News headlines in May 2024, page 10

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (IPS) - The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to seek warrants on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has triggered a strong backlash both from the Biden administration and a group of pro-Israeli Senators in the US Congress.

The names in the ICC arrest warrants also include Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh—all leaders of Hamas.

The devastating floods that struck Afghanistan recently are likely to intensify in the coming months, exacerbating the already critical food insecurity in the affected districts, the UN emergency food relief agency warned on Tuesday.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as syphilis are on the rise in most regions of the world, UN health agency WHO said in a new report on Tuesday.

While nearly one million species are currently at risk of extinction, the United Nations University (UNU) is drawing attention to “co-extinctions”: the chain reaction occurring when the complete disappearance of one species affects another.

The plight of civilians affected by war in 2023 was “resoundingly dire”, as the world witnessed horrors not only in Gaza and southern Israel but also the intense suffering of populations in other crisis hotspots around the globe, senior UN officials said on Tuesday.

Migration is on track to become one of the defining features of the 21stst century and more action is needed to ensure regular pathways for people to move safely, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday in New York.

The UN expressed new concerns on Tuesday over a rise in displacement and humanitarian needs in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, amid “relentless” Russian air and ground attacks.

As bombardments by the Israeli military reportedly continued overnight across Gaza, along with ground incursions and heavy fighting, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on Tuesday for staff and patients at besieged Al-Awda Hospital in the north of the enclave.

Inflation fears are subsiding, the “net-zero transition” to a clean economy could spell good news with the right policies in place, and we are still dealing with a “COVID hangover”, according to the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

NAIROBI, May 20 (IPS) - After a week-long discussion by delegates from 196 countries, the 26th meeting of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advisors (SBSTTA) of UN Biodiversity has concluded with a set of recommendations on several issues, including living modified organisms (LMOs) and synthetic biology. All nations must consider the recommendations, discuss them, and possibly adopt them at the Biodiversity COP in October. However, many questions remain unanswered and unclear.