News headlines in October 2024

NAIROBI, Oct 31 (IPS) - Global education is facing a critical moment amid severe setbacks. Millions of children are out of school, learning levels are falling, and millions are leaving school without the skills they need. New out-of-school figures reveal that global progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children has been just 1 percent since 2015, leaving 251 million behind.

ATLANTA, USA, Oct 31 (IPS) - The most solemn and terrifying words ever uttered are those inscribed over the gateway to Hell in Dante's Inferno: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!" Hope is essential for human survival both as individuals and as nations.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 31 (IPS) - On October 28, the Israeli parliament voted to ban activity from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Israel. Two bills were passed by the Knesset, Israel's house of representatives, one that barred all UNRWA efforts, and another that prevents interactions between Israeli authorities and UNRWA personnel. The implications of this amendment are expected to exacerbate dire conditions for millions of Palestinians who were already in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis.

CALI, Columbia, Oct 31 (IPS) - José Aruna, a forest defender from Sud Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), remembers the night in September 2019 when a group of heavily armed men barged into his house in the middle of the night. Aruna and his wife—6 months pregnant at the time—were in bed when he heard sounds of boots on the front yard and quickly knew something was about to happen.

A senior UN disarmament official on Thursday called on all parties to the conflict in Ukraine to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could further escalate the war.

Despite decades of educational progress and international commitments, a quarter of a billion children and youth remain out of school worldwide, UN education agency UNESCO’s latest Global Education Monitoring Report revealed on Thursday.

Despite international progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), cities, particularly in the Global South, continue to grapple with poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation.

People in Lebanon continue to be killed, injured and displaced by airstrikes, hostilities and displacement orders, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Thursday.

An independent UN expert on Thursday called on the international community to fulfill its “urgent moral obligation” to support the Marshall Islands in addressing displacement challenges stemming from the impacts of historical nuclear testing and the growing threat of climate change.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday that Israeli legislation to shut down the main lifeline for Palestine refugees in Gaza “will be deadly” if fully implemented.