for serious violations committed by all parties in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis urged countries to stand with the people of Ukraine “in their quest for justice and peace” during a meeting on Friday to mark two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.

The armed conflict in Sudan has resulted in thousands of civilians killed, millions displaced, property looted and children conscripted, as fighting has spread to more regions of the country since the conflict began last April, according to a wide-ranging report from the UN Human Rights Office released on Friday.

When the Russian occupation of Bucha in the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine ended in March 2022, widespread destruction was revealed, and a UN commission concluded that war crimes had been committed against the civilian population. Two years on, life is returning to the town on Kyiv’s outskirts and nearby Irpin, which have been restored with UN support.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 22 (IPS) - 2023 was the warmest year on record. The latest Copernicus Climate Change Service highlights that February 2023 to January 2024 was the first time that we experienced 12 consecutive months of temperatures 1.5-degree hotter than the pre-industrial era.

LONDON, Feb 22 (IPS) - Pakistan’s 8 February election has resulted in an uneasy compromise that few wanted or expected. There’s little indication the outcome is going to reverse recent regression in civic freedoms.

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (IPS) - A coalition of over 350 civil society organisations part of the #UNmute initiative, shared concerns over the current engagement mechanisms for civil society at the UN – particularly in light of the upcoming Summit of the Future.

TSUNZA, Kenya, Feb 22 (IPS) - Fish vanished from the sea near Tsunza, a village on Kenya’s coast, after several oil spills between 2003 and 2006. The impact of this and the vanishing mangroves badly affected the livelihoods of women. Now they are the champions of the restoration of one of the global warming mitigation superheroes—mangroves.

Tsunza Peninsula is a natural wonder that sits just inside the many inlets of Mombasa Island on the border between Mombasa and Kwale Counties—a little-known spectacle of lagoons, islands, and thick mangroves in Kinango Sub-County, Kwale County, on Kenya’s coastal region.