News headlines in April 2024, page 6

Smoking and drinking is on the rise among teenagers in Europe, Central Asia and Canada, and girls now match or even exceed boys when it comes to substance use, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report on Thursday.

ABU DHABI, Apr 24 (IPS) - Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a distinct group of 39 states and 18 associate members, are making efforts to promote the blue economy as they possess enormous potential for renewable energy relying on the sea.

NEW YORK, Apr 24 (IPS) - The UN Palestinian refugee agency welcomed the recommendations made in the report from the independent investigation led by Catherine Colonna, and warned of new and continuing concerns that threaten the agency’s operations.

SEATTLE, Washington, Apr 24 (IPS) - The vote and the American veto at the United Nations Security Council on April 18 was predictable. Though European countries are increasingly supportive of a Palestinian state, the US is not yet ready for that eventuality, for these reasons:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 24 (IPS) - Rich nations’ climate hypocrisy is accelerating global heating, pushing the planet closer to irreversible catastrophe, with its worst consequences borne by the poorest, both countries and peoples.

Plastic pollution blocks rivers, chokes oceans and makes its way into the food chain as microplastics. It’s a global environmental crisis, and Small Island Developing States are especially vulnerable, having to cope with detritus washing up on their beaches, as well as the waste they generate themselves.

A new mechanism for getting lifesaving aid into Gaza will start in the coming days, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator Sigrid Kaag announced in a briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday.

Russia used its veto to quash a draft resolution aimed at keeping weapons out of outer space.

Two UN agencies alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the global vaccine alliance Gavi launched on Wednesday a campaign to scale up programmes to save lives, marking the start of World Immunisation Week, celebrated annually during the last week of April.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is offering medical care, food, shelter and psychosocial support to 33 migrants who survived a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti on Monday, as local authorities continue search and rescue operations.