News headlines in May 2024, page 3

BRUSSELS, May 29 (IPS) - Spring has traditionally brought a welcome new beginning: daylight increases, flowers bloom and temperatures are pleasantly warm. However, in recent years, it’s also brought justified fears about extreme heat with summers in Southern Europe getting increasingly hot because of climate change. Older people, children, people with disabilities, and people with mental health conditions are among those at higher risk.

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA, May 29 (IPS) - As leaders of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) meet for the 4th International Conference on SIDS in Antigua this week, top United Nations and World Bank officials are calling for urgent action to help SIDS tackle their unique challenges and plan for the next decade.

WASHINGTON DC, May 29 (IPS) - Last week, the World Bank Group released a new report that highlights the urgent need to drastically reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis and calls on countries to act. However, while the World Bank’s acknowledgment of the damaging climate impacts of industrial agriculture is a crucial step forward, it’s simply not enough.

UN Member States have been deploying “Blue Helmets” (or peacekeepers) since 1948, so on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepersmarked annually on 29 May, we’re spotlighting operations over the decades, from monitoring buffer zones in Asia to escorting aid trucks into Israeli exclaves in the Middle East.

Violence against children in the central Sahel region of Africa surged dramatically in the last quarter of 2023, skyrocketing by 70 per cent over the previous three months, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday.

Climate action taken so far to help fund efforts in cash-strapped small island developing States (SIDS) “does not measure up to what has been said” in the wake of COP28 in Dubai last year.

Global unemployment numbers will fall modestly this year, but unequal access to jobs is still a problem worldwide, particularly for women in poorer countries, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report published on Wednesday.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Wednesday urgently called for an immediate return to negotiations, the release of hostages and a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli military assault exacerbates human suffering amid rising regional tensions.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is calling on partners to assist them in supporting about 185,000 Sudanese who have journeyed into Chad and are trying to escape dangerous borders, specifically in Adre border town.

Vital medical supplies are fast running out in Gaza’s remaining hospitals, the UN health agency warned on Wednesday, amid reports of continuing Israeli bombing and hostilities in the enclave.